Faraz Anis 🍁

Faraz Anis 🍁Sep 14, 2026

You can have 20 years of experience and still be a terrible person to work with. I once watched a very experienced manager lose the respect of a team he had spent years building. On paper, he was impressive. He knew the business inside out, had handled difficult situations, had managed large teams and could probably solve most problems faster than anyone else in the room. But people didn't enjoy working with him. He interrupted people in meetings, dismissed junior employees when they disagreed with him, took credit for ideas that came from his team and had a habit of speaking differently to people depending on their position. The strange thing was that he genuinely believed he was a good leader. He often talked about his experience, the companies he had worked for and everything he had accomplished in his career. But when people talked about working with him, they rarely mentioned any of that. They remembered how he made them feel. One employee told me, "I don't care how much he knows. I just don't want to become like him." That sentence said more than any performance review could. Gallup found that only 37% of U.S. employees strongly agree they are treated with respect at work, a record-low level in its tracking. Gallup also links respect closely with engagement and the quality of the manager relationship. Experience can teach you how to do the work. It doesn't automatically teach you how to treat the people doing it with you. That part comes from character. Workplace culture is built in these small moments: how you respond when someone makes a mistake, whether you listen when a junior employee has a good idea, whether you give credit when someone else did the work, and how you speak to people when you are under pressure. Those moments are often remembered much longer than your job title. Four reflections for leaders: - Your experience gives you knowledge. How you treat people determines what they remember about you. - Don't confuse being direct with being disrespectful. - Give credit freely, especially when someone helped make your work successful. - Pay attention to how people behave when they have power over someone else. No matter how many years of work experience you have, if you don't know how to treat people, it's worthless. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 𝗡𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱, 𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁, 𝗼𝗿 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗳𝗶𝗹𝗲 𝗼𝗿 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗽𝗮𝗴𝗲? 𝗗𝗠 𝗺𝗲, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗹𝗲𝘁’𝘀 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘀 𝟭:𝟭, 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗜 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽.

Faraz Anis 🍁Sep 15, 2026

Sometimes you're not underperforming. You're just in a workplace that doesn't know how to value what you bring. I remember watching someone spend years trying to prove themselves at work. They were dependable, took on difficult projects, helped colleagues whenever they could and rarely complained when the workload increased. Whenever something went wrong, they were usually one of the people asked to fix it. Still, it never seemed to be enough. When they completed something well, the conversation quickly moved to what they could have done better. When they took initiative, they were told they were stepping outside their role. When they asked for more responsibility, they were reminded of the things they hadn't achieved yet. After a while, they started questioning themselves. Maybe they weren't as good as they thought. Maybe they weren't working hard enough. Maybe everyone else was simply better. Then they joined another company. Nothing about their ability had changed. What changed was the environment around them. Their new manager trusted them with important work, asked for their opinion in meetings and actually noticed the effort they were putting in. Their colleagues appreciated what they brought to the team, and they finally had room to do their best work without constantly feeling like they had something to prove. Within a year, their confidence was completely different. That experience made me think about how quickly we blame ourselves when a workplace isn't a good fit. Sometimes the problem isn't your ability. It is the culture around you. A workplace can either give people the confidence to contribute or slowly convince them that their contribution isn't enough. That is why workplace culture matters so much. People spend a huge part of their lives at work, and the environment they work in can shape how comfortable they feel speaking up, taking initiative, making mistakes and growing. Four reflections for leaders: - Don't make good employees spend years proving that they deserve to be trusted. - Notice what people contribute before focusing on what they still need to improve. - Create an environment where people can disagree, ask questions and bring ideas without fear. - If someone consistently performs better after changing teams, look at the environment before blaming the person. Sometimes you can give everything you have to a workplace and still feel like you're falling short. Find a place where your strengths matter and your presence counts. In the wrong place, even your best may never feel enough. In the right place, people will see your value. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 𝗡𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱, 𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁, 𝗼𝗿 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗳𝗶𝗹𝗲 𝗼𝗿 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗽𝗮𝗴𝗲? 𝗗𝗠 𝗺𝗲, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗹𝗲𝘁’𝘀 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘀 𝟭:𝟭, 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗜 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽.

Faraz Anis 🍁Sep 16, 2026

According to Gallup only 31% of U.S. employees were engaged at work in 2026. I once worked with someone who was exceptionally good at what they did. They had built strong relationships with clients, understood the work better than most people on the team, and were usually the person others called when something important needed to be fixed. The company trusted them with bigger responsibilities because they had consistently shown that they could handle them. But after a few years, they started asking a different question. They weren't asking whether they could do more. They were asking why they were creating so much value for the business while doing so little to build something of their own. That conversation changed the way I think about work. There is nothing wrong with having a job and doing it well. A good career can give you experience, relationships, stability, and opportunities that are difficult to create on your own but there is also a danger in becoming so valuable to someone else's business that you forget to become valuable to yourself. If your work is helping a company grow, ask yourself what you are building alongside it. Are you building skills that stay with you? Are you building a name beyond your company? Are you learning enough to have more options? Are you keeping track of what you achieve instead of hoping others remember? And perhaps most importantly, are you being fairly recognised for the value you create? Gallup and Workhuman found that employees who received high-quality recognition were 45% less likely to have left their organisation two years later, while employees who strongly agreed their organisation encouraged them to learn new skills were 47% less likely to be looking or watching for another job. That tells me workplace culture matters here too. A healthy workplace should not make employees feel guilty for wanting to grow beyond their current role. Leaders should want people to build skills, develop confidence, take ownership, and become more capable, even if that eventually gives them more options. You can be loyal to your employer without giving away ownership of your own career. If your work is valuable enough for someone else to profit from, it’s valuable enough for you to profit from too. Four things leaders should pay attention to before a good employee decides to leave: - Don't let your job be the only place your skills matter. - Keep building skills that give you more options. - Notice if your workplace values what you bring. - your career for the long run, not just your next review. Quote influenced from: Justin Welsh _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 𝗡𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱, 𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁, 𝗼𝗿 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗳𝗶𝗹𝗲 𝗼𝗿 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗽𝗮𝗴𝗲? 𝗗𝗠 𝗺𝗲, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗹𝗲𝘁’𝘀 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘀 𝟭:𝟭, 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗜 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽.