How to Succeed in Business

At work, we talk about work/life balance and about how important it is to have a life outside of work. Do we live to work? Despite all the rhetoric to the contrary, I think we do. At least, that is how our work lives are structured. Do you get a promotion because you left on time to pick up your kids from daycare? Do you get a raise because you took paternity leave to look after your kids for 6 months? You get recognized for doing more than is asked of you. You could even say that you get overlooked if you just do what is asked, work the hours you get paid for, and commit your main energies to family and personal commitments. As a manager with several staff, I accept this implicitly and use it without thinking. Promotions are based upon who stays late, who works hardest, who goes above and beyond. That only makes sense really. Are you going to penalize those people for doing extra, for sacrificing their personal lives for the success of the company?

I've spent long hours at work. I get there at 8:30 AM and rarely leave before 6 or 6:30. I know that's not much really. Lots of people work longer. But the reason I've been successful is at least in part because of my willingness to stay extra, to give up my personal life for the sake of my career.

There are some basic realities of work commitments:

-If you are lucky enough to be sent on a course by your employer to improve your job skills, this will require you to compensate for your training by staying late, checking emails from home, and making up for the work missed on your own time.
-Your allotted vacation days must be used, but any work missed during your absence should be done on your own time when you return.
-If you fall behind on work due to low staffing levels or inadequate resources beyond your control, you should work longer hours to compensate and get the job done.

But do we ever stop to consider what the end result of all this is? Obviously, our employers profit from the extra productivity. But what about employees? Well, we get promoted, get raises, and generally make more money. At the same time, we have less time to enjoy our successes and depend more and more heavily on our work lives for satisfaction and personal gratification. This leads us to increasing dependency on our work lives and less energy put into home, family, and relationships.

The isolation that individuals feel from each other and the communities of which they are part stem from this process. In turn, we feel less committed to those communities: the disadvantaged are overlooked because we have neither the energy nor the awareness of their situation. Our family lives suffer as well. On a personal level, we feel dissatisfied and tired. Our solution? Buy things. Our financial success has left us with little time or energy to do more with our newfound wealth than spend it on toys promising quick gratification of our unacknowledged needs.

Success in our culture is too often defined in these terms. Once one recognizes this mythology of success for what it is, a new path must be chosen. The problem is, how? What alternatives exist for success that is not defined in material terms? How to escape the sacrifices demanded by career success?

These are the questions I'm currently wrestling with ... hopefully with some success.