FREE NEWSLETTER
THE LATE JOHN BOGLE, in his book Enough, tells a wonderful story about Kurt Vonnegut and Joseph Heller. At a dinner party, Vonnegut asks Heller what it was like knowing that another guest made more in a day than Heller had ever made from his bestselling book Catch-22. Heller replied that he had something that the other guest would never have—enough.
I had forgotten my own story of enough, until I was reminded about it recently by my old boss.
Twenty-four years ago, my boss asked me to move to a different state to run a portion of a manufacturing plant. This was the time-honored step necessary to be considered for promotion to director or vice president of manufacturing. Without that plant leadership experience, my career would be severely limited.
I politely turned down the offer to move. My boss reminded me that my career would probably plateau without this additional experience. He wanted to know how I could turn down this wonderful opportunity.
I replied that I love real maple syrup. We seldom had it growing up. But now, every weekend, I made pancakes or waffles and ate them with real maple syrup.
My boss asked me what maple syrup had to do with the job offer. I replied that I was now sufficiently well off that I could afford real maple syrup for the rest of my life—and so, while I appreciated his confidence in my abilities, I was happy with my current career path.
Agreed! Figure out your “enough”…
I think that “having enough” and deciding whether to seek promotions are 2 different things that are sometimes related.
I was fortunate to be well compensated as an IT tech, but my career aspirations were to become a manager. The more latitude I had as a manager, the better. Once I became a general manager I had lots of latitude in managing, but also had lots of responsibility and accountability and pressure. I liked that and rarely had my superiors micromanaging me.
One question I asked staff who were considering a promotion to manager was “Would you rather be in that role managing others or would you rather someone else be in that role managing you?” Often, people knew who their competition was for the manager role, and that would influence their decision.
The journey to “enough” is not the same for everyone. Having real maple syrup may be the measure for some and not being a manager may resonate with others. In my family, we grew up eating imitation maple syrup and oleo. As a result, when I became a working adult, I very much wanted to be a manager in order to be able to afford the things our family could not when I was a kid. I got my wish, but it then took me another 10-15 years before I finally figured out that being a manager, while financially rewarding, also placed huge demands on my personal and family life. I credit my spouse for sticking with me until I finally figured out that real maple syrup and butter provided more lasting satisfaction than a fancy title and a private office.
My wife and I were just discussing when we stopped buying pancake syrup and started buying maple syrup (and the silly “transition period” when we mixed them 50-50). We were being pound-wise and penny-foolish (which is better than the opposite, I guess).
For years my annual appraisal included a “wouldn’t you like to be a manager” type question. Every year I said “no, thanks”. I enjoyed being a techie, and I knew that not only would I hate the personnel demands of first-line management, I would be bad at handling them. Maybe my salary would have been higher as a manager, but it wouldn’t have been worth the stress. I still got promoted as a techie, but on a different career path with a lower cap.
There are a million jobs in the world, but real maple syrup is limited to certain geographic areas. I am so lucky living in New England and I always have few gallons of the dark variety hidden away.
Consequences, yes. Many bosses consider such refusals as a golden opportunity to screw you over. And over. Those kinds find their second calling enforcing mask mandates and vaccine passports.
Maybe consider the “consequences ” of not being responsible enough to wear a mask and take the vaccine in the middle of a pandemic. Your’s was a silly analogy.
My wife has cancer, and we are both over 70 years old. (more vulnerable). I am VERY happy with enforced health standards in dangerous situations. (a pandemic).
I did something similar in my career mostly because I enjoyed my job and the recognition it provided.
I knew it meant not moving onward and upward.
That’s an important point. Anyone who has their own priorities, wants to follow their own path, do what makes them happy, just need to realize there is a price to pay; consequences.
Yep, could not stand the brown nosing associated with moving up as well as the dreaded KPIs. KPIs did not fit our work, since we were a procurement group. We force-fit our statistics to placate the higher-ups. LOL You know what they say about statistics.
We negotiated or competitively bid contracts for services, not goods unless they were part of the major services required. And, acquiring services is multi-faceted, can be complex for both sides, requires different timelines for the smallest to the largest type of work and (most importantly) the contract terms can be contentious (think Lawyers). Thus, management could not understand our work or ignored us unless their peers complained. We were the stepchild division in the Finance Department and were looked upon as a necessary evil, sort of like the Audit Division. We were never appreciated by management for our work, so I got my kudos from the people I worked with, the Proponents I assisted in getting their contracts and the contractor community. I was president of the local National Contract Management Association (NCMA) Chapter for two-years.
Finally, happily retired in 2016, on my own terms with no regrets about not chasing the brass ring!!!