Week 10: Identity & “Organizational” Meltdown

· What’s your typical response when someone asks you, “tell me a little about yourself”?

I have to say, when I was younger, it was a lot easier for me to tell someone who I was. But the older you get, the more you realize that things change, and you change as a person. It’s a lot more complex then just the typical, “I’m an optimist, blonde, and bubbly”. One example are the career tests that you take during certain times in your life, or when you are desperate and near the end of your college life like me. The worst are the questions such as “in general do you consider yourself more: a) reserved or b) outgoing?” This question is only one example of many that get me extremely confused because I can be both and either or in different settings. Now of course there are certain people that can be on either of the polar opposites and most people have certain very prominent features about themselves, but for me this has always been a struggle because I have always been a bit of everything.

One thing that I have noticed, especially with social media today is that people are either trying to be so different, or trying to fit in. I think that back in the day or at least a decade ago, it was more popular to fit in, to be thin as a model, and wear brand named clothing. Because of this, people protested and now teenagers are taught that it is wonderful to be unique and be yourself and not fit in. Either theory can be an extreme. I think that it isn’t important to particularly “fit in” to certain groups, but identifying with certain groups is also important for building community and finding things in common. For example I am a Polish-American. I find it extremely important to be close and active in the Polish community. Now that doesn’t mean that I am active in each Polish organization, I find the ones that seem most appropriate for me. The same goes for being a Catholic. My faith is very important to me, but that doesn’t mean that I automatically can relate in particular youth groups or fit in with them. This is probably the reason why so many different sub-organizations exist for one umbrella organization. It is also the reason why we find so many clubs at schools. On the other hand it is important to try to find yourself, and that is, your true self. Sometimes I feel people overdue this area because they look to reinvent themselves, cut a bizarre haircut, get a bunch of tattoos, or wear some funky clothing just to stand out. I don’t know if they are being sincerely themselves, or just trying to start a new trend?

· Find an example of a personal or organizational brand meltdown.

I would like to tie in not a private organizational brand but an organization that we often don’t think about as such…

Are there any organizations immune to actions destroying their brand? Well often the government is immune from the consequences of their actions and brand meltdown doesn’t affect their revenue — it may actually increase it, since when bad things happen the government usually wants higher taxes. The Flint water tragedy is an example of Government failure and a tragedy of the commons. Responsibility and productivity isn’t as clear as in the market, since the government doesn’t have the profit and loss mechanism to guide its actions, rather it has coercion to raise income (taxation). Often the government is immune to occurrences that would cause a meltdown in the market. You can’t choose a new government, unless you decide to take on the expense of moving. You don’t choose your government, the other voters choose and lobby groups (like the teacher’s union lobby in Illinois and Chicago) have a lot more resources to persuade the government to adopt policies than any voter. The teachers’ union first lobbied for ridiculous pension plans that could have never paid out the amounts they were set for (anywhere else, apart from government, such a contract is considered fraud) and now are using their power to have the government force tax payers to pay up instead of declaring bankruptcy or restructuring the pension plans. You either have to accept that a huge portion of your property taxes or rent will subsidize greed, fraud, and outright theft or leave the state. The government and the officials who made the contracts walk away without any charges and remain immune to the disaster they created — the same can be said about businesses, i.e. banks, who control the regulatory agencies and can pretty much get away with fraud. So in short, the “government brand” is neither undermined, nor has to use different elements of identity to construct itself.

• Have you experience an identity-threatening experience?

I definitely went through a life changing identity crisis that was a bit personal for me and I rather not talk about it, but I have also been going through another type of identity crisis for a long time now. I mostly mean in terms of what career path I should choose. This problem haunts me on a daily basis at this point. I always ask, how is one supposed to know what they are meant to do in life? For some it is looking at their talents. Well I would say that I have talent in singing but I never went to music school because I knew it isn’t a practical approach. A lot of people want to be a singer or actress but very few get there and end up devastated in life. I really enjoyed Biology in high school most likely due to the fact that I had wonderful teachers. This is another great example of how society and certain individuals and groups shape who you are. It reminds me of the quote “you become who you spend time with. Choose carefully.” And this is definitely true. Of course those people are usually your friends, and then there is definitely influence from your parents, but as a young adult, most rebel, and end up with similar characteristics later in life (whether fortunately or unfortunately).

This is why I pursued a bachelor in biology. However I know for a fact that I don’t want to conduct research, going to medical school just never appealed to me, and I am stuck trying to decide based on those annoying career tests that never seem to get it right anyways. Now that I am a senior, it has really hit me and my response has been paranoia and anxiety that I have never had before. I was always fairly happy in life, busy, felt like I had purpose, and the post-graduation depression seems to be nearing. I say this because there are a lot of post-grads that end up with this depression because either they can’t find a job or they simply don’t know what to do. I wonder if anyone else has this problem and how they are dealing with it?