I liked my last cool job, but after some time, I'm most proud of another one

It's difficult for Americans and Europeans to understand what it means to work in Russia at McDonald's or Burger King. It was a good job where people were given a lot of knowledge, received quality training at every level, and were paid decently. At McDonald's, I absorbed everything. At home in St. Petersburg, I have a huge stack of textbooks and workbooks - from instructor to restaurant manager. Although I never became a manager, I managed to get these materials for myself. Those who were eager to learn at McDonald's gained excellent management skills and knowledge, which they later applied in other companies. The main thing is to understand people and processes and be able to manage them. Later, I met many leaders who were good at engineering, working with lasers, producing, filming, but couldn't manage and were poor leaders. Many have a strange feeling that if an engineer works as an engineer for 10 years, they automatically become a good leader. For some reason, few people understand that management needs to be learned.

There's a parable about a nuclear power plant and a barn. When someone builds a barn, everyone around becomes an advisor and "knows" how to do it better. Everyone considers their opinion important and necessary. But when it comes to building a nuclear power plant, no one interferes with advice. This is because in complex and specialized fields, like nuclear energy, people recognize their incompetence and don't risk giving advice.

A similar situation is often encountered in design: many people think they understand it and actively express their opinions, even without professional experience. However, true professionals know that design, like any other field, requires deep knowledge and understanding.

Apparently, it's the same with management: everyone thinks that managing is easy.

So, this was an important preface.

I love my last job as a product marketing manager, where I interact with a huge number of people - directors, producers, cameramen, editors, technicians, graphics specialists. I was integrated into the complex production process of many projects simultaneously and made my contribution. All this created fuel for a huge machine, allowing it to move at high speeds. I, as an element of the system, helped create the ideal concentration of this "fuel". Of course, there were projects that I almost completely implemented myself, and this brought me more joy.

But I'm especially proud of my work as a training director at Burger King. I prepared and launched each restaurant, developed control, training, and analytics systems, created training materials, conducted trainings, and worked personally with almost every manager, assistant director, director, and regional manager. Burger King in St. Petersburg is literally infused with my DNA and management style. Even 8 years after leaving, I heard from former colleagues that much still remained from me. Every time they encounter this, they experience joy and warm memories of me. It was surprising that after 13 years, when I found myself in a difficult situation, many of my former colleagues organized and collected money to help me, although I certainly didn't ask them for it.

But, to be honest, the first year was very difficult. I worked 12 hours a day, 6 days a week. It was a year of starting from scratch, and there was a lot to do. We worked to the point of exhaustion to make everything work. And we succeeded.

It happens that your last job is much more interesting than working at Burger King, but over time you value it less. Because then you did a lot on your own and left a huge mark. Perhaps it's vanity.

As always, I invite you to share your opinion in the comments
With love 😽 🤗 😘
K