Every time I open LinkedIn, I see the same pattern: former employees of a certain global sports brand publicly declaring their love for the company, met with warm, performative gratitude from those still inside.
It’s a strange phenomenon.
I know plenty of people who work—or have worked—for excellent organisations and somehow manage to move on without a public love letter. What makes this different is that many of these posts come from people in leadership roles.
It makes you wonder:
Is public adoration a prerequisite for belonging?
Is gratitude now a loyalty signal?
Or is this just corporate theatre dressed up as authenticity?
The tone often feels forced. Like a ritual. As if saying the right things, loudly enough, might keep you in favour—or at least signal that you were one of the good ones.
Let’s be clear about something uncomfortable:
You don’t need to be grateful to work for a company.
You were hired. You were paid. That’s the deal.
If anything, companies should be grateful that talented people choose to give them their time, energy, creativity, and years of their lives.
Gratitude is meaningful when it’s genuine.
When it’s compulsory, it becomes performative.
And when it’s performative, it stops being honest.
And please—no more staged photos outside head office, smiling beside a corporate statue, as if it were a religious site. We don’t believe you!
Careers don’t need altar calls.
And loyalty shouldn’t require applause.