Jolted – Anthony Klotz (1)

And this reflection takes place when you’re perhaps more marketable than you’ve ever been in your career. After all, you just added a new, higher status line to your résumé. Not surprisingly, then, rather than becoming more committed to their company, employees sometimes become more likely to leave after they’ve been promoted. Are they ungrateful traitors? No, of course not. But thinking about our careers with a broad, positive mindset can open our thinking to alternatives to our current job.

Researchers call this phenomenon, wherein being promoted can make some people more likely to leave the company, the employability paradox. Strategy scholar Daniel Sands found evidence of the employability paradox among chefs in fine dining restaurants, after they receive what many would view as the most positive jolt in the industry—earning a Michelin star.[*1] Funnily enough, restaurants that earned their first star when the prestigious Michelin Guide expanded to NYC for the first time in 2005 were more likely to shut down in the following decade than those that did not.

Counterintuitive, right? Looking into the reasons, Sands found business became more difficult post–Michelin star in part because many of the chefs, who had gained an immediate status bump from the recognition, became more demanding (e.g., expecting higher wages) and were more likely to quit.[*2] I want to be clear here.

The relationship between promotions and higher employee commitment is positive. The same goes for employee recognition and commitment. Thus, leaders should develop and promote internal candidates and reward them as much as possible. But what the research shows us is that in some cases, the positive events that happen to us at work, like promotions, paradoxically jolt us into reconsidering our relationship with work.

Positive Collateral Jolts Of course, we don’t only experience positive emotions in response to the good things that happen to us at work; we’re excited and happy when good things happen to our coworkers, too. Well, I should say that we’re sometimes excited and happy. Let’s be honest. It depends on the coworker, right? When it’s someone we don’t particularly like, we might feel jealous or annoyed.

But when something great happens to a work friend, we do like it when they share their good news. Research tells us that when someone shares their good news with people they’re close to, they not only feel even better, but the people they share the news with also get a bump of good feelings.

Win-win! Concerning jolts, when we’re happy for our friend, we may bask a bit in the reflected glow of their greatness. And in this happy state, we’re in a prime mental space to consider new possibilities for ourselves. So, when close coworkers’ happy news involves their careers, it creates a situation in which we feel positive emotions with them but are also prompted to reflect on our own careers.

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prhid_prh_7.4a_155365501_c0_r0 OceanofPDF.com CONTENTS INTRODUCTION The Big Jolt PART I WHY DO WE QUIT OUR JOBS? ONE The Lottery Question TWO Everyday Events, Extraordinary Effects THREE Getting to the Root of the Jolt FOUR Carry On PART II JOLTS AT WORK FIVE Direct Jolts SIX Collateral Jolts SEVEN Honeymoon Jolts EIGHT Speak Up PART III JOLTS BEYOND WORK NINE Crossover Jolts TEN Remote Jolts ELEVEN Positive Jolts TWELVE Lean Back PART IV WALKING AWAY THIRTEEN Preparing to Exit FOURTEEN Turning Your Resignation Intentions into Reality PART V HELPING OTHERS NAVIGATE JOLTS FIFTEEN Recognize Your Role in Others’ Future Jolts SIXTEEN Surface Jolts as They Happen SEVENTEEN Shape the Effects of Jolts EIGHTEEN Create a Positive Post-Jolt Relationship Epilogue Acknowledgments Resources Notes Index About the Author OceanofPDF.com I INTRODUCTION THE BIG JOLT n the autumn of 2020, I received an email from journalist Arianne Cohen, who was working on a story about how to quit a job.

We scheduled a thirty-minute meeting but ended up chatting for over an hour. Toward the end of our conversation, I remarked that her article was going to be useful for all of those who were going to quit in the coming wave of resignations. Although it was an offhand comment for me, Arianne’s interest was piqued. She asked me to explain.

Fumbling my way through an answer, I reflected on the MBA leadership course I was currently teaching in Houston. My students were early-career professionals working full time, while pursuing a graduate degree, during a pandemic (bless their hearts). As the students and I discussed their experiences as leaders and employees (in masks, with me behind a pane of plexiglass and half of the class on Zoom), something seemed “off” about how these hardworking, high-performing professionals were feeling about work.

And it wasn’t just them.

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.

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