The Art of Keeping the Balloon in the Air:
3 Tips for Being Paid to be Useless and Getting Away With It
When we were kids and had a balloon, we spent hours trying to keep it in the air without touching the ground. It was a lot of fun, as we challenged ourselves to keep the count going. This fond memory was recalled as I tried to metaphorically understand the frequent experience of sitting in professional meetings with people who hold authority but remain utterly unproductive in their contribution to the team.
We would like to believe that we climb the ranks and accomplish things based on our skills and hard work. However, there are factors such as opportunity provided, network involvement, being liked, as well as other social/environmental factors that line up for our success. It is rare, though, that you find a person with virtually no hard work and skill whose success equation is based solely on the social/environmental privilege.
Too much time and money is spent buying into motivational and self-help guru’s teachings about how to be successful. Hard work, discipline, and persistence are key elements to these formulas. Using the “Balloon Game” metaphor, this story attempts to highlight the 3 necessary skills required to achieve success in the workplace without actually doing anything but showing up.
