Extreme careerism. Defined as “the policy or practice of advancing one’s career often at the cost of one’s integrity,” is the single most destructive force in business, and I may argue, society in general. Period.
Why? Read the definition above again. The key word is integrity. Ah yes, that seemingly old fashioned concept which is disappearing from our daily lives – especially in the business world – faster than Donald Trump deletes his idiotic, ill-advised tweets.
This may sound harsh, but for me, careerism is a sickness. And it’s a dangerous disease that we are yet to find the cure for.
What is careerism?
First let me say what I mean by careerism. Because it’s something different to strive for a successful career by working hard and sacrificing time with family and friends. No, I’m talking about the dark side. It’s that whole attitude, disposition even, of always “looking out for number one”. To climb as high as possible, to get as much as you can for yourself, often by any means possible.
I’ve always hated every ounce of the idea of careerism in general. I mean lets face it. It’s one thing to be career-driven. It’s entirely another to be an insufferable, selfish, egotistical, megalomaniac. For me, the kind of people and characters who are career maniacs are something like the living dead.
“Nice guys finish last”
Unfortunately, the popular saying ‘nice guys finish last’ is popular for a reason. Because, for the most part, it’s true. Scientific research often points to the fact that nice people generally do tend to finish last – where money and their career is concerned. For example, a report published as recently as this month once again highlighted the fact that “nice people may be at greater risk of bankruptcy and other financial hardships compared with their less agreeable peers, not because they are more cooperative, but because they don’t value money as much.”
Having said that, in much the same way as we say not all heroes wear capes, not all nice guys finish last. Yes, it’s without doubt very hard these days to finish first without being a self-serving so-and-so at some point along the way. Or is it? I prefer to think that it can be done. And for our sake as human beings, it must be done.
Careerism in the modern age
Let’s be honest. How many careerism characters are among the people who are controlling the wheels of the world economy at the strongest banks and financial institutions? Some of the “dirtiest” jobs of the stock-markets, etc are filled by these kind of people. Or perhaps parasites is a better description.
And then there’s the various public and private institutions put in place to regulate and control the systems which often bring us crashing down. Their whole business is based on an attitude which says: “I shall always be able to prove that I took every possible means of trying to find this and that.” Yet, unfortunately, they have failed miserably to do so in numerous cases – from Enron and Worldcom, to Lehman Brothers and so on. For every one of these kinds of global scandals, there are thousands (who knows maybe millions) of other smaller scale carbon copy cases at local levels.
The same of course goes of the CEOs and all the C-Level executives of those aforementioned businesses (Enron, etc). Many of them want it all but without having to take personal responsibility for anything – especially when things go badly wrong.
Top level executives
Robert Hare famously said during his aptly titled lecture, The Predators Among Us that “not all psychopaths are in prison – some are in the board room.” This was based on the concept that Psychopathy is one of three “dark triad” traits inherent in extreme careerism types, the other two being narcissism and Machiavellianism. And if you think about, how many top level executives have you met that you consider may actually have the traits of a psycho? If it’s like me it will be a lot. Yes we may laugh, but it’s a painful truth.
Many of them try to justify their reckless, selfish and manipulative actions with the classic, “the end justifies the means”, or “it’s impossible to get ahead without cutting corners here and there or stepping on a few people.” We’ve all seen the film Wall Street.
More than just recognition
Careerism, as defined above, is about having much more than status. They want to have the high salary, the huge bonuses, and first and foremost, they want the title and the recognition. They want you to talk to them with respect. heavy titles and “recognition”. And they want you to give them respect. And when success comes they want to be at the top of the pile, and naturally, if failure comes they want to be last.
John F. Kennedy’s comment to a journalist after the failure of the Bay of Pigs, “victory has 100 fathers and defeat is an orphan,” rings true for the careerism illness. It could easily have been invented for careerists.
Individual responsibility
I recently read the amazing book by Greek author Chronis Missios, ‘The key is under the Geranium’, which hones in on the concept of individual responsibility. That on the one hand, the world will change only if first we decide to change it by ourselves. And, on the other, there are so many who never take any individual responsibility, just waiting for their lives to pass by.
Again, for me, the latter are the careerists. They are the ones who shirk individual responsibility. They are the pawns of the ‘capitalist’, as we may say in an amphitheater. Above all, they are people with the kind of behavior that has absolutely no relation to entrepreneurship.
Careerism: the enemy of true entrepreneurship
The contemporary entrepreneur, who is usually a creator, or craftsman, puts the team above everything. Or at least he/she should. Whereas the careerist, puts himself, and his/her ‘career’ at the top. The entrepreneur cares about what’s happening in reality. The careerist is interested in what seems to be happening. To “see” that he did the job, not really typically doing it in practice.
The craftsman, first and foremost, always assumes responsibility of his actions. Conversely, the careerist is never to blame. He always did – or better still – tried (cough) to do his job properly. For those “other things”, why he knew nothing about them. And he didn’t ask. In any case, it could never be his fault.
In entrepreneurship and in society we want creators. We want craftsmen – and women of course! We want people who want ownership and individual responsibility for the collective effort. Enough with personal interest. We have seen the road own which that leads us to far many too many times.
The Starttech way
And this is something on which the principles of Starttech was built. Because we (not just I) want the opposite attitude from everybody involved. From the permanent staff on our team to the startups we host. Personal success will always come through and via the team’s success.
We want to be useful, we want to do good, we want to enjoy the unique feeling that creativity can bring, and of course to enjoy the fruits of our labor.
But, most of all, we want to clearly distinguish ourselves from this stereotype of people who never undertake true personal responsibility and will always put themselves first, and the team (and everyone else, actually) second.
Thinking of applying for funding at Starttech Ventures and join our Venture Building program? Read this first and drop us a line. Also see our careers page for the latest opportunities to join our expanding team.
