If there was a single piece of advice I could give to an individual considering a role, it would be this. Have a conversation with as many people who worked with the company and your manager as you can. In the conversation, asked leading questions and create as much space and silence as possible so that the ones with first hand experience can share. Then, and most importantly, listen! Listen with all your heart and mind. Listen with every sense on high alert. Listen without judgment (as best as one can). And when you are all done, listen some more!
If you are anything like me, you will likely want to analyze. I would encourage you to skip that process for the most part. Listen and hear, let it sink it, and then your heart will give you more insight than any analytical process can. In the end, you will know in your heart what the answer is! You will have the information you need; the details that give you comfort as easily as it creates fear.
Be warned; this is not a recipe for a yes or easy answer. Far too often in hindsight, I look back and hear the early whispers that experience revealed. I wonder why I was not listening or paying attention. I thought I was, but in the end I wanted the decision to be yes no matter what my heart will telling me.
It is ironic to consider what is revealed. You trade one boss for another, only to find out that the new one has all the features of the old ones only multiplied! You swap one workplace for another, only to discover that the individuals that you share a big chunk of your life with a heart and love destroying. Likely there were telltales, good and bad. Like many indications in life, these went unnoticed. The psalmist noted the details as he looked to history; “Moses and Aaron were his priests, Samuel among those who prayed to him. They prayed to God and he answered them.” (Psalm 99.6)
