Saturday, December 06, 2003
I have just read a friends blog and I really admire his honesty and willingness to write about what he feels and thinks. He responds to a question that I asked him, "what will you be remembered for?" He is right when he concludes that this is not a measure of a good person. The question has certainly provoked a particular line of thinking which is both interesting and I think fruitful for him, but this is not really what I meant when I asked it.
A little background is needed I think. I used to work for a large company, which in turn was a part of a very, very large company. I was always uncomfortable with this as I felt that however good the company may be to work for (and it was, good to the employees, good service to the customers) ultimately the company was solely interested in accumulating wealth. The share holders benefit from divindends but no one (other than the employees) really benefits from it's existence. The company like all companies makes money, and makes more money and I felt that there is something a little immoral about a company making more profit in a year than many third world countries. Now many companies give money to charity and that is good, but we live in a world where most of us work hard not just to make a living but out of loyalty to the company, but the question should be "who are you working for?" or "why do you work so hard?" What is it that makes you stay late after work and miss evenings with your family? That forces you to work weekends? To take home all the stress that builds up at work? Who are you doing that for? For me I could see that my career progression was going to take me to a place where I was expected to work like this, give more and more and receive what? A bigger salary certainly but what else? This is the place I was in when I asked the question "what will you be remembered for?".
The question I should have asked was "what positive impact are you having on the world?", and I don't really mean on a global scale, what good things are you doing? What are you doing that is helping someone else or making where we live a better place? I felt that my job was taking all my time and energy and this would only get worse the higher up the company I went.
I now work for myself and this means (hopefully) I can use my time for something positive, not to be remembered, but to do some good.
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A little background is needed I think. I used to work for a large company, which in turn was a part of a very, very large company. I was always uncomfortable with this as I felt that however good the company may be to work for (and it was, good to the employees, good service to the customers) ultimately the company was solely interested in accumulating wealth. The share holders benefit from divindends but no one (other than the employees) really benefits from it's existence. The company like all companies makes money, and makes more money and I felt that there is something a little immoral about a company making more profit in a year than many third world countries. Now many companies give money to charity and that is good, but we live in a world where most of us work hard not just to make a living but out of loyalty to the company, but the question should be "who are you working for?" or "why do you work so hard?" What is it that makes you stay late after work and miss evenings with your family? That forces you to work weekends? To take home all the stress that builds up at work? Who are you doing that for? For me I could see that my career progression was going to take me to a place where I was expected to work like this, give more and more and receive what? A bigger salary certainly but what else? This is the place I was in when I asked the question "what will you be remembered for?".
The question I should have asked was "what positive impact are you having on the world?", and I don't really mean on a global scale, what good things are you doing? What are you doing that is helping someone else or making where we live a better place? I felt that my job was taking all my time and energy and this would only get worse the higher up the company I went.
I now work for myself and this means (hopefully) I can use my time for something positive, not to be remembered, but to do some good.
(0) comments
