compliments of
FutureVisionsSM
creating sustainable results in growth and performance
Success requires constant adaptation and reinvention of the self and its skills.
Success today seems to be a rollercoaster of adrenaline and exhilaration;
snatching victory - the next big deal, a big sale - from the jaws of defeat.
Most of us have discontinuous, episodic careers, moving from glass cage to glass
cage. At times we feel anxiously trapped by it, at others energized and
appreciated, and at others depressed and despondent. And we each believe no one
else feels this way!
Yet such a rollercoaster ride is a classic description of addictive behavior.
What increases the stakes is that you not only have to do your job, but you have
to make sure everyone knows how well you've done it - to secure both your
position and your performance-related pay or bonus.
In the creative, highly skilled parts of the labor market, the boundaries
between work and play have been eroded: work is play, work is your hobby. Work
becomes the organizing principle of life. Employees start thinking like artists
and activists, they actually work harder for the company. If work is a form of
self-expression, then you never want to stop. Business is not about making
money; it's about doing something you love.
Our sense of self becomes bound up with our sense of control and impact. The
concept of "self-realization" as developed in the therapy and New Age movements
of the 60s and 70s, can be trimmed down to mesh neatly with the neo-liberal
labor market. Paid work has so successful absorbed the "project of the self"
that it marginalizes all other routes to fulfilment, such as caring or the
passion of the amateur.
The cleverness of the fit between the project of the self and this work ethic is
that it is self-reinforcing. There is no resting point. The project of the self
is never complete and is always riddled with anxiety and insecurities. The
precariousness of this sense of self requires a relentless effort just to keep
steady: the corporate lawyer, the consultant, the investment banker has to work
on bigger and bigger deals or run the risk of dropping down the running order -
or even dropping off it altogether.
In flatter organizations there are also fewer promotion opportunities. The only
way to promote yourself is for you to do it. Careers are now as much about your
own public relations skills as about talent. And they talk about work-life
balance?!
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