When it came time to close the question, I thanked all who gave their responses. Then as set out below, I gave them mine, followed by my appreciation of theirs in my replies.
Q: "Why, other than for money, do you work?" :
A: Let me begin by observing that this question generated some of the most thoughtful responses I have read on LinkedIn's Q/A's. Over 50. Of that over 50 who gave me responses, over 30 wanted to read mine. Thanks. But as we all have come to expect, these numbers also demonstrate how many and widely varied our points of view can be about a given issue. By sheer volume, so many approaches were given that I was unable to add mine in the space LinkedIn provides. Moreover, given the varying depths, or heights, of the levels of responses, it is difficult to provide satisfactory replies to everyone even in this email. I am willing to carry on the conversation "off-line" so to speak should you care to go further.
With these preliminary caveats, I want to give you my response using a somewhat extended analogy to the generic framework of baseball. Such a framework gives us all something to relate to, and maybe even for my daughters and son who like baseball and who may discover this email at a more convenient time in the future.
Play Ball!
So coming from the rookie's point of view, the first thing we may overlook are the players whose jobs and work we are inheriting. We enter the game as they are leaving it. We do not see that we too will be retiring some day, if we don’t die on the field of play. One of the biggest problems people who retire have is knowing what to do with themselves when they have no work to do. Thus in many ways, it is important to recognize early on that our work lives are limited, limiting and often a matter of life and death even when, and maybe even especially when, no money is at stake. So, let’s state the underlying issue a little differently: "Where are you wanting to go by working?"
Because most people tend only to do what they need to do and don't often consider what they really want to do, our parents often provide us with the examples of legends, Babe Ruth for example, hoping to set our sights high. Or they may urge us to do what comes naturally, as Robert Redford portrayed in "The Natural." The effort here is to help us get past the causes of our reluctance to do what we need to do in order to envision what we may best be suited to do and should want to do unless distracted by other things. (Do we play the game for money or for the love of the game?) What we want to do for work may not be obvious early on, but later on it becomes more critical as the seasons progress.
Most of us in our work lives find our club managers, who establish our work culture. We may even be blessed with good baseball coaches or mentors who point us in the right direction and tell us the sequence bases to touch along the way. These people change, of course, as we move from job to job or career to career, but when we take time for reflection, on the bench so to speak since we are not always on the field of play, we can see that we do not work only for money. We realize we are living our lives at the same time we are working.
So at some point we apply our minds to our work life and try to exert some controls to the way we play the game. We learn to temper our emotions, to use our reason, and to play with our free will, trying to always choose what we work on. But, unless we are narcissistic, which seems more prevalent today than ever in my opinion, and don’t care for anyone other than ourselves, we learn over time to love the team we're with and see what we are doing as a team effort. We don't just work to discipline our own emotions, reason, and will, but we do so for the goals of the team. The love our team shares for each other carries beyond what our emotions, reason and will can do for us individually. And now, more than ever, this is what will effectively drive our social and professional networks.
Thus we enter into the market place of ideas and commerce and play the innings, the games, the seasons. And as the wheels of fortune go up and down, we have to learn not to worry about the breaks along the way. We must become switch hitters. We learn to bat right-handed or left-handed. We come to like our new skills. But is expanding our knowledge why we work?
The breaks are not always so easy to handle, whichever hands we use. We may laugh when we get the goat of someone else we're playing with. Is getting the political advantage over others why we work? When we are gotten by the goat ourselves, the intense responses can lead to doubt, discouragement, even despair or outright denial. It is usually at these major turning points in jobs or careers that we need and want most to know why we work, especially when there is no money coming in. If not for knowledge and power, or money, not to mention sex, why again do we work?
Harsh reality won’t let us linger in doubt, discouragement, despair or denial. We can't stop playing, working, staying alive. For one, there's the umpire who keeps saying "play ball." And that’s good. The choices are really few. But our judgment comes into play when we try to figure out how best to put our powers into the game. Even if we are striking out, hitting only singles or doubles or triples, when we’d like to get back to hitting homeruns. To hit the needed or wanted homerun we must face what may seem to be our enemies in the opposition: the catchers and the pitchers.
The catcher personifies our blind spots signaling the pitchers what to throw at us next. Fastball, curve ball, knuckle ball, change-up. The pitchers bring the heat but has only a limited number of pitches to try us with or we get a walk. Unless we are so good that we draw a walk, we must step up to the plate. A fastball may be seen as fast money. The curve ball, as not as much money as you were expecting. The knuckle ball, as a bit of a bribe. A change-up, way less than you were making before. But, when we are swinging for a hit, should we care what is thrown at us so long as we are hitting? At some point each of us may come to dislike playing catcher to someone else’s pitching. We want to do the pitching, instead of fielding like all the others. And those of us who claim the pitcher’s mound then face the issue head on again, but in a more pointed form: "Why, other than for money, do you pitch?"
It's like "why does the chicken cross the street?" you say. "No reason" or "To get to the other side," you say. Is this game we play rational? Irrational? How about non-rational?
Well, let me give my admittedly off-the-wall answer. Perhaps, a bit non-rational. I think we play the game of working because it's all about the baseball itself. Who gets to touch the ball. The baseball of work is part of what gives us life and sustains us. To take part in our society, more than even our economy, we are given baseballs to share the joy of being in a human community, even if only a spectator who sits in the stands with a glove and undying hope to catch a foul. Like baseball at its best, and even at its worst, work is part of our celebration of being alive. We don't want to own the baseballs. We just want to play with them.
But who gives us the baseballs? That's up to you to decide. (Ray is “granted” this hint, but kept his decision to himself.) There are many pretenders for the intellectual property rights and branding privileges for baseball and work, no doubt. But while you're thinking about the question, what I am paying attention to is that the baseballs are given to us. We play and work with them as a way of returning the gift and paying it forward.
So, each of us begins a new season, a new fiscal year in our work, batting a thousand --- well maybe not life-time --- but even the best batting averages are less than half, if not a third, of that by the end of the season. And we each will have our moments to be the team hero if we rise to the occasion. But we remember that live baseballs don't always go where we intend them to. And with an economic crash like we are experiencing now,...well, it's a whole new ballgame. We are having to fight our way out of a slump. The best way to get out of the slump is to toss the ball around like we've been doing with this question, among friends. We must find friends and go out and play at work and work our plays. And funny, it’s not really about collaborative competition, unless you’re in the game primarily for money. That's a team of shooting stars that crash down on the field. On the other hand, playing in a competitive collaboration, that's what baseball is all about. We shouldn’t care how others hit the ball or run the bases. As a team, we want to be the best at our game: running the bases, getting the hits, catching and fielding the ball. We want to be as alive as the baseball is.
Finally as free agents we still need and want to play within the freedom that only the good rule book judges our play by. We want to play every game like being in the world series since that's the happiest place for baseball players like us to play. But to prepare with ourselves and our teammates for the world series, each of us must develop our skills in a well-rounded way, learning to be all-star players with base-running, bat-swinging, ball-catching, and ball-throwing mastery. And we can reach that level of mastery without much money, if any at all. How?
It's ultimately all about giving to one another. Giving what? Giving game? What game? Baseball? No, the real ballgame: our lives. That’s why I gave you the question. See what it produced! You gave back to me multi-fold. If my question is translated into an exchange rate of only $1, then your responses, even if valued only at the same level, has enriched me and everyone reading them by over $50. That’s why I “work” here on LinkedIn with you and others: to produce value that is priceless by comparison to the dollars it might otherwise command.
Where does this approach lead? Surely to more questions we can share and answer. Find yourself a team on LinkedIn and play baseball. Then you’ll discover in the most personal of terms why, other than for money, you are working. Got Game? Want to play?
JOHN'S REPLIES
TO PARTICIPANT RESPONSES:
Starting off, it seems elementary to agree with Francisco's answer of "Self fulfillment." Like Karen's response "I get more reading done on my commute than I ever get done lounging around the house!" and Johnson's "Fun, interactivity, something to do...," there is underneath such responses a desire for leisure which may look like foolishness to some. As Frank would have it "work is not work, but fun." But there is playing at work and playing in work. Both can be fun. The rookie’s journey to find the latter is not to be confused with the foolish rookie who seeks the former.
Terri begins our journey with her plain-speaking answer: "I 'need' to.... Somehow, I can't imagine myself not doing something constructive, taking on challenges and providing solutions for people struggling with business challenges. Something genetic, I suppose, but I need to be doing something, and right now, this seems to be the best arena in which I can satisfy that need." Terri’s on to something. So do we work on purpose? Alicia gives us a yes by raising the underlying issue of the journey in a somewhat veiled fashion. She wants to "make sure ambitions are attained." This is quite different from Indira's response. She says work "keeps one busy." Brian agrees, though he makes it more personal: "To keep myself busy." While Alicia sees work as part of her agenda, Indira takes the philosophical approach, applying it as a universally true principle, and Brian takes the existential one, applying it as a specifically true principle in his case. Then enter Annette. She would rephrase the issue: "perhaps a better question would be: If you have to work, why not do work you love? Giving yourself anything less, one would have to ask their self, where is the win/win?" Bob puts it negatively: "doing nothing is boring and from boring you either disappear into nothingness or get into trouble." Annette’s and Bob’s answers raise the stakes considerably and add new dimensions: Love, negotiation, or boring into nothingness. Such distinctions separate the true baseball players from their agents when it comes to contract time. It seems that the question "Why, other than for money, do you work?" hides an underlying issue: "Where are you wanting to go by working? Love, win/win, or nowhere?" Play now with an eye on inevitable retirement or unavoidable death, to avoid the rush?
Enter Charlie. Like a legendary player, he understands the need for security. He gives us practical advice: "Work gives me a safe place to stay and spend hours with certain meanings. Keeps me healthy physically and emotionally." Marietta gives more the natural player’s answer, saying she is working "because the U.S. doesn't have healthcare unless you are able to pay for it (dearly) .. and working for a company (or in my case, a firm) provides a health plan you could not otherwise afford, as a single family." Good traditional advice for everyone. But is it enough to explain where are you wanting to go by working? A safe, secure place with great health care benefits? We can’t all work in nursing homes, though some of my best friends highly recommend it. It will be a growth industry in the near future.
The managers take the floor. Elaine takes us a step higher by giving us the educational aspects of working: "As a client executive and consultant I have the privilege of learning about my clients' businesses, particularly their sales organizations. I find this fascinating and really enjoy understanding my clients' business strategies and best practices. Then when some of my ideas or recommendations, bring them value, that makes work even better!" Penny gives it a sharper point: we will learn more about problem solving. Mary gives us more focus on "interacting with others and putting all the pieces of a puzzle in place in order to make their lives easier when selling/ buying/moving," thus adding the element of "challenge" to the mix. Joyce echoes Frank's from-the-get-go comment but gives us a twist: "Because I enjoy what some people call 'work' and don't enjoy what some people call 'play.'" The twist is enjoyment.
Now the coaches speak up. Zen gives advice for pitchers from the East via Arizona with : "I've found that 'God's work' (if you will allow me the luxury of calling it that) carries no emotional charge with it. That is the best way to identify the path we need to take; one of natural movement unimpeded by our mind's chatter to the contrary." Alison gives advice for the catchers, that does not rule out doing God's work. She urges us to understand our values: "I found out what my unconscious drivers (values) for why I work were to ensure my work could continue to give me passion and a desire to jump out of bed every day with enthusiasm. I discovered that my values at work are: freedom, connection, empowerment, contribution and laughter...If I ever make money the main reason for doing anything that's when it all starts to go wrong. A recent Forbes.com article (see link) about the Trappist monks' management philosophy suggests that they work to be of service." But it is Sandy’s gift of reflection from the bench that provides the value that challenges all of us and points to an underlying claim of truth: "If your answer to the question of why you work is anything other than because you enjoy what you do, then you need to quit your job." Truth hurts like a bat sometimes.
Now our journey crosses the threshold from a philosophical discussion to an existential one. Judy puts it to us this way. Why she works, other than for money is: "To keep me challenged, intellectually engaged and interacting with smart people." If Judy's self-orientation is emotionally compelling, Cristina's gift is highly rational: "To help others stay healthy through regular dental checkups." Why such a rational gift? It’s not just something to sink our teeth in. Christina chews every question well before swallowing. She’s a dentist after all. Beyond such emotionally and rationally compelling responses is Kim's answer that suggests a movement of her will to what she really wants: "I actually get real and pure-personal joy when I complete a video that has a great message even if it is about a company...I still hope to meet 100's more before I stop telling other folks stories." Kim’s gift is profound. Baseball is not about statistics and winning or losing, it’s about our love of stories!
So enter Kevin who gives us his story of his encounter with the wheel of fortune: "I want to reap. In order to reap I must sow...I have chosen a career I would at least do a reasonable facsimile of if I was wealthy, which involves creativity and a variety of other skills and interests. I used to think money was a lot more superficial than I do now. Now I realize that as contrived and warped as it may be sometimes, it is generally recognition of value provided which can be exchanged for value when needed and how needed." Peter’s story is more concise with a hard-hitting punch-line: "I am really enjoying what I am doing right now, but I do need to turn it into cash." Adrian spins the wheel even harder: "I don't work, I play. Thus, for the pleasure of it...'Work as if you don't need the money'." But in these stories I wonder whether you detect a subtle redirection of the primary question to money being the magnet? These "as if" answers give us pause. Where is this redirection coming from?
Midji gives us a clue in this answer: "to have fun, brain exercise, and at the same time, able to help everyone..." "As if" answers are fun, pleasureful brain exercises for those who identify their minds with their brains. In this context, Leonid's gift is dualistic: "to keep myself sane and avoid Alzheimer if possible." L.J. is frankly blunt about it, more monistic. It's all about "Sanity." In effect playing at work as a with a gambler’s wheel of fortune has some recognizable down sides as our present economy clearly reveals. Martin's gives the outlines of a telling result. Other than for money, he works for "intellectual stimulation and interaction with a different kind of person than I meet in my real life." Where is this headed? Can the pursuit of money as the real reason for working split us from the reality we are wanting most?
Ruth seems to think so. She escaped the trap by following the path of her heroes: "I'm probably one of the oddballs out of all those who respond, because I don't currently draw an income from my employment position, so it 'ISN'T' money that encourages me to work; it is personal satisfaction. The reason why I do what I do, day in and day out, through the broad base of mechanisms we use to reach our military audience is done out of a true love of the service we provide veterans and their families in helping to support their short-term transitional needs. It is also because of the need we recognized for long-term care for veterans that isn't available through existing organizations. Inspiring Alliance is driven to improve this situation... I learned a few years ago that WORK isn't about earning the almighty dollar. Anyone who knows me well knows my background in business ownership, which provided the "money" you refer to, John. Those daily work efforts, however, left me feeling empty because after the tragic events of 9-11 something stirred me to want to be able to support the needs of our nation, not just to earn a living. I made a personal choice to relinquish my for-profit objectives in OH so that I could devote the remainder of my career in AZ by "giving back" to a community that had specific needs my previous career could accommodate." Ruth pursues justice.
Likewise Ray rescues us from the world's insanity with his more balanced play of forces: "Work fulfills me, provides personal and professional satisfaction. It provides a context for being of value and use and making a difference with the life I have been granted. I work as an engineer, educator and sculptor and love it all. And it's nice when it produces money." Notice the production of money as almost accidental to the work. Notice “the life I have been granted.” Is Ray touched or has Ray been touched?
Stephen's response goes beyond the pursuit of justice as well, but takes Ray’s observation even further. His response is effortlessly commonsensical. It is inspiring and takes up our quest again by rephrasing the underlying issue: "When we do things for reasons other than money, why do we refuse to think of it as work?" Stephen has hit the ball squarely, almost like a bunt: What is the source of our refusal?
Ilangovan’s answer gives Stephen’s question an answer from left field, from another space, another time, another light: "Money is what T. S. Eliot would say, 'the objective correlative' of what you get in return for the work that you do. Money is what you think about when there is a shortfall or a windfall :), not otherwise, usually! We work mostly to organize what we call time. That's the way it's been from the time "time" was invented...We work either to feel useful or to avoid people. More importantly, humans work as they HATE SILENCE. Most human beings wouldn't know what to do with themselves if they find that all their needs have been met. Once food and shelter have been achieved, it is to other humans that we turn to socialize, do work for or have work done to oneself by others and so on and so forth." This answer makes me think of people living on the moon where "friendships" are artificially grounded.
Gustavo brings us back down to earth and bats like a lead-off hitter: "I work because in work man finds one of his elemental life callings. It is part of our eternal condition; the manner in which we transform nature and help to explain why we inhabit this planet. In this sense, in work we find meaning to our life. I also work because I would go nuts if I did nothing; through my work, I feel that I figuratively yell at the world: 'I am here!'" Coleen bats second and gives a concise answer: "I work because I love helping friends and love a challenge." Kimberly bats third and loads the bases with her "as if": "If I won the lottery tomorrow, I'd still come in to work the next day. It really is about the people and a sense of accomplishment and job well-done and I am so thankful for it every day because I've been in other situations where it wouldn't have taken much more than $50 for me to be willing to call in for the day." Madhu, with her answer, hits a grand slam homerun with her true gift of work as loving help for friends: "My work is my passion! It is my muse, my prayer, my devotion. I would do it for free." Is Madhu’s gift the walk-off homerun that ends the baseball game, the season. No, but it adds profound insight: not just commitment, but a sense of surrender. But commitment to what? Surrender to whom?
Joel gives it up to his passion succinctly: "to make a difference in the world." So does Denise: "demonstration of my talents..." Likewise Rob: "I enjoy helping students and entrepreneurs become more successful." And Jill: "To bring joy and art to people and families." Susan paints with the broadest brush: "It's intrinsically interesting and keeps me engaged with the rest of the world." There is a deep sense of giving up one’s self to the world based on these players. But why do they do it?
Nina's answer though puts us in a whole new ballgame, because she reminds us of the biggest draw for doing anything. She works: "To be happy. I spend more waking hours working than doing anything else. Sleep is necessary and makes it possible for me to be happy (rather the converse - if I've not slept it's almost impossible to be happy). But if I want to sit in my rocking chair at age 103 (which I intend to do) and look back and say 'wow, what a blast,' I can't spend most of my waking hours not being happy.”
This level of conversation about work is rarely seen on LinkedIn. But perhaps it is not so obvious an approach to thinking about work until you've been reoriented to the true meaning of work, hanging upside down. Consider Justin's gift: "I find fulfillment in meeting and helping people improve themselves or their situation. After being laid off several years ago, I decided that I was going to enjoy the work I do instead of worrying about how much money I could make. The feedback I have been give or have received since this change is the passion for what I do comes through very strongly and is transparent." Strange isn’t it that we must suffer through the loss of work in order to understand it’s real value strongly and transparently. Maybe giving up work, for whatever reason, ultimately gives us the most sure way to find the truth of why we work. It’s part of what it means to be human, even when we are upside down.
If the "why we work, other than for money question" is answered “to become and be happy,” what signals us we've got there? We’ve arrived? At the World Series? Is there a rule book that tells us? Irene’s answer gives us something like a rule: "All I do is working for the feeling that I can help somebody. Sometimes it's on the school of my kids, sometimes I help neighbors. It's great to see the reactions of people if you care about them. Some people think it's not really working, but people who volunteer are very important!!" Brian echoes this with his gift: "To help people. With the uncertainty in the economy these days, everyone should have an advisor that cares about them and is willing to talk with their clients to fully understand their needs...not what's best for the advisor."
Then there's the nursing home designer, Kathy. Here’s her rule of thumb gift, learned the hard way: "Because I love making a difference. I used to work because I felt obligated to support a staff of employees. The recession took care of that and now they are gone. Thank goodness. I wonder how I could have thought they actually cared. When the paycheck stopped coming so did their friendship. Another lesson learned. So I worked for me and for the change I can make and the forward motion I can instill. I work because I cannot imagine not working, and hopefully when that day comes when I no longer can work I will be at my next home in heaven. I anticipate when I get there, there will be plenty of designing to be done and I will be keeping busy."
Now that’s another level, for sure. Interesting, we won't need money to be happy eternally. We won't need doctors and we won't need lawyers. I’m very aware of the latter fact, though I must say I’ve heard it said we don’t need them on earth either. What we’ll want and need then and now are friends in high places to work with.
But will working with friends satisfy us forever? Octavio's answer gives us a foretaste of “yes” when he writes: "I have found real value in appreciating the beauty behind childhood memories, tender facts of life, beautiful feelings that I have shared with other persons during my lifetime and the remarkable goals I have achieved during my professional career, which resonate on me over and over again, and have an undeniable emotional value that inspire me in enjoying this adventure of creation, experimentation and learning that is my own life. The emotional valuation of these feelings, memories and facts that resonate deeply on me, is emotionally powerful to ignite my passion in living; my willingness to be helpful to others; my enjoyment from learning something new each day, the pleasant feeling of being in balance with the beauty of nature, and my own prospective of growth, either as an individual and as professional. From a professional standpoint I have felt beautifully empowered after receiving the gift of feeling my own emotionality, while I am working around an inspiring vision with my teammates in my goal of being helpful to my organization, my relatives, and the overall society. In my professional experience as leader of high-performance teams defining an inspiring vision and the initiative of providing in parallel, all the information and knowledge about the strategic big picture, are keystones in assuring that the members of my team will feel compelled and motivated to make their best effort to fulfill and exceed the goals that have been envisioned for the project." Does this mean that we’re just working to build up memories of the past?
Carlos takes us to the peak, that of the human condition, predicament, etc., and in doing so gives us another peek at what working with family and friends does for us now and in the future: "Great question! Even if you do not have financial need, there are several reasons [to work]: (A) Your children are watching-I have eight and they learn from example. (B) While work is not a curse (even Adam worked being charged with naming the animals and tending the garden BEFORE the fall), work is nevertheless required by God. If you are a Christian, the bible never mentions retirement. (C) A muscle only grows when exerted, your life force withers unless you push against something that truly resists. So, for the love of God, yourself and your children, you work and if you are smart you do it in the name of Christ, for the Glory of God and with the help of the Spirit..." Inspired, Carlos. And just think, The Boss paid for it himself in a most shocking and surprising way, for a change, and once and for all.
