I’ve been around too many people where getting ahead is just not in their vocabulary. Being told what to do is not easy to put up with. They get left behind while the rest of us make peace with our employers in some form. Resentment builds and the we end up getting told what WE have to do. It’s theft.
Personally, I have never viewed it that way.
When I get hired, I have one job, and one job only: To provide value to my employer.
That’s it. I don’t expect them to treat me as if it is a privilege for them to have hired me. It isn’t. They are running a business to make money and provide a product or service to paying customers.
I expect them to tell me what they want me to do, and if it is not wrong or immoral, I am going to do that, and that alone. For a period of time, my value to my employer means showing up on time, ready to work, and doing exactly what they ask of me to the best of my ability.
Once I am acclimated, my goal is to provide MORE value for my employer. I learn everything I can. I get better at what I do. I teach others. I pick up slack. I do things that aren’t my primary job, not only to learn more about them, but to provide more value to my employer.
I don’t do this for monetary reasons, I have never been driven by money. What motivates me is doing a job, doing it right, doing it faster, and doing it better than anyone else while maintaining a good working environment by contributing towards it with the right attitude and glue.
When my boss tells me to jump, I have one question, and that is “How high?” I am completely straightforward with my employer, I offer status updates, opinions, and suggestions that don’t sugar coat, and do not differ whether it is a co-worker, my boss, or the CEO asking me.
I have had this attitude ever since I went in the Navy, and it has served me well. I have advanced at every opportunity, I have turned down jobs that would have meant a pay raise but would not be something I would excel at and provide value doing.
When my job went away due to changes in the way business was being done, instead of giving me a scut job or laying me off, they went out of their way to create a job specifically for me to keep me around.
They did this because my goal is to provide value to my co-workers, my boss, my CEO, and my company. Rarely in my entire career have I put my personal wants and needs above the job that my company hired me and pays me for.
Do I think they are lucky to have me working for them? Yes, I do. Do I think I am lucky to have a well paying and stable job? Yes I do.
I view it as a win-win. I am nearing retirement, and for the last 25-30 years, I have routinely worked 60 hour weeks to include nights, weekends, and holidays. I do it because I want my employer to prosper. Because if my employer prospers...I can get a paycheck. I can pay my bills and taxes, and can live comfortably within my means.
And I can take satisfaction and pride in my work and in my employer.
Anyone looking for any relationship with their company not predicated on the fundamental premise of them providing value to their employer (what can they do for ME!) is going to be unhappy and expendable. I want to make it as difficult as possible for my employer to fire me. It is their company, and I feel that I can be fired at will. I want to make that option as painful as possible for them by providing so much value that it is not in their best interests to do so.
This has worked for me, and I am a lucky man as a result. But I have made my own luck.