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It’s not sour grapes. Sometimes grapes are actually sour.

By Bamboo In The Wind

In 2020, a few Michelin Star chefs opted out of Michelin listing despite being listed at 3 stars or higher. They grew incredibly uncomfortable with the ranking process and found it hard to handle the pressure. 

One of the chefs was added back to the list by Michelin on their own. He did not care because he chose to return the status and not be part of the race he did not want to be in.

The reasons for their decisions were simple.

- Their need for freedom to be creative in the kitchen was not up to them

- They were looking for a stress-free environment because the Michelin process was way too stringent

- They also felt that young chefs from graduate schools needed to see better role models for work-life balance by being on their own. If nothing changed, they saw the risk of young-chefs burning out and leaving their professions.

While the problem may not be widespread, we see similar situations prevail in other industries. After the pandemic job dissatisfaction rate is high, and attrition is skyrocketing.

Workplaces that take away the freedom to operate overtly create pressures of abiding by process and add burdens compliances lose their charm. People cannot stay creative when paraphernalia becomes mainstream activity.

Attrition is a phenomenon of taking away the creative aspect of work and adding monotony under the garbs of discipline or company culture. It kills the competitive advantage that brought those people to work with you in the first place.

Rising disinterest in a college education or growing dropouts is a symptom of a flawed grading system that is overly focused on testing rather than learning abilities. Comparative test-based grading puts down the importance of making things, documenting facts and drawing conclusions which are critical decision-making steps to achieve concrete outcomes.

Showing courage in opting out of an adverse system (which puts the burden of compliance and stress while promising the subscription to the achievement chart) prevents future disappointment.

Opting out gives you back the control to choose the environment that offers freedom to create, explore, and experiment and make the process enjoyable.

No one needs to see your decision as "Sour Grapes". Sometimes the grapes are really sour!

Leave sour ones aside to make your picks wisely!

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