So you just got a new job. It's your first day and you want to make a good impression. Shake things up. Drive change. Make your mark. In short, you have just chosen suicide. Although I am not one to preach by parables, let me tell you a story I tell any new hire who joins a company.

There was a man who went to Africa about five years ago. He wanted to bring change to a local village by creating better irrigation, medicines, and a bit of technology that would make their lives better. When he arrived at the village, the locals greeted him with open arms. They offered him food and shelter and often spoke to him kindly and openly. On his first night, he came to have dinner with them and he watched as one of the village men gathered small sticks and hay into a pile and placed a block of wood on the ground in the middle of it. With a handmade bow of string and wood, he proceeded to spin a foot long stick into the center of the block. The effort was intense and the villager was laboring significantly. Sweat and strain poured through the man's work and eventually there were the early signs of success. The friction of the spinning piece of wood created a few small heated embers which then were placed amongst the dried hay. Smoke lifted in small wisps and the villager encouraged the process by blowing lightly on the heated area. Soon heat, fuel, and oxygen combined in that time honored formula and fire was created. The fire cooked their dinner and provided warmth and light through the evening.

The visitor watched this ritual each night. A different villager would go through the process, the strain, the stress, until everyone was eating and enjoying the fruits of their labor. After a few weeks, the visitor surprised the local villagers by gathering the small sticks and hay. He placed a block of wood in the middle of it and with a hand crafted bow and a foot long stick, he started the process of making fire for the village. It was a long effort and many times the visitor got close to success. The villagers offered encouragement and advice, which helped a great deal. Eventually the visitor, drenched with sweat, got the spark he needed. It was a bit later than normal when everyone got to eat and enjoy the warmth, but the lateness was understood and the villager had become… one of the tribe.

The next evening the visitor began the same process. He gathered small sticks and hay. The villagers watched with encouragement knowing that this time the visitor would be more successful. They knew he understood how to make a fire. The villager created the small pile but did not place a block in the middle of it. Instead he put larger pieces of wood over the small pile of hay and sticks. The villagers assumed that either he had forgotten the purpose here was to make a fire… or he was an idiot. The visitor reached into his pocket and pulled out a lighter. With two clicks a flame sparked on the lighter wick and a single flame could be seen in the visitor’s hand. He lit the small pile of wood and hay and soon the fire was roaring and ready to provide the warmth and heat for the night.

Elsewhere, another traveler visited a nearby village and was also welcomed. When the villagers gathered for dinner, one of the members of the tribe assembled a small pile of sticks and hay.  With a handmade bow, he started to make a fire. The visitor walked over to the villager, pushed him of the way, grabbed his lighter, and triumphantly lit the fire.

The village ate him.

What's the point? Nobody likes change and certainly nobody wants some new guy to walk in with other ways of doing things without understanding and respecting the company’s culture. Learn how a company does what they do, before you offer a better way. Because nothing will get you eaten faster than being a smart ass and a “know it all” - especially if you are right. More people who are right get chewed up and spit out by a company than those who are just stupid. Stupid people just get shoved into a corner and ignored. You may be brilliant, you may have the perfect way to fix the company, but if you don't learn the company's way of doing things first.... you will never have the credibility to suggest a better way.

So as you start your new job and before you tell that first employee that you know a better way to do things, show them you understand them… before you want them to understand you.

Copyright © 2011 Mike Baumgartner | HR | Consulting | Coach |  Human Resources | Search - CEO, Worklife Survival Center LLC