My PIP worked. My job still didn’t

Common knowledge says performance improvement plans set you up for failure. Mine actually worked—and taught me something more complicated about being ‘good’ at your job.

The day I got put on my performance improvement plan (or PIP) in my content marketing job, I drove back to an Appalachian folk magic store I’d happened into the weekend prior. I bought a bottle of Boss Fix Oil, a “conjuring oil” touted as a way of “improving work dynamics.”