corporate America: November 2007 Archives

I came across a recent Yahoo! Finance article written by Ben Stein about people who have no work ethic. That's fine. There are a lot of them out there. I work with them, and so do you. However, he begins his article talking about people he knows personally that he either grew up with, went to school with, or knows socially. In other words, baby-boomers. Again, no problem here. However, he then begins to explain that they should have "summer work camps" to teach people how to work. Now, is he talking about his friends / associates? NO! He's talking about my generation of workers! He goes on to say that everyone will do some sort of menial task, have no real contact with the outside world, don't use the snooze button, no text messaging, etc. You get the point. We're a bunch of lazy, tech-crazed slackers who can't put in an 8 hour day. Is this how we're really viewed?

I've always been somewhat insulated from all that, since I've held a position with a decent amount of autonomy and thus it didn't really matter what some right-wing Nixon speech writer thinks. He must correlate our workplace habits with his generation's failures. Or something. I really can't figure it out, unless it was some sort of stream of consciousness rant about "those damn kids" that don't find his deadpan school teacher act funny anymore. And is the classic 8 hour workday really relevant anymore? There have been numerous articles and opinions on this, and more and more people are on board with working from home, telecommuting, and flex-time. And that's all a good thing, and certainly doesn't fall into the 8 hour model. Heck, the only time that I NEED to be in the office is from 9:30 am to 4:00 pm (stock market is open). Beyond that, it's all gravy. Now, I certainly do my 8+ hours a day, but that's not because Ben Stein thinks I should.

After dealing with the wife's family (in two separate parts, divorce is fun!) I realized that somewhere along the way I learned a very important skill: co-mingling with people you dislike. Actually, we all know how to that. But some of these people I absolutely loathe. And yet I somehow managed not to (a) make a scene, (b) sever the relationship, or (c) commit a felony. So how do you deal with these people? To be fair, I've had a lot of practice with this. Besides having a large family (and this was BEFORE marriage), my father is an ordained American Baptist minister. As such, I was raised with a very large 'extended' family (imagine having 25 sets of grandparents) from a young age. This is part of the reason why I've always seemed to get along much better with people older than me than I do with my own age group, since the congregation was almost all above the age of 50. And we all know some people (age irrelevant) that just say or do something completely stupid. But those people are at least tolerable.

This goes beyond that. There are a few people in my wife's family who, in my personal view, are completely ignorant, self-righteous, and have beliefs that I find unacceptable. But they're family. While I go to great lengths to not be around these people or discuss anything that would bring up a topic that would cause an inevidable altercation (GREAT lengths), I can't get around seeing them a few times a year. And I always feel sick afterwards.

But back to the office. These people exist in the workplace as much as they do in my family. And, unfortunately, there's not much that can be done about it. After all, while you may find their views completely reprehensible, there isn't anything "wrong" with them. They aren't harassing anyone. They're not soapboxing, or making it obvious that they feel this way. But you still know that they DO feel this way about something, and you can't get over it. But what do you do about it?

Well, for starters, don't quit. At least, not because of that. Because as I've found out in corporate America, most of the people I come across are white, middle aged men who all tend to think somewhat the same. At least in my profession. And while I'd love to have a good ol fashioned debate (Florida state champion 1999!) about it, I know that they don't care, and they make enough money to insulate themselves from people like me. So I keep conversations focused on a shallow office-banter level (sports, famous people, etc) and don't deviate from that. Second, I don't look to these people for anything other than what's absolutely necessary. They aren't mentors, nor are they anyone I look to for a good example. And while they may be good at what they do job-wise, they're just not people I ever want to be associated with. And lastly, I make it as clear as possible that I don't find those views acceptable, and if I'm in a situation where that ugly part of them comes to the surface, I leave. Period. There is a place for compromise in life. I do it in my marriage, with my friends, and in the office. But for me, certain things just aren't up for debate. Never compromise your beliefs.

One of my job duties is to review each account annually to make sure everything is where it should be. In going through the review, I need to see how the account is doing, ala gain / loss and rate of return. However, those numbers are just part of the equation. I mean, if I told you an account that has a year to date return of 3.5% is doing better than an account that has a 15.7% return, you'd look at me like I was an idiot. Or at least horrible in math. But those numbers, by themselves, are meaningless. What's required is benchmark comparison. Simply put, I compare the account to it's appropriate index. So, an account returning 3.5% can be doing great if the index only did 2%, and 15.7% can be severely underperforming if the comparable index returned 22%. The same is true for your career. I mean, what's progress without a comparison?

Take Rebecca Thorman for example. She's almost 4 years younger than I am, yet has accomplished quite a bit more. So have the guys over at Employee Evolution. But peel away at the outside, and you'll see why the comparison isn't accurate. They each went straight to college and graduated in 4 years. I didn't. I'm married and have children. They don't. The list goes on. Now, this isn't a post about sour grapes or complaining in any sort of way. But sometimes, when reading some of the writings and exploits of the Gen Y blogging crowd, you'd feel like you're woefully behind the curve. But are you really? Find your benchmark. Then compare. And remember, don't ever feel bad because someone else is doing better. Maybe there is something to learn from them.

There are a lot of reasons why I work for a large company, as opposed to a start up or myself. And it isn't because I enjoy falling in line with the company "vision", or enjoy dealing with people I otherwise wouldn't associate with. The main reason is this: Stability. Recently I got a flu shot provided by my employer, and it made me sick. Or, at least lowered my immune system to allow something else to make me sick. Either way, I'm still feeling somewhat crap-tastic. And I haven't gone to the doctor, since I know what's wrong. But I could if I wanted to, since I have insurance. It's that little card glistening in my wallet telling me everything is going to be ok. Here's a rundown of how it has single-handedly saved me from bankruptcy (and possibly alcoholism):