Patterns / 6. Fight, Fold, or Leave
Pattern 6.5
Read the Money Before You Join
If you leave, take the diagnosis with you: read a prospective employer’s money flows before you accept the job.
In This Context
Someone who leaves an organization because its money flows wouldn’t allow a change risks joining another with the same flows, and the same problems. Patron structures, funding models, and incentives shape what any organization can do, and many of them can be read from outside, or in the interview, before you join. Leaving with that knowledge is not failure: the diagnosis is a skill you can take with you.
Therefore
Before accepting a role, apply the diagnosis to the organization you’re joining: who are its patrons, who would fund your team, and what are the people you’d work for measured on?
Consequently
- You can choose an organization whose money flows support the work you want to do.
- You can’t see everything from outside, and a new patron, owner, or leader can change the money flows after you join.
Seen In
ch18_plan, “Pivot or Exit”.