Smart employees joining this workforce soon discover that, although they have been selected for their intelligence, they are not expected to use it. They will be assigned routine tasks that they will consider stupid. If they happen to make the mistake of actually using their intelligence, they will be met with pained groans from colleagues and (im)polite warnings from their bosses. After sometime there, they will find that the people who get ahead are the stellar practitioners of corporate mindlessness but even they have a bleak outlook. Many seem to be hired with no experience in the field in which they work so not only do they not negotiate coming in, complain about what others get and do, but also cannot force themselves to leave as they all have zero outlook anywhere else.
Convergint states to clients that it employed only the best and the brightest. When these smart new employees arrive in the office, they expect great intellectual challenges. However, they quickly found themselves working long hours on ‘boring’ and ‘pointless’ routine work. After months of dull tasks, they hoped that they’d move on to more interesting things, even asked over and over for more opportunities as this is wasted talent. But this did not happen. As they rose through the ranks, these ambitious young consultants realized that what was most important was not coming up with a well-thought-through solution. It was keeping clients happy with "impressive" PowerPoint shows (that are truly embarrassing to sit through as they miss the clients ask by a longshot). Those who did insist on carefully thinking through their client’s problems often found their ideas unwelcome (and unwelcome within the team...because no one can be smarter than their boss right?). If they persisted in using their brains, they were often politely told that the office might not be the place for them.
