the corporate ladder

last week i was invited by one of my seniors to attend a training on FAS 123R (for all you non-accounting nerds out there, FAS 123R discusses proper treatment of stock-based compensation). and since i am well on my way to 100%-accounting-nerd, i was very interested and maybe even a little excited about this training: it is a subject that we studied pretty in-depth in school, and i am interested to see its "real-life" application.

last winter, i got a brief introductory training about the application of 123R from the manager on one of my clients. i want to know more.

so i signed up for the training and put it on my calendar. i got a follow-up email from the training coordinator asking me to select one of two restaurants for lunch. i was set!

well, today i got a quick email from the "training champion" (why we have to call them the "champion", i still don't understand, but we do: we have a training champion, a recruiting champion, a women-at-gt champion, who knows what else ... whatever) asking me if i knew of any other second-year associates that would be attending the training. i quickly responded that i think i am the only one.

about an hour later, i got an email from my senior asking me to not forward the information and invite to anyone else and not to tell anyone else that i am attending the training. strange. but okay. i don't think i have told anyone else except the training champion and coordinator. after another hour, i got a follow-up email from my senior asking me to not attend the training -- she explained that it was intended to be offered only to seniors and above, and if i were to attend, it should have been offered to all the second-year associates.

disappointment.

disappointment that only an accounting nerd can fully comprehend -- i was being denied the opportunity to revel in 8 hours of training on the 300-page document known as FAS 123R. *gasp!*

i responded to my senior that i understood her request and simply asked her to forward me copies of the training materials so that i could go over them myself.

and then i complained about the whole situation to one of my co-workers. heh. you see, i really didn't understand why i shouldn't be allowed to attend. i mean, i understand that the firm needs to be fair to all the employees ... blah, blah, blah ... but really. this is a subject that i am particularly interested in: i have some experience with it -- probably much more than other second-year associates -- and i would like to have to opportunity to learn more and to improve on my knowledge and skills. i mean, isn't that kind of the point of all this?

my co-worker turned on the lightbulb for me: it's all about competition. as she explained, there are probably not a few people out there that would be quite miffed if i got to attend this training that wasn't even offered to them. they would feel like they are being passed up and that i am receiving special treatment. well, i have a master's degree, too ... was that special treatment? or was it me going after what i wanted? there are many trainings out there that i have no particular interest in. the not-for-profit training that was held in august: no interest whatsoever. but this is something i *am* interested in.

so. with the encouragement from a second co-worker, i just emailed the training champion to ask her to allow me to attend the training. we'll see what she says. i am pretty certain that the answer will be "no," but i am trying. we'll see ...