Lately I’ve been cranking away at a series that will teach you to build wealth like an ant. And one of the key pieces to the wealth building journey, for those of you who are the first in a multigenerational line of asset accumulators (I see you out there, you 1st Gen Dreamers! I’m proud of you guys, starting at the dirt, fiddling with blueprints, and sharing your vision as it unfurls in your heart! Bless you studs), will be the step of going and getting a job. You may have that job for two years–or two decades–but nearly every one of you will need that job to obtain adequate skills and/or money to take the next step toward the construction of your Abrahamic outpost. Nobody could reasonably accuse us, here at Abraham’s Wallet, of being anti-job.
And yet…
I spent from 2005 until 2019 working for other people across the finance and technology industries. I have noticed, both in my own experience and in watching my friends across all sorts of jobs, that we men are uniquely susceptible to the temptation of dramatically overinvesting in our jobs.
One ditch is UNDERvaluing the job,
pooh-poohing it like it’s the exclusive terrain of tools;
the other ditch is OVERvaluing the job,
as if it’s your hope and savior.
That overinvestment can take the form of time, emotions or energies. And what’s more, employers are VERY aware of this and will exploit it at every opportunity. They will use you so very gladly!
Here’s how it works:
- An owner creates a company that can turn a profit. He hires people against that aim, not out of generosity, but because he believes he can increase profits by broadening his employee base.
- The employer sets up a very specific system for evaluating the value that each employee can add to the company (this is very very closely tied to how much richer you can make the owner)
- Said employer rewards the employee with status, money and praise as he hits or exceeds the levels of performance necessary to make the owners richer. (The richer you make the owners, the better the kibble that comes out of the slot.)
- Employee X (read: you) agrees to this system, not realizing what it’ll do to his psyche. (Most people enter the workforce broken and needy. #facts)
- Employee X wakes up in a few years, surprised at the realization that he now goes to job Y (which was created to benefit owner Z) to get all sorts of deep needs filled: affirmation, challenge, camaraderie, esteem, et al. This realization feels like
- Doo doo.
Now, there’s nothing actually WRONG with the owner/employee deal (really!)… so long as the employee is aware of the terms of the deal, and capable of recognizing the pitfalls. They are myriad, but all stem from 5. Above. Fact is, the rules for “winning” (which we guys LIKE! And amen and hallelujah for that instinct in us!) in the workaday world are often clearer than those for establishing a home-based outpost (certainly more immediately obvious…). But it ultimately feels hollow BECAUSE:
- The company can call you a Trusted Partner… but your company doesn’t love you. You’re not in covenant with them. Regularly fall below the bar set in 2. above and see how it goes. They’re just aware that if they can motivate you, by hook or by crook, to do more and more for them, they will get richer and richer.
So how do they do this?
Lately I’ve run into more and more talk from companies who want to pretend that this deal isn’t real. This steams me. They will use language of family (which makes my skin crawl), even religion, to convince employees to sacrifice everything at the altar of profits, which they will disguise with language about vision, culture, inclusivity or whatever they think will adequately mask their true intentions.
Some companies, I’m convinced, will do this unintentionally because they have drunk their own Kool-Aid at the highest levels. They really believe that the company doesn’t exist to make profits but to, say, “Improve life.”
[My 2c: it’s great if a company says it’s their goal to improve life or whatever; that’s better than “gurgle the innocent blood of those crushed beneath our wheels”. But companies aren’t invented for those purposes; charities are. Companies exist to turn a profit, and if the profit isn’t turned… just watch the supposed altruism of the shareholders dry up along with it. Again, this isn’t sinister! It’s just the way companies work! So… let’s be honest about it.]
Speaking of Kool-Aid… I had an interaction a few weeks ago on LinkedIn with a successful CEO of a startup here in Utah that, frankly, made me do this Tom and Jerry number. This fella, who is rather prolific in his LinkedIn posts, created an interesting conversation around the topic of religion in the workplace. The back and forth was riveting, but what really got me was his admission of his goals for how his employees would view the company. Watch closely, gents: He said that he had “pretty much eradicated religion” from his work, so I asked what that meant. Here was the reply:
I think it’s rare to find any executive so willing to own up to the tactics that Mr. Paul praises in his response – that he wants to convince employees to worship at the altar of the company culture and goals. When I expressed my shock at this response (“Do you really think it’s good to worship company culture?”), he went on:
Suffice it to say, I don’t find this kind of talk benign. Yes, it IS refreshingly honest (so, pour one out for that kind of candor), but are we all seeing the bottom line so explicitly drawn here? And while I doubt many of you will get it so clearly from the horse’s mouth at your own places of work, please, please be aware that many employers today (nearly all, who have no other Master) are out to leverage the same tactics.
There isn’t even room for the aforementioned owner/employee deal in this type of thinking because the company forms itself into your god! Anybody else a little nervous about this setup? Of course, we all are. Right guys? Right?
I wonder how many of us have bowed up to an employer who crossed the lines of reason and decorum like this. (If you have, please write us; we’d love to hear your story.)
Clayton Christensen is one such man. Clayton was a leader in the business and academic worlds; I once listened to him tell a story that stuck with me:
Early in his career, working as a junior consultant at a ritzy firm filled with other Harvard MBAs, Christensen’s boss announced that he would be needed in the office on a Saturday to wrap up a project. Somehow, that 27 year old guilelessly looked his employer in the eye and said,
“I’m sorry but I’ve reserved Saturday
as a day that I spend with my family.”
More than a little annoyed, the boss left in a huff, but did come back a few hours later. “Ok Clayton, we’ve moved heaven and earth here, but we got the whole team to agree to finish up on Sunday instead of Saturday… so we’ll see you here then.” This time, Clayton responded,
“Oh I’m sorry about that but Sunday is a day I’ve reserved for God,
so I won’t be in the office on Sunday either.”
Believe it or not, this didn’t result in Christensen being dismissed and was step one in a long, distinguished career. He, without any ire, was keenly aware of his relationship with his employer and the fact that they would take as much as he would give. I’m sure that, in the moment described here, he wondered if he would be canned, but in hearing him tell the story, it wouldn’t have mattered. By drawing clear lines, he actually reaffirms the deal and removes any hint that he’s looking for more or less than the deal from his employer.
Clayton understood some very important things:
- What he was offering the company (40 hours of hard work)
- What the company would be giving him (a paycheck)
- What level of respect the company deserved (that of an authority, appointed by God to be the avenue of provision for his family), and
- What respect the company did NOT deserve (the right to determine the terms of Clayton’s life and what his every waking hour would be occupied doing)
With that understanding, he could look every opportunity or challenge square in the face and call it out for what it was. They could call him friend, family, blah blah blah… but they weren’t getting Clayton’s family nor God days. That wasn’t in the Deal. Did you know that this deal is described in the Bible? It is:
Now to a laborer, his wages are not credited as a favor or a gift, but as an obligation [something owed to him]. Romans 4:4
That’s the deal! A laborer expects to be paid the wages that the owner/employer owes him. Those paid wages don’t make the employer good or kind or generous; they’re just fair. That means the laborer doesn’t owe any extra measure of allegiance or gratitude, and that groveling is inappropriate and, frankly, uncomely. It is what it is. And Clayton, bless him, understood that.
How then is an Abrahamic chap like yourself to treat his job? Should he do the bare minimum required to take home a paycheck? Well.. no. Colossians 3 is unequivocal in removing that option from the table:
[Workers,] in everything, obey your masters on earth, not only with external service, as those who merely please people, but with sincerity of heart because of your fear of the Lord. Whatever your task may be, put in your very best effort, as [something done] for the Lord and not for men, knowing with all certainty that it is from the Lord [not from men] that you will receive… your [greatest] reward. Colossians 3:22-24
THANKS BIBLE for helping us know how to handle jobs and bosses! Thank you LORD for telling us such practical truths! We can know that:
- We’re to obey our masters/bosses in everything (that the nature of our relationship with them allows)
- We’re to give our best work in all that we do, whether it’s edging our yard, which nobody else will care about, or turning in a presentation that hundreds will see
- We’re NOT to do the above for political reasons or to be seen or liked
- We’re to do them as worship and service to The Chief Shepherd
- Earthly bosses may give us a token or two for enriching them, but
- Our Heavenly Master will give us rewards that LAST.
So don’t let your love of your job be the determining factor in how hard you work, how well you do your job, or where you go looking for kudos. Hey, if the bossman affirms us, great–and we obviously want to please him with our work. But even our wanting to please the bossman is because the Master sees all we do, even seeing our motives and attitudes!
What’s more, when you frame your current job, however wonderful or mind-numbing it may be, as a gift from God, aimed at equipping you to provide both now and in the future, it’s pretty easy to get behind the idea of “working as unto the LORD”.
So take every opportunity to produce excellent work regardless of your assignments, and look for chances to operate above your pay grade whenever possible. Remember, the deal isn’t just about your paycheck – you are working a job both for the immediate compensation and the long term development that you’ll garner from whatever position you find yourself in. If you only take the checks and don’t develop personally, you’re short changing yourself on half of what you’re owed in the deal.
By keeping your priorities straight and being constantly on the lookout for the ever-increasing tendency of the work world to step into the place of your family, and even your God, you’ll be free to work, earn and develop with a clear conscience and to the great benefit of your own outpost. So go get a great job… just don’t worship it.
*Mark Parrett is one of the founders of Abraham’s Wallet. When not blogging for you here, he’s raising a family in Salt Lake City, UT and working as a financial planner at Outpost Advisors.
