Dear Bob ...I believe that I am coming to a fork in the road regarding my career. Here is the situation. I work for a large multi-national Fortune 500 company. A few years ago our company reorganized IT, moving from a decentralized model to a centralized model. In the process, I was offered a position with the central IT organization despite working at an outlying facility. I was excited about the opportunity. U Dear Bob …I believe that I am coming to a fork in the road regarding my career. Here is the situation. I work for a large multi-national Fortune 500 company. A few years ago our company reorganized IT, moving from a decentralized model to a centralized model. In the process, I was offered a position with the central IT organization despite working at an outlying facility. I was excited about the opportunity. Unfortunately, I have found that the central organization is bogged down in process and bureaucracy.Activities that took 6 weeks now take 6 months. Micro-management is the norm and the answer to every question is “We need to schedule another meeting” with the explanation “We need to get everyone on board”. What’s worse is that the people at the central office reinforce each other, complimenting one another on the “progress” they’ve made by grinding software development and hardware acquisition to a halt. There is no concept of leadership and no true vision for where this is going. I feel like I have moved to the “dark side”, a talented young IT padawan who has switched sides and now works for the emperor. Criticism of the central IT organization is not taken well. If you do point out areas for improvement you are labeled as disloyal and a complainer. It is assumed that what you want is the decentralized model and that you are some sort of anarchist. When I point to problems with delivery times for services in the team I am in, I am grouped in with those that don’t understand the big picture and are disloyal to the cause. I have held my tongue to a certain extent but don’t know that I can do that much longer. The IT organization is corrupt from the top down so there isn’t any hope of going to someone higher in the IT organization for help. Upper IT management is filled with “yes” men who say whatever will save their skin.Opportunities exist that would put me back with the remote location. Unfortunately there are rumors of shutting down this location and moving the site to somewhere else in the country. Not wanting to relocate my family I thought that I was safe by taking a job with central IT. Now it seems as if my choices are bending my knee to the “evil empire” and biting my tongue, staying in my current position and being a solitary voice for improvement risking alienation or getting fired, or going back to the local IT group and potentially going down with the ship and facing relocation. Any thoughts?– Am I a Sithy? Dear Sithy …Two thoughts come to mind. The first is that in the entire history of our species, nobody has ever once been persuaded of anything by an outsider.Okay, that’s a slight exaggeration. I’m sure it has happened, just as poker players do fill an inside straight from time to time, and penny stocks sometimes do grow to huge multiples of their purchase prices. I just wouldn’t place my money on any of the above, and especially not on your chances of persuading anyone in central IT at the moment.Conclusion: If you want to continue your career with this company, and want to have some influence, you first have to become an insider. Your first step down this path is to stop viewing central IT as “them” and start viewing everyone there as “we.” The second is to do everything you can to understand the world from the perspective of central IT, and in particular of the CIO.These folks aren’t evil. Chances are good they aren’t incompetent bowbs, either. They are, however, dealing with situations the best way they can, and you don’t yet know what those situations are. Until you do, you’ll be worse than just a voice in the wilderness. You’ll be a source of irrelevant noise … to the people you’re trying to convince, that is. You might not want to go down this road. It’s treacherous; in particular, the risk of “going native” is high.Which brings me to the second thought: If you don’t like the way things are going, start looking. There’s no lock on the door to prevent you from exiting under your own power.I sure wouldn’t recommend placing your hopes on the remote location. From what you say, that’s a high-risk, low payoff play. You’re better off trying to fill an inside straight.– Bob Technology Industry