Some time ago, a 10,000-word resignation letter from an Alibaba employee sparked heated discussions on the Internet, making many people think about how meaningful complaints and reflections in the workplace are. The author of this article shared his story of writing resignation letters three times through personal experience, and deeply analyzed the various complex mentalities and workplace dilemmas behind the resignation letters for your reference.
Recently, Alibaba’s 10,000-word resignation article has attracted a lot of attention, and I just wrote a related article in the past two days: Alibaba employee resignation letter, Jack Ma replied: Go well… The bad embryo who throws the pot, the coward who takes the blame, the two true gods at the top of the food chain in the workplace!
Then a fan asked: What do you think of this behavior of sending a long list of resignation letters…
I thought about it and thought that a big guy said it very appropriately:
Who can’t complain, how to solve it In the end, it is estimated that it has reached the height of philosophy and humanity on the upper line.
There is no use for farts.
The Internet industry has eaten so many skyrocketing dividends, and now it is only slowing down, and then enterprises and people in the enterprise are still following the inertia, pursuing high growth, high income, and high emotional value, and then encountering some challenges, just internally pinching and pressing.
Look at those industries that have been struggling for many years, the mentality is calm, and many problems are just like that, anyway, most problems cannot be solved.
Then, thinking about it, I am still a little unsatisfied, here is still a statement, let’s talk about the three resignation letters that happened to me.
For the first time, he was used as a gunman
This was many years ago, when I was in a small team of about 5 people in the Tencent branch in Chengdu, which included veteran employees who had worked for more than 5 years except me, some of whom were transferred back to Chengdu from the Shenzhen headquarters and some from the Guangzhou branch back to Chengdu.
Smart students should have seen that this is a pension team, and because the team is small and the business growth is slowing down, the whole team is lifeless, and the old employees have a natural sense of superiority to the newcomers to the team.
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All in all, this is the team that I have felt the most depressed in all my years, and it is about to disband in the past year…
In fact, the dissolution is a good thing, but a few old oilers in the team are very unhappy, which breaks their dream of long-term retirement.
So there is an old oiler who has been complaining all kinds of things, and he mainly pulls the target of hatred is the group leader, and repeatedly asks everyone who leaves to send an email to “complain”.
Now it seems that these old oilmen are very heavy, and I was also a little young and vigorous at that time, and I sent an email when I left…
But I had some eyes on it at the time, the main content of the email was similar to Ali’s resignation letter, probably because it was a pity that our team didn’t seize the opportunity, and it was not aimed at anyone.
It’s just that those old oilmen didn’t send emails when they left…
So what should be his motivation for the resignation letter here? It didn’t really make sense because I was too young at the time…
First of all, this resignation letter is more of the result of being picked up; Secondly, I had a very narrow vision at that time, and I couldn’t see many complex structures clearly, so it was a pity that the content was expressed more.
To sum it up in four words: moaning without illness, a meaningless resignation letter.
The second time, it was reported across levels
The second resignation letter incident came from my subordinates, and this letter was sent directly to the CEO, the original text is too long, I have extracted the core points (see the picture at the end of the original text):
Polite aside, the core accusation is that the lack of team leaders has led to IT being reduced from a “decision supporter” to a tool person with “inadequate execution”.
Among the “crimes” he listed, the most representative are two points: technological restructuring is abandoned halfway: he painfully pointed out that a technical restructuring project that could solve IT cost and quality problems in the next few years was unfinished halfway, resulting in a more complex system, no results, and pure waste. Hasty handling of outsourcing issues: He criticized the introduction of manpower outsourcing, which only solved the problem of “login” and turned a blind eye to core risks such as how to control quality, management efficiency, ensure security, and cross-departmental coordination, which is likely to become an ineffective investment in the end.
As a named leader, when I saw this kind of “accusation” with incomplete information and cross-level reporting, I was extremely irritable, and I couldn’t even talk about anger, and I felt stupid and annoyed.
The “symptoms” he saw may exist, but he completely got the “cause” wrong and ignored the systemic dilemma behind it. So I had to reply to an article, which roughly reads:
1. Resource perspective
I know better than anyone what the global system is like! But the problem is: the focus of the business has shifted, and it is impossible to say whether the previous business will be abandoned, why are you going to reconstruct it?
Coupled with the cold winter of the industry and the tightening of budget resources, resources are the line of life and death. Spend 10 million to reconstruct? I’m afraid it’s not crazy!
The “halfway point” he accused me, in my eyes, was unnecessary.
2. Outsourcing issues
The introduction of outsourcing itself is a “sub-optimal solution” as a last resort, and it is a first aid to quickly fill the manpower gap and cope with business pressure.
The problems of “quality, safety, and coordination” that he entangled in are problems that anyone can see.
However, under the multiple squeeze of resources, time and manpower, many times we can only “solve whether there is or not first, and then solve whether it is good or not”. The pain and balance in it are not enough for outsiders to understand.
3. Root cause
The chaos he described (formalism, doing half of things) is indeed the status quo, but this is by no means simply “leader incompetence”.
The root cause is: the involution and intensification of contradictions caused by [slowing growth].
When the incremental cake disappears, the team can only fall into a stock fight. Micro-innovation, OKR, and review at the company level are all trying to find new breakthroughs or maintain cohesion, but the effect is destined to be uneven, or even formality (such as the “sign-in and leaving” he complained about).
The Leader’s dilemma is: under the resource ceiling, how to distribute that little “scraps”?
Is it to guarantee short-term business (execution)? Or bet on long-term technology (refactoring)? Is it to build a self-built team (high cost)? Or risk introducing outsourcing (high risk)?
Behind every choice is a cut-off trade-off. From the perspective of operation and maintenance, he only saw “not done well”, but did not see “no children” on the overall chessboard.
The above is a reply from a few years ago, I believe he may not have understood it all at the time, and the “cost reduction and efficiency increase” in the cold winter of the industry is wrapped around everyone.
We, the leaders and executives in the middle, are all individuals affected by this cold snap. His idealistic resignation letter is more like a mourning for a “golden age” than a sober awareness of the cruel reality of the present.
The third time, the mentality collapsed
The third time is just written below, the background of which is that after I was forced by the upper and lower ranks due to long overtime work and the project goals did not meet expectations, my mentality collapsed and I left impulsively…
The content of the resignation letter here is sensitive and inconvenient to release, and its general content is:
First, I have worked hard enough, and I can’t do this now;
second, the team has such and such problems, what are the long-term problems, what are the short-term problems, you play slowly, and you will not accompany you;
Third, out of good intentions, I will give you some more advice, as for whether you listen or not, it’s up to you, anyway, it’s hard to persuade the ghost who wants to die…
Haha, now it seems that the resignation letter is so ridiculous…
I believe that when the boss saw the resignation letter, the whole person was angry, and in fact he may have been angry too, because there was a lot of unnecessary trouble in the follow-up…
Different from the first time, although my mentality was a bit broken at that time, the resignation letter was the result of my deliberation, although I had some emotions, but I also told some truth, but you have to ask me what is the motive?
I’ll tell you for the good of the company, but do you believe it?
If you face yourself seriously, I will tell you that there are a few motivations here:
First of all, because it was an impulsive resignation, there were some grievances in the work process, and I was used to being a licking dog and a servant, and finally I wanted to come to a master and not serve, which was actually a bit of a competitive mentality;
Further, I actually have feelings for the company, including for the project, especially for my colleagues, because this time it is a naked resignation…
Finally, although I am a little embarrassed, there may still be a little coquettish emotion in it, probably if you say something nice, you give me a step, I won’t leave…
To sum up, it would be very interesting if I brought my “dog” emotion into seeing Ali’s resignation email:
First, I have been in a company for many years, belonging to the kind of very old employees, I believe that even if I work lying down, it will be easier to get results, after all, I am surrounded by familiar people and things;
second, the market is really not good, and the company’s treatment is really okay;
third, I am indeed not young;
What if at this time, the “dad” above saw my resignation letter, he really began to appreciate me, and he upgraded me from P8 to P9? Then I still have a yarn?
Therefore, all the long resignation articles may be a little bit of a feeling of lack of talent, which may be more or less hopeful to be reused.
But whether you are really talented and unmet, or whether you are an old oilman in the eyes of others, this is unknown, after all, there are many people in the company who don’t like me…
epilogue
Before I organized an executive strategy meeting in a company, there was originally a module for executives and directors to sort out what problems the company had, and the boss emphasized: the sharper the better!
I vaguely felt that something was wrong, sure enough, the question behind it was really sharp, I was surprised when I got the first-hand materials, and the sensitive content was removed. Have all historical acquisitions failed? how to view the frequent departure of executives; Are we working behind closed doors, can we make products while sitting in the office? …
Hey, you asked everyone to ask questions, everyone turned into Zhuge Liang, I clearly remember that the boss was holding the list and frowning deeply, and muttered silently: Zhen, do you really think of yourself as the chairman?
Then, let everyone think about new questions: what positioning and responsibilities do you/team assume in the company’s strategy, and how to help the company’s strategy to be realized; Specifically, what work has you/team done to implement the company’s strategy, what contributions have you made to the company’s core capacity building, and what you are preparing to do in the future;
As a result, the calf was finished immediately: let everyone ask questions, and everyone was very awesome; Let everyone put forward ideas, and there will always be someone to talk about; Once I asked everyone what they did, most people were dumbfounded…
Looking at these problems a year after I started my own business, I actually felt that the previous bosses were actually not easy, because success was too difficult, so the social mechanism was actually more punishing those who worked hard
For example, if you are a migrant worker who is safe and self-disciplined, silently working your own job and taking the salary you deserve, this is actually the best solution; Occasionally, you can expect a promotion and a salary increase, and if there is something bad about the company, you can still complain a few words, which is actually not risky.
And people with ideas have a hard time, it seems that they have a mission, they must solve a problem, they must verify a theory, which requires a lot of mental and financial investment.
And when I started my business, I finally understood that every strategic investment or even project investment is actually a kind of gambling, as shown in the figure:
Many people always think that it is easier for large companies to do strategy than small companies, and they don’t have to think about resources, which I can only say is naïve.
It is recommended that you play the landlord in the QQ area (very decompressed), the price code is different for different levels, but they all have the same problem: you can win a few in a row and take off directly; You may also lose 2 in a row, and you may lose your underwear!
A small company only costs 10 million a year, and a large company has an advertisement of 100 million, do you think he can afford it? In fact, he also hurts when he floats in the water!
In the end, let’s go back to the resignation letter itself from this perspective, you can think about whether the investment failed before you asked in the resignation letter, and whether you found some pseudo-executives to come in and sabotage before.
After all, you just have a mouthful, but people have paid the price of real money!
If you really have feelings for the company, you still need to ask yourself: what is my value to the company, what contribution have I made, maybe we will find that we may really be dispensable, and this is the reason for our departure….
Finally, attach the employee’s resignation letter:
My feedback:
