You used to be able to stand up to your boss at Ford and know it wouldn't cost you your job. Not anymore. I drafted a long reply to my boss on Friday. Pointed out why his decision was flawed. Sat there for ten minutes. Then deleted it. These days, staying quiet is safer. Hate that I have to do that.
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@e9+1kks7dakr I would not call myself "fearless", but I knew in several occasions that I was making managers "uncomfortable" by stating the truth, and still did it. Then I got tired of it. Now I hardly speak in meetings, unless they are talking about something that concerns me directly. Also, no more of being a "team player" (translation: picking up the slack of others). I just do my asssigned tasks, and mind my business.
Guess what? Now I have more free time, less stress, and barely deal with managers. It is a win-win-win situation for me. The company is losing, but not even the owners, the Ford family, cares, so why should I?
So now I am taking it easy, saving money while I wait for the pink slip...
You mean end your livelihood...at Ford. No where else. That's the mistake an alarming amount of people are making here. Thinking that Ford or "automotive" is their whole career and ability to earn. That would mean that if you cannot get another job in automotive you are finished! Is that what you all mean? Yeah it may be a small world and an immature LL5 might be able to put in a bad word about you in automotive. But that is where you pivot where they cannot reach you - another industry. If you cannot do that - I guess you might be finished and an old dog can't learn new tricks.
I was fearless until I realized that no matter what, regardless of how hard you or your manager fight, you only need one thing to end your livelihood—an LL5+ that doesnt like you and a workforce reduction task. I saw several known TAs(firsthand) that got let go in 2022.
The only true way to stand up to your boss or manager is to have the means to walk away from the job. Once you can do this, what they say doesn't matter. The power to walk away is always the most powerful play. If you don't have it now it should be your number one priority to get it.
@OP You shouldn't delete just put it in AI and state you want to reply professionally. It will help! I have done that with curse words and it helped me!
@a4 If you plan on POINTING out errors that resulted in a low PR score or your termination, make sure to use your middle finger to point!😁
Somebody once told us in one of those Dale Carnegie classes that there is a science on how to point out something to your boss. Whatever you do when there are reviews point out the risk. document that. If you have a 1x1 bring the topic up politely and point out you concerns and why. Then you have it on record.