Your Choices, Your Values, Your Success
What guides your career choices? Most people name both practical matters and values as guides to complex decisions. When we speak of values, ethical and moral issues come to mind first, and of course they are essential considerations. When you take a job with an employer whose mission, product, service, or approach to business makes you feel proud of the impact you are making and happy to tell people what you do, you will indeed be more fulfilled and able to do your best work on their behalf. There is no conflict between your values and delivering value to an employer you respect.
There are other values which may not feel as lofty, yet which matter just as much. For example, I have a self-employed colleague who works well into the evenings, especially during the summer, in order to free up time during the day to transport her school-age children to their activities. Similarly, more than one person has “confessed” to me that they didn’t want to commute across one of the Bay Area’s bridges because it would separate them from their young children during the day, which didn’t feel safe or desirable.
People sometimes dismiss such values as selfish or impractical, but in fact they can be just as significant as service to others, protection of the planet, or safeguarding human rights. The first time a client apologized to me for not wanting to work in San Francisco because she lived on the other side of San Francisco Bay she was thinking about our big earthquake in 1989, in which the Bay Bridge broke and remained closed for months. Not only did I think her desire to work closer to home was reasonable, I pointed out that it made it easier to look for her next position. She could ignore all San Francisco based employers and at the same time she could assure Oakland or Berkeley employers that she really wanted to work for them, that she was not just settling for their job while hoping for a chance to work in the big city. Again, there was no conflict between her values and delivering value to an employer.
If you have hobbies or activities which are really central to who you are, it makes sense to define your ideal work in ways that include those activities. That might mean keeping evenings free to rehearse with a chorus or theater group, or it may mean living near the water or in the country so you can swim or row, keep a horse, or view the stars at night. It can mean working close enough to your faith community to participate in evening services and programs, or close enough to where you live to serve in local government, volunteer for a community group, or coach your child’s sports team. In any scenario, this is about the ability to adjust your work schedule or environment to accommodate both your employer’s needs and your personal priorities.
I often say that everyone is entitled to a handful of “deal-breakers.” By that I mean criteria that allow you to determine whether a business or organization is qualified to be your employer. Of course, we all make tradeoffs in order to meet our commitments. No one can be in two places at once. Sometimes we need to inconvenience ourselves to meet with customers or colleagues, and emergencies do happen and require a response. All of that is easier to manage when you know you have put your values and priorities front and center at the outset. When you are clear about the four or five things you must have in order to accept a job, you don’t waste time pursuing positions you don’t want, you make a stronger case for why the employer should pick you, and you enter a new position mentally and emotionally prepared to take on your new responsibilities. Furthermore, you will stay longer with an employer who meets your essential criteria, you will learn more on the job and do better work, and not only you but also your customers/students/patients and your colleagues and managers will be better served and more delighted with your accomplishments. There is no conflict between your values and doing outstanding work for which you are properly rewarded and respected.