By Aaron Mchugh

by AARON McHUGH
DEDICATION
This mission statement is for artists,
entrepreneurs, liberators, innovators,
heretics, and, most especially, for forty-hourMonday-through-Friday-work-week employees.
This is an invitation to unravel what the world
has taught you about YOUR work, your career,
and your future.
Is this book for me?

This book is for you if
1. You want to enjoy going to work each day.
2. You feel confident that your career is too important to approach with apathy.
3. You want to gain greater influence at work.
4. Youre ready to explore new alternatives for finding recognition for your work.
After reading, youll be able to:
1. Establish a unique strategy for firing your boss.
2. Know how to obtain the freedom to offer your best in any job.
3. Understand why quitting your job wont help you.
Dont Quit Your Job - Fire Your Boss Copyright Aaron McHugh
INTRODUCTION
Introduction
I am not telling you how to get rich quick. I am not selling you some tuition
program or training course I have created.
Rather, Im offering my experience and my story to you purely for your own
enrichment and encouragement. Im offering my pain, my joy, and my discovery
freely in hopes that you, too, will find a new rhythm for your career.
I love to work.
I dont work because I am a workaholic but because I love the invention and
creativity that happens in my career.
When I fired my boss, my career transitioned to an entirely new plane of
enjoyment for me.
You, too, can discover a new way to approach your work.
You, too, can have a brand new job starting tomorrow.
INTRODUCTION
DonT Quit Your Job

After years of working for the same company, the challenges are largely gone, the
original zeal you felt for your job has plateaued to a tolerable good enough. You
say to yourself, I bet if I can get a job over there at company X, Id be excited again.
Before you push the eject button, think of the hassle of brushing up your resume,
looking for a new job, going through the interviews, evaluating the benefits
packages, and comparing the compensation.
Lets face it: The biggest gain in changing jobs is that you will restart the clock on
a new set of challenges, a new pairing of relationships, and a new boss.
What if you
fired your boss
instead?
What if I told you that this is not the answer you are really searching for?
What if you fired your boss instead?
DonT Quit Your Job
Lets start with what you

think and believe
You have the power
to transform your
workplace.
Only if you are willing
to recalibrate what
you believe.
The battleground of your thinking is the first place to drive a stake in the ground.
If you believe that your boss, your factory, your pension, or your biggest customer
is your only hope for a prosperous tomorrow, then you will do anything to protect
those eggs in that lone basket.
In an unwritten contract you will resign your will, your opinions, your creativity
and your passion in trade for self-preservation.
The more you feel like a victim who is subject to the whims of the company or the
policies of leadership, the more you feel like a slave to your mortgage payment, the
more you will shrink back and keep signing the unwritten contract.
Two choices will always remain:

- How will you choose to respond?
- How will you choose to interpret your experiences?
You have the power to transform your workplace experience solely based on your
interpretations and reactions. Tomorrow, when you return to your office, you can
have a brand new job and a new arrangement for your future. But only if you are
willing to recalibrate what you believe.
WHAT YOU BELIEVE
The Things We Think And

Do Not Say:
THE FUTURE OF OUR
BUSINESS.
Jerry Maguire is alive again

Do you remember watching the 1996 movie Jerry Maguire? Remember Tom
Cruise playing the slick sports agent whose career implodes in a single afternoon?
In the first three minutes of the movie we get the Cliffs Notes of his life. He has
spent years working for the most successful sports management company of his
day. He is fierce and suave, and he is dying inside.
In his words, he had become another shark in a suit.
One night, just before his corporate conference, he finds himself at a moral
crossroads, a point of breakthrough. During his wrestlinghis epiphanyhe does
headstands in his hotel room and unravels what he had previously learned about
the world.
THE FUTURE OF OUR BUSINESS
He starts writing a mission statement.

He is not merely writing a memo, he realizes, but a mission statement. A
suggestion for the future. In it, he advocates a provocative concept to his
coworkers: charge less money, take on fewer clients, and give more personal
attention.
In the next scene we see him running 110 bound copies of his manifesto, title page
and all, and stuffing them one by one into his colleagues inboxes.
He calls it, The Things We Think and Do Not Say: The Future of Our Business.
Jerry Maguire is alive again.
His mission statement makes him famous, but for all the wrong reasons.
His peers smile as they make eye contact from across the conference room while
making sure not to stand close enough to catch the career-suicide bug that they
knew had surely infected him.
Soon Jerry is fired and leaves the office with his mission statement in one hand
and the goldfish, his only heretic recruit, in the other.
OK. To be fair, the cute secretary comes with him, as well. She cant resist a man
of principle.
10
What does Jerry Maguire

have to do with me?
Everything. What you are reading now is a mission statement. Not merely a memo,
but a suggestion for the future. You awoke to your inbox stuffed full of my sweatstained declaration of independence.
This is a manifesto.
A coup dtat.
A sudden illegal overthrow.
I am inviting you to unravel what the world has taught you about your work,
your career, and your future.
I may end up being the lonely guy holding a goldfish with no one following me.
But, like Jerry, Im willing to run the risk.
Ive lived too long following the rules and expecting the outcome to match
the promises.
It hasnt worked.
11
The things we think but do not say

Do work you
believe in.
We have been told this:

1. Get a good job.
2. Work hard.
3. Save money in your 401K.
4. Retire at age 65 as a millionaire and travel the world while eating caviar.
We have been told that these four things will make us happy.
That is a lie.
Or at least it is a distortion of the truth.
Instead, what if your objectives looked more like these?
1. Do work that you believe in.
2. Work with people you want to work with and work for.
3. Save money every month but dont count on your 401K to be enough to send
you into early retirement as a millionaire.
4. Dont wait until your retirement years to
- Enjoy life.
- Invest in relationships with your family and friends.
- Pursue your dreams and adventures.
The things WE THINK BUT DO NOT SAY
12
If youve ever done a few headstands in the

middle of the night wondering, believing, and
dreaming of a better way to work,
lets roll.
Work is where we spend almost 30% of our life.

There has to be a better way to work than the
way most people choose to.
14
Change the rules forever

What if you redefined the terms of the
unwritten contract to be in your favor?
What if what really troubles you about your

boss could be within your control to change?
What if starting tomorrow, you could have

a new job experience without changing
companies or job duties?
I think Ive uncovered a few nuggets of gold

that may shift the trajectory of your career.
15
How the hell am I going

pull this off?
Fire my boss?
How will I pay my mortgage?
What will my friends think?
16
Indentured servants
Forty years of hard labor
In medieval times, indentured servants worked the land of a king for a fixed
number of years until their debt was paid in full. The king owned the field, the
crop and the harvest yield. He got rich, he ate and drank as much as he liked, and
the servants learned to live on the crumbs from his table.
Kings love servants and minions.
Does this sound familiar to you?
For many people work can be a place where they feel like indentured servants. It
can be a place where they feel obligated and stuck.
Many companies and leadership teams have this same ancient mentality.
They believe that their employees are lucky to work for them. They believe
that each worker is a replaceable cog. They are looking for compliant workers
and employees, who, under the weight of needing to meet their own financial
obligations, settle in for forty years of hard labor.
But it doesnt have to be this way.
Why approach your workday with this kind of obligation?
INDENTURED SERVANTS
17
I was an indentured servant

I realized that my truest desire was for a partnership, not an obligation. I dreamed
of being in a business arrangement where the company and I were equally
investing in each other.
Believe it or not, it is possible. I found that part of the problem was that I was
acting like a factory worker or an indentured servant. In fact, I was training other
workers around me to relate to me as a replaceable cog.
Once I could name and describe this arrangement I could begin to navigate and
craft a new arrangement. I stopped thinking and acting like an indentured servant
and I started being a skilled craftsman instead.
INDENTURED SERVANTS
18
THE
UNWRITTEN
CONTRACT
19
The unwritten contract

Our compliance is not their fault.
Most people sign an unwritten contract every day. They trade a paycheck for
predictability.
Does your arrangement go something like this?

Boss, you give me a predictable every-two-week paycheck, health insurance,
projects to work on, lunch breaks, and a Christmas party, and Ill give you my will,
my dignity, my freedom of choice, my security, my sleep, and my future plans for
my life.
Like the indentured servant, most employees take on the goals of the crownthe
company and the customersas their priority instead of their own goals. Creating
great products and building great companies are wonderful ways to invest in
a career, but at what expense? Too often the objectives of the kingdomthe
companybecome the only mission. What you want, what you need, or what you
value is rarely included in the companys quarterly objectives.
How frequently have you been asked in your quarterly or annual review, How
is the company treating you? What can the company do for you? How can the
company help make you a more content, enthusiastic, invigorated, challenged
contributor?
THE UNWRITTEN CONTRACT
20
YOU HAVE MADE A TRADE

The problem is that you have made a trade, an agreement: You work for them and
they believe that their missionregardless of your feelings about itshould be
fulfilling to you.
You will never offer your best if you are constantly

editing yourself to keep in step with the contract
you signed.
We can end up yielding so much of our true selves that we subject ourselves to
emotional tyranny.
Isnt it true that fear is the driving force behind our compliance? If we hold
conflicting views with our company or leadership, if we desire more than what is
offered in the trade, we fear the consequences of standing up for what we desire
and believe.
21
MY compliance WAs not their fault.

I owe this realization to a coworker. We were taking a walk
in the parking lot together outside of our office when he
told me, I get it. I sign a contract and accept the terms of
the agreement every time I cash a paycheck.
He was right.
I had a business dealing that accurately depicted this type
of contract. It was a contractual agreement between three
parties that totaled seven figures over five years. One of
the parties never signed the contract, but they cashed the
checks each year for their portion of the compensation.
After a few years the attorneys concluded that even
though this party never signed the contract, they were
acting according to the contract terms and receiving
compensation for doing so. Therefore, cashing the check
was as good as signing the piece of paper.
Cashing the check is as good as

signing the contract.
By cashing my check every two weeks, I was agreeing with

the terms of my employment even though I wasnt externally
condoning or agreeing with those terms.
I had to take ownership of my participation in the

dysfunctional system.
I could no longer blame or point fingers.

I had to become a part of the solution or stop cashing the
checks.
22
Your boss
23
Your boss does not hold the verdict on you.

Your boss, customers, company, and coworkers should
not hold as much influence on you as they do.
The verdict on your impact, your worth, your genius,
and your value is not in their hands.
Too much energy is consumed with interpreting our

leaderships appreciation and acknowledgement of our
contribution.
Do your dinner table conversations and dates with

your spouse get chewed up with workplace drama?
- What your boss said

- What your boss didnt say
- How your boss said it
- Why it should have been said
- Why it should not have been said
I bet even your spouse is tired of your boss.
Of course, all of us want to be noticed and appreciated for

our workplace contributions, but we often put too heavy
a weight on whether or not our boss or company displays
appreciation or gratitude for us in the way we desire.
As a result we can internalize feedback or lack thereof as
a verdict on our workplace value. Although feedback is an
indicator, it is not a summary.
your boss
24

Here are some things I have learned that have helped
me weather long dry spells of negative feedback or
even silence.
1. Stop doing your work for your boss.
Your idea is not good or bad as a result of the feedback
you receive. If you believe you have a great idea, a
worthy project, or a good decision, then go for it! Do
it because you believe in it and because it is the right
thing to do.
2. Assume the best.
No news is good news. Start heading down the path
you believe you should follow and assume the best
outcome, assume everyone is supportive, and assume
you are going to be successful. If someone in authority
has a problem with it, they will tell you so.
3. Consider the source.

If you consistently receive negative feedback from
the same person(s) every time, consider that their
negativity might be their own personal problem. It took
me a long time to realize that consensus building and
democracy is really great most of the time. Some people
will never be supportive or helpful. That is just the
way they choose to be, and that is OK. Dont let their
negativity stop you from doing your own great work.
4. Own your mistakes.
If you make a mistake, say so. Own your shortcomings,
missteps, bad judgment calls, etc. Most everyone is
appreciative and understanding when you say, I made
a mistake. I am sorry.
5. Your boss isnt getting what he needs either.
Yep. Your boss desires the same validation and
acknowledgement that you do. And more than likely
if he is not giving it to you, well, he isnt getting it from
his boss, either.
the verdict
25
Realizing my boss does not hold the

verdict on me
This one was a massive tectonic shift for me. Once I realized that my boss didnt
have the verdict on me, I was free to do my best work regardless of his or her
acknowledgement of it.
It was such a relief.
I had spent so many years attempting to gain the appreciation and confidence of
my leaders that I was exhausted.
The truth is, it was like playing a baseball game with one eye on the game and one
eye on my boss in the bleachers. As a result, I was never fully in the game because
I was more worried about whether or not I was being seen for the great plays I
was making.
Now Ive learned to offer my best work every day and get my head into the game
instead of spending so much time wondering what the commentators are saying.
the verdict
26
WERE GOING TO BE WORKING FOR A WHILE

It was very common for our grandparents to find a good company and hitch their
wagon to it for the next thirty years. In the post-depression and post-WWII era,
finding predictable work was a blessing.
If you were able to work for a company like Ford Motor Company, then you were
enrolled in their retirement pension plan. This golden handcuff tethered you to
the company until you reached retirement age, but your contract was mutually
beneficial: the company benefited from your investment and you benefited from a
reliable income source for the rest of your life.
That has all changed.
27
28
Were going to be working for a while.
Were going to be at it
for a while and there is no
payoff for hanging on.
Youre free to choose
where to invest your skills
and talents.
Imagine that last week you attended your companys retirement plan meeting.
The young thirty-something presenter showed a chart proclaiming how the stock
market boasts a predictable 30-year average rate of return of 10%.
For the last 15 years, however, youve only experienced down markets. You follow
the advertised best practices, contributing your faithful (x)% every month, but you
know that your retirement plan is not the golden handcuff it once was.
Indeed, the Ford Motor Companys pension plan model vanished with our
grandparents generation. And the promise of the stock market producing wild
amounts of wealth with which we can travel the world and eat caviar does not
seem to be panning out, either.
The belief that your companys retirement plan will provide a guaranteed path
to financial security is not anything you should count on. Instead, you should
accept that you will be working for more years than the thirty-something presenter
promised in that meeting.
Lets not feel obligated to stick it out with any one company for our entire career.
The good news is that when the pension plan vanished, employees received
greater freedom of choice. We can make career decisions largely independent of a
company retirement plan.
Since most of us wont end up in early retirement, we should certainly make sure
our work is fulfilling.
29
IM going to be working for a while.

This one was difficult for me. In the early 1990s there was
a new story every week on the covers of Fast Company,
Wired, and Entrepreneur about the latest college kid
whose company was purchased for XX million dollars. I
loved how these stories were constant advertisements for
what was possible in our country.
It was true: you could build or create something that
could instantly be valued at large amounts of money. The
Internet was really just getting started; anything online
was sexier than brick and mortar.
A coworker and I came up with an idea to unite cubicle
dwellers everywhere under one community website,
Cubicleplanet.com. We printed T-shirts, purchased
domain names, cut a radio commercial and called
ourselves the Founding Fathers of the Cubicle Nation.
It was going to be cool. You could register your cubicle
on the global cubicleplanet.com map by GPS coordinates
and have essentially a Facebook-like page to post your
status updates.
We thought wed be millionaires

in no time.
Fifteen years later, I am still working. And most of

those college sophomores who received venture capital
investments are working again, as well.
The nugget of wisdom I learned here is that while big

home runs and wild amounts of sudden wealth do happen,
the odds of them happening are generally slim. Instead,
the tortoise approach (long and slow) is likely a more
reliable and predictable one than that of the hare (quick
and filled with shortcuts).
I am content to faithfully save money every month

and I try not to pay too much attention to my portfolio
performance. Simultaneously, I am always looking for
interesting new innovations that make a compelling
business solution.
I dont have a reliable pension plan and I dont foresee
a huge amount of money falling from the sky any time
soon, so Ive settled into the idea that Im going to be
working for a while.
All the more reason to make sure I am enjoying what

I am doing.
30
Hope in
something
better
31
Hope in something better

Yeah, I know, another Hollywood movie reference. But I
think you will really appreciate this story.
Do you remember the Stephen King novella-turned-movie

Shawshank Redemption? In it, Andy Dufresne, played by
Tim Robbins, is wrongfully accused of the murder of his
wife and is incarcerated for two life sentences. Red, played
by Morgan Freeman, is the insider-turned-ally that helps
Andy navigate the inner-workings of prison.
Weaving throughout the story is the sustaining power of

hope. In one of my favorite scenes, Red cautions Andy
that hope can drive a man insane. Andys brilliant
rebuttal is that hope is the best of things. As part of
Reds investment in Andys survival, he arranges to
trade for a poster of Rita Hayworth and Andy hangs the
symbolic gift on the wall of his prison cell.
We later discover that the Hollywood-hottie poster covers

the hole where Andy has been digging through the
concrete wall every night, planning for his escape. Each
morning, he discards the progress of his work through the
holes in his trouser pockets as he walks the yard with the
other inmates.
Bit by bit the concrete fragments of the wall are

dismantled and distributed into the prison yard. Freedom
does not come for Andy in an instant; rather, it comes
over years of him choosing to pursue the hope of
something better for himself.
Like Andy, you are digging out. Hold on to the hope that
there is more available for you.
A year ago, I hung a large, framed picture of Andy
Dufresne and Red in my office at work. Each man is in his
prison jumpsuit with his prison ID embroidered across his
chest.
I hung it as a reminder to me of three things:

1. Hope is a dangerous thing and maybe the best of things.
2. Freedom is a choice.
3. Digging out takes time and a vision for something better.
32
MY Hope in something better

I love symbols.
It was a symbol of a
shift in the posture of
my heart.
They help orient me to deeper truths and stories that I could otherwise easily
forget. This poster was exactly that symbol. It was a symbol of change. It was a
symbol of a shift in the posture of my heart.
I have to imagine that Andy Dufresnes years in Shawshank were less difficult than
they would have been because he knew that each day he made a little progress in
redefining the hold the place had on him.
The honest truth is that I have worked in some really difficult work environments.
I will spare you the stories, but I can promise you that symbols like Red and Andy
helped offer me hope in a very needed way.
You would think that most work places would not tolerate an employee hanging a
poster of two inmates in his office; nobody even noticed.
But when I looked at it, I knew I was digging out.
33
Checklist Reminder
You are a pro.
You have been at this for years.
You lead a great team.
You are a workhorse.
You are a Linchpin.
You are esteemed by your peers.
34
DEPEND ON
YOURSELF
Starting today, take
responsibility for your
future success.
35
Depend on yourself
Imagine a life in which you rely on yourself. A life in
which you live into your best realityyour best self.
You do not need to be an entrepreneur to depend on

yourself. You can still have a regular W-2 job with full-time
benefits and maintain the belief that your future is under
your own leadership.
So often we transfer the direction of our futures onto

our company or our boss. I am suggesting that you hire
yourself for the role of Director of Success and Happiness.
By holding yourself accountable for your own future, you
will experience a much greater level of responsibility as
well as greater satisfaction in the outcome.
Repeat after me:

- I am the Director of Success and Happiness of my life.
- I am the CEO of My Life, Inc.
- I am the chairman of the board for my future.
I hope it is clear that I am not telling you to pour hot

coffee in your bosss lap on Monday as you waved the bird
on your way out the door.
Rather, I am advocating for a massive shift in the core of

your belief system.
You must understand: your career disappointments, your

failures, and your missed promotions are not their fault.
You let them happen.
Of course they have a part to play in your story, but

ultimately, you are responsible for your own successes
and your failures. Lets not shift blame around. Lets
understand the leadership we have in our own life. We
permitted our companies to have this access to us. We
have even invited it by the way we have adhered to the
unwritten contract.
Starting today, take responsibility for your future success.
I am the chairman of the board for my future.
Depend on yourself
36
Learning to depend on myself

This one may sound like a self-help book or some mental
trick but it is not. It is true. I have spent too many years
deferring responsibility to other people for my happiness
or motivation. And guess how many of those years I was
disappointed in the outcome?
Yep, most of them.
For too many years I believed that I needed my boss

or company to provide me great opportunities, great
projects, promotions, etc. Without those invitations or
advancements, I would sulk in my lack of fulfillment.
When I made the shift to truly take ownership of my life,
my happiness, my circumstances, my fulfillment, my
creativity, my time, (and the list keeps going), I stopped
feeling helpless.
My influence over my own life

was liberating.
An employee told me once in his annual review that he

really wanted to move to a new position, but I knew he
had very little qualifications to be considered for that
position.
I suggested that he consider doing the job he wished he

had in his spare time. I suggested that he could use his
evenings and weekends to start doing specific projects
and that both he and the company would benefit.
He would have the opportunity to start doing some cool

work that he was excited about, and the company would
benefit as he provided a value without increasing payroll
expenses or pressure for the work to be perfect.
Everyone was a winner.
In my experience most people are not interested in

actually changing their circumstances because it may cost
them something, though because you are reading this I
assume you are not like most people.
Start doing the job you wish you had. Youll be surprised
how happy everyone will be.
Depend on yourself
37
Stop
waiting
38
Stop waiting to live the life you desire

No one is going to give you permission.
Hey, you know that

great thing youve
been contemplating?
You should go ahead
and start it.
No one is going to send you an invitation saying, Hey, you know that great thing
youve been contemplating? You should go ahead and start it.
We all wish that invitation would come, but for most of us it does not.
You have all the permission you need right now.

We often tell ourselves
- Ill start it
- Risk it
- Create it
- Build it
- Dream it
- Plan it
- Design it
After
- I have enough time
- I have enough money.
- When I am older or If I were younger
- When life slows down
- When things get back to normal
I have news for you: those days will never come.

Or at least there will not be enough of them in a row for you to feel like the
time is perfect.
Remind yourself that life is short and precious and living the life you desire
starts today.
Stop waiting
39
How I stopped waiting to live the life I wanted

This one is one of my favorites. I am a runner and a
triathlete. Ive not missed more than two weeks without
running in almost twenty years. The only reason I went
that long was that I had surgery two different times.
A lot of people say they want to be runners, but what they

really are saying is that they want to look and feel like a
runner.
Ill let you in on a secret.
Its easier to say

- There are plenty of better athletes than me.
- There are plenty of more creative people than me.
- There are plenty of more successful people than me.
Even runners battle it out: I really need to get in a run

today, but Ill have to get up early, stay up late, eat less,
sleep less, talk less, watch less. Ill run when it gets
warmer or when it gets lighter.
Find a way to piece together the small fragments of your

day to invest in the things you long for. It is the only way
you will ever actually have the life, career, relationships
and health that you dream about.
But by some miracle, they choose to quiet the voice that

offers all of those excuses and get their run in anyway.
The truth is, all of our lists of excuses are really just us
choosing something we feel is easier, safer, or more
comfortable.
But I purpose to be who I am and I

work faithfully not to delay the life
I want to live.
Stop waiting
40
Lets do an exercise.
Check each box that you agree with.
Youve lived under an unwritten contract that makes you feel

helpless and frustrated.
Your plan was to wait out the next forty years until you can
start living the life you really want.
Based on the current performance of your retirement savings
plan you are going to be working for a long time.
You have been waiting on other people to give you permission
to do great work.
Your boss really isnt the biggest part of your problem.
41
Now you are going

to fire your boss.
42
Fire Your Boss-How do you start?

Start with your mirror at home. Yep. Look yourself
in the eyes and picture your boss.
Now, fire him or her.

Repeat after me:
(Insert bosss name), you are no longer responsible for my future.
You no longer have the verdict on the value of my workplace contribution.
You are not responsible for inspiring me or motivating me.
Youre fired.
Fire Your Boss
43
Keep going!
Keep looking in the mirror, and fire your company.
Fire your team.
Fire your employees.
Fire your customers.
Fire Your Boss
44
And then say this:

Starting today
- I will stop thinking like an indentured servant.
- I will stop cashing my paychecks if I disagree with the arrangement.
- I will choose to invest my passion and heart at work.
- I will contribute to improving my workplace.
- I will silently start doing the job I wish I had.
- I will stop waiting on others permission or blessing to offer my ideas.
Fire Your Boss
45
Now you are free.

You are no longer an indentured servant.
You are in the drivers seat of your future.
You are free to hope in something better.
Your skills, talents, experiences and creativity,
powered by passion, are your insurance for a
great future.
Fire Your Boss
46
How I fired my boss

I did this. Yes, I actually fired my boss from all the
responsibilities I was holding him to that were not his
to carry. The poor guy didnt even know what I was
obligating him to.
What a disaster my old way was.

If I had actually said out loud what I was desiring or
supposedly needing from him, I would have been the one
being fired.
Luckily, I never said it out loud.
Instead, I liberated us both on the same day.

- We both became free to operate under a new
arrangement.
- I was no longer the indentured servant and no longer
resented him for it.
- He no longer had a resentful employee.
- I was no longer signing the unwritten contract and
being frustrated about my compliance with it.
- He no longer had to listen to my speeches about how
he should change the way things were.
- I was no longer watching my 401K performance and
being frustrated that I was not going to be able to retire
early like those magazine covers advertised I would.
- I no longer worried about whether or not I got a pat on
the back and I wasnt waiting around for his permission
to start creating and innovating.
Fire Your Boss
47
The Result
He loved what I started offering, the leadership
I started providing, and, ironically, he was more
appreciative of me. In the end, we ended up in a
partnership arrangement.
I had a new job and I didnt have to quit my
job to get it.
Fire Your Boss
48
Guess what.
He never knew what changed.
Wait till he reads this and finds out that
I fired him.
Fire Your Boss
49
Your mission statement

My hope is that
the mission
statement you
are reading gives
you permission to
walk down the lesstraveled path.
Lets circle back to Jerry Maguire. We left him with his goldfish, his mission
statement, and the receptionist. I believe that Jerrys story gives us a backdrop for
our own lives. Jerry risked a great deal when he published The Things We Think
and Do Not Say, and his life was reinvigorated. He found a new path, though it
was not the one that was well-trodden but rather the one less-traveled.
My hope is that the mission statement you are reading gives you permission
to walk down the less-traveled path. I invite you to do your best work, pursue
happiness despite circumstances, and take back the ownership of your future.
I dont believe that a person needs to be an entrepreneur in order to experience
this kind of liberation and freedom. In fact, for a lot of people the risks of
entrepreneurship would outweigh the rewards.
But everyone needs the liberation, freedom and confidence that firing his or her
boss will produce.
You really are more powerful than you know.

Go find that mirror and get started.
Your mission statement
50
Your Story Must Be Told

Your story is too important to remain hidden from us.
CLICK HERE TO Tell us how you fired your boss.
-What changed inside you?
-How does your future look differently now?
51
After you fire your boss, here are 10 practical

steps to begin plotting your own course.
1. You have to be willing to put in the hours.
2. Start treating your work as art.
3. Create your own personal board of advisers.
4. Create your own personal business cards.
5. Start working on your next thing in your garage.
6. Stop worrying about if no one likes what you create.
7. You already own your own factory.
8. Start reshaping your own thinking.
9. Start doing the job you wish you had today.
10. Craft your career narrative.
practical steps
52
The
Team
Without the
following people
this project would
have never been
completed.
Thank you.
Ben Larson with BottleRocket Design.

Ben single-handedly created the graphical story framework that gave life to the words. He
is my sole source for all graphic design work including my Blog site Please ask BottleRocket
Design to create your next visual art project.
Laurie and Tim Thornton are artists, writers, musicians and friends. They taught me about the
ups and downs of the creative process. Each time I attempted to quit, they would hold up my
arms and my head. Laurie is the brilliant editor behind this project. Her craftsmanship took
my ideas and ramblings and turned them into prose. Please hire Laurie Thornton for your
next project.
Seth Godin and The Medicine Ballers

In December 2011, I attended Seth Godins Medicine Ball session in NYC. Seventy of us
engaged in extracting the art inside of each of us. This art would have never been birthed
without them.
My Bosses over My Career

Your patience, encouragement and friction helped me find this story.
Most Affectionately My Wife

Leith, you have carried the heaviest cost of my workplace challenges over the years. You have
always been my biggest cheerleader. Your kind ear, patience and support blessed me. There is
none like you. I love you.
Allies
Morgan Snyder, Jon Dale, Matt McHugh, Xan Hood, Aaron Johnson, Sam Jolman, Vance
Brown, Alex Burton, Ray Cameron, Mom McHugh, Mike Worley, Julie Musilli, Jack ONeill,
Jim Blake, Bill Alexander, John Keller, Quentin Goin, Michael Johnson, Joel Spicola, Kent
Hildebrand, Mark Austin, Joel Pinson, Patrick Hall, Jeff Matteus, John Blas, John Bergquist,
Barry Evans, Chuck Bolton, Macky Morris, Scott James, Sam Ainslie, Tim Pfeifer, Matt Neigh,
Pete Gannon, and Matt Dealy.
The team
53
About the Author

Im Aaron and Im glad youve found this manifesto.
I hope you feel disrupted and challenged in your core beliefs about your boss and
company. I hope you are equally encouraged that you dont have to quit your job.
For more information on me please visit my blog on Work, Life and Play.
Subscribe
Sign up for my free e-newsletter
Podcast
Subscribe in iTunes or visit Archives
Follow
Twitter: @aarondmchugh
about the author
54

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by AARON McHUGH

Is this book for me?

DonT Quit Your Job

What if you fired your boss instead?

DonT Quit Your Job

Lets start with what you

Two choices will always remain:

WHAT YOU BELIEVE

The Things We Think And

Jerry Maguire is alive again

In his words, he had become another shark in a suit.

THE FUTURE OF OUR BUSINESS

He starts writing a mission statement.

Jerry Maguire is alive again.

THE FUTURE OF OUR BUSINESS

What does Jerry Maguire

THE FUTURE OF OUR BUSINESS

The things we think but do not say

We have been told this:

The things WE THINK BUT DO NOT SAY

If youve ever done a few headstands in the

Work is where we spend almost 30% of our life.

Change the rules forever

What if what really troubles you about your

What if starting tomorrow, you could have

I think Ive uncovered a few nuggets of gold

How the hell am I going

I was an indentured servant

The unwritten contract

Does your arrangement go something like this?

THE UNWRITTEN CONTRACT

YOU HAVE MADE A TRADE

You will never offer your best if you are constantly

THE UNWRITTEN CONTRACT

MY compliance WAs not their fault.

Cashing the check is as good as

By cashing my check every two weeks, I was agreeing with

I had to take ownership of my participation in the

I could no longer blame or point fingers.

THE UNWRITTEN CONTRACT

Your boss does not hold the verdict on you.

Too much energy is consumed with interpreting our

Do your dinner table conversations and dates with

- What your boss said

I bet even your spouse is tired of your boss.

Your boss does not hold the verdict on you.

Of course, all of us want to be noticed and appreciated for

Your boss does not hold the verdict on you.

3. Consider the source.

Realizing my boss does not hold the

It was such a relief.

WERE GOING TO BE WORKING FOR A WHILE

That has all changed.

WERE GOING TO BE WORKING FOR A WHILE

Were going to be working for a while.

WERE GOING TO BE WORKING FOR A WHILE

IM going to be working for a while.

We thought wed be millionaires

Fifteen years later, I am still working. And most of