Great Opportunities

In business, there are always buzz words that people like to use which make them sound smart, hip, into the game, etc. I think the most overused buzz word right now is "opportunity". I get some many "opportunities" these days that it's starting to give me hives.

Do you remember Pavlov's dog? The bell ringing and the drooling? Just substitute the word opportunity for bell ringing and hiding under your desk and crying for drooling. It's slowly but surely creating a learned response. I am sure once upper management catches wind of this, we will get a new buzz word and the cycle will begin again.

When it was first being used, the word opportunity meant "I have some cool project you can help with" or "I have something that might challenge you in a way that will feed the creative need in a job." Now the word opportunity is synonymous with "I need you to do this task you probably aren't going to enjoy, but I need you to do anyway." I am sure some brilliant manager figured out since it's original meaning had once carried positive vibes, maybe they could use it on their employees who would will fall for it and just do what was asked of them.

Yesterday was just another lucky day for me. I was given an opportunity to go hear some VP talk. You know what I got out of the opportunity? A big fat lecture for an hour on how managers/leaders aren't doing enough and we (myself included) need to step up our game so our division isn't in last place on ratings. The only plus - they fed us cookies beforehand as if to soften the blow. Some opportunity. THANKS!

I know what you put into it determines what you will get out of it. This is the canned statement that usually comes from your manager following any whining about said opportunity. Of course this makes it sound like it was your fault for not embracing it from the start.

I just wish my manager/lead would just be straight with me. Tell me what it is you need me to do and why. I would rather that than some made up BS reason. Maybe it's just me.

/end rant