Thinking Out Loud: Public vs. Corporate Service
In February, Michelle Obama made the following remarks at a day care center in Zanesville, Ohio:
“Don’t go into corporate America. You know, become teachers. Work for the community. Be social workers. Be a nurse. Those are the careers that we need, and we’re encouraging our young people to do that. But if you make that choice, as we did, to move out of the money-making industry into the helping industry, then your salaries respond.”
Today those comments came up on Twitter along with the question “What is she thinking?”, which in turn sparked a small conversation in 140 character bursts. This post is meant to be my longer reply to the question. Even edited, I cannot be accused of being terse. Forewarned is forearmed.
In full context, Michelle Obama’s remarks were intended to be a slap at two young women who chose to work for corporate America — Hillary and Chelsea Clinton. I have to agree with anyone who criticizes Chelsea’s career choice — working for a corporate hedge fund that specializes in moving subprime credit contracts through at a profit is my idea of investment banking at its ugliest. I can only hope that Chelsea’s recent move onto the mean streets of America might give her a reason to abandon that position for one that has more social responsibility attached. However, using Chelsea Clinton to give an object lesson is a little bit silly, given that her career is not the typical path that most college graduates take, even Stanford graduates.
As the daughter and granddaughter of strong women who spent their lives working for Pacific Telephone in its various iterations before finally coming to be ATT, then back again, you’d think I’d be a strong supporter of the “get in on the bottom floor and work your way up” philosophy, but I’m not. In fact, both of those women flourished AFTER they left corporate America, both victims of corporate downsizing in an era where women were the most expendable group of employees to eliminate.
The advice I give my kids is exactly the same as Michelle Obama’s: Walk, don’t run away from corporate America, use your strengths and passions wisely, and always serve your community. If you can blend the two, even better. The best option is to work for yourself in a field you love.
My mother’s career advice to me was the opposite: She said “go to college, get in on the ground floor, work hard and work up.” This is because she truly had faith in the old-school corporate culture that said “put your faith in us and we’ll be loyal to you, we’ll reward you.”
I watched them “reward her” by giving her crap contracts that she had to work four times as hard to complete as the men in her office. She did it, and she nearly died in the process. I watched them “reward” her by passing her over for promotions she deserved because there were men in the office more “entitled” than she. Ultimately I watched her opt for an early retirement as part of a larger downsize, served with a dollop of disappointment that the downsize happened right before the step up that she’d earned by her hard work and delivery of profit centers to Uncle ATT.
Those days of gender discrimination may be gone, but the ‘new’ corporate culture assumes no loyalty between employee and employer, yet demands absolute and total commitment. If you work for a public company, you work for the shareholders. Your career depends upon the whims of the market and the demands of the harshest taskmaster of all: the bottom line. This is what you work for, what you breathe, eat and sleep. Yes, it is also the culture that holds the promise of the ‘magic bean’, the ‘play your stock options right and you can be a rich woman, too’ promise, which far too many young job-seekers look to own.
The point that Michelle Obama was really making is this: Our best and brightest are looking for the ‘magic beans’, leaving our schools, hospitals and other service industries bereft of the heads and hearts to make them better, and to benefit society as a whole. This is true. It’s true because of the low pay and long hours and it’s true because at some point, even the best people get discouraged by the lack of support for schools and teachers and students. It’s true that students are not going to medical school because in order to do so, they must accept about a quarter million dollars in debt at the outset, with corporate America (in the form of insurance companies and trial attorneys) squeezing every penny out of them on the other end. It’s also true that the majority who opt for corporate America are unfulfilled, stuck, and view job-hopping as the only available form of career advancement.
The survivors learn. Many more find themselves at the mercy and whim of the moving target called ‘economic growth’, serving no God but Mammon.
What my mother discovered, what my grandmother discovered, and what I know to be true because of their discovery is that we are not wired to simply toe the bottom line. We have motives, passions, and beliefs that transcend balance sheets and can only be discovered in the process of serving others. I am not saying we’re doing our impression of Mother Teresa, but I am saying that we discovered the value of self-empowerment, self-employment, and entrepeneurship in the context of careers that help others reach their goals.
We live in a great time for that, even with an economic downturn. No longer are we at the mercy of the venture capitalists and investment bankers, directly or indirectly. The best tool for democracy and small business is the Internet, and there are incredible resources out there to discover niches and fill them.
Small businesses, not large corporations, are the backbone of this country today, tomorrow and yesterday. Schools are the foundation of success. Imagine what could happen if we restored the profession of ‘teacher’ to one that’s honorable and trusted. If we gave teachers the freedom to teach without the constraints and burdens of No Child Left Behind. If we gave music and arts back to the schools to raise up more singers and artists and musicians to decorate our world. If we paid attention and not lipservice to the benefit of a great education. Imagine that.
This was what Michelle Obama spoke of. It’s what I speak of. It’s why I’m proud that my middle son is studying jazz as his declared major while using his musical skills to earn his own way through school. It’s why I hope that my eldest son, a veteran who is partially disabled and would have been homeless if he hadn’t come back home to live (at the expense of his pride and independence) can find his way through bitterness and believe again. It’s why I tell my 14-year old daughter to reject groupthink, and nurture the same entrepeneurial spirit that led her to sell lemonade ice cubes during the summer for 25 cents apiece. That’s my 21st century career advice, and it mirrors Michelle’s.
Small businesses, teachers, nurses and doctors are the heart of the communities they inhabit. They serve, whether it’s on the soccer field or in the emergency room. Corporations donate. People serve. I want my kids to be people first, with hearts, eyes, ears and voices, engaged in their communities.
Technorati Tags: corporations, career, future, college