We can all go beyond ourselves and, yes, sometimes put work first. FILE/LYNDA FERINGA
We can all go beyond ourselves and, yes, sometimes put work first. FILE/LYNDA FERINGA
I READ the article in yesterday's paper on Wild Oats cafe owner Crystal Thompson and two aspects of her interview stood out strongly.
She was a young person who was given a chance to thrive with significant responsibility -- a partnership in a cafe -- and she was noted asworking "super-hard".
Both these aspects are vital ingredients for success and promotion for young people.
It might seem right and fair that if you show up to work on time, do the right things and produce what's needed, you would get recognised for that, and thus move up the ladder. Unions would argue that these are all the right things to secure advancement. But, in my experience, the people I have watched advance in any serious fashion are those who have decided that while it might be arduous to work longer and beyond your job description, they will do so because their focus is on their product.
This isn't like some American TV series about youngsters working harder than other interns in order to impress their bosses and get an office. You don't have to be ambitious to the point of it being your blind focus. What you do have to be is proud of yourself in terms of the work you do, proud of the product, and, without really thinking about it, assume that you will work hard to make your product great.
If things stay still, they decay. Nothing survives if it holds to the status quo. And nobody moves up in the world in a serious fashion if they settle for average. Absolutely nobody is average in terms of ability. We can all go beyond ourselves and, yes, sometimes put work first. I am not a fan of the latter but I recognise that it is necessary. As long as it isn't overdone, it's a form of healthy initiative.
Ms Thompson was rewarded for her hard work by being given "a chance" to be a business partner, but in actual fact it was a sound business judgement based on her ability and hard work. Now she wants to provide that kind of chance to others, to pass it forward. But I would be confident that, in establishing her work ethic, she will look for that in others.
