I have a strange fascination with the concept of the ‘Business Help’ book. You know the type, it’s always under the ‘Self Improvement’ or ‘Management’ section at your local bookstore, it usually has a plain cover or one with the author gazing sagely upon you trying to convince you through their eyes that buying this one book will change your life. My single most recommended read to anyone just starting out in their career or are considering what they wish to do is one of these books, ‘So Good They Can’t Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work You Love.‘ by Cal Newport.
The title is pretty self explanatory but there are some sections of this book that have changed my life, or at least my views upon the next 40 years of toil in a cubicle watching the fleeting moments of life go by while I send out another email asking for an update. I’m not here to review or summarize the book, just to talk about the thoughts it left me with and why I think the subject matter is important.
The Premise
The core concept of the book is simple: ‘Don’t follow your passions. Follow your talents.’. This comes in stark contrast to most advice given by parents and mentors, where finding your passion and ‘Do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life’ are the words heard by teenagers when trying to figure out what they want to do. I (and Cal Newport by extension) posit that this mentality is wrong for two main reasons:
Hating Your Passion
The first may not seem obvious on first impression, trying to make your passions into your career quickly turns you off from your passions.
Love music? Try being a musician for 35 years.
Think your true calling is teaching? Ask any teacher how they feel after 40 years.
Finding success with that YouTube channel having fun and making ad revenue?
Imagine waking up day after day editing videos and playing the same game because the algorithm demands more Minecraft videos. Of course this is not universally true, there are always people who manage to unite their passions and careers, look at Warren Buffet and his indefatigable desire to walk into Berkshire Hathaway’s offices every morning and earn more billions at age 90.
The core statement I am making still applies to 90% of all of us, turning your passion into a job usually end up killing that passion. There are always aspects to any job that are simultaneously essential and unpleasant, such as marking papers as a teacher, that really takes away from the pleasure of educating the young and impressionable. When the frustrating part of something crops up in a hobby, you can always walk away and deal with it when you’re in a better mood, which is not an option when your livelihood depends on you doing that unpleasant thing. Cooking for a group of your friends and being complimented with “Your food is so good, you should really think about starting a restaurant!” is a far cry from figuring out alcohol regulations, sourcing for ingredient suppliers and calculating breakeven margins on a table with 6 covers.
Humans need something to take refuge in, whether that be a hobby you do to unwind or a passion you feel deeply for. Letting that refuge turn into your income stream removes that avenue of relaxation and destroys the love you have for it.
One Fulfillment Please
Two is something people probably understand but it usually is left unsaid. Your job is not here to provide you with the fulfillment of your passion.
The image of the avocado toast buying, Tinder swiping millennial only wanting jobs with good work-life balance and a fun, exciting workplace is probably overstated, but the idea of finding that mythical job where you love your work every single day is still being bandied about. Corporate cares not for your passion, your time or your life. They care about you as a magic black box of ‘Put salary into executive, take out human labor that is converted into hopefully more money than was put in’. If the salary to output ratio starts dropping, execute the ‘Employee Welfare Buffet Lunch’ or ‘Performance Improvement Program’ as needed until said output increases. It is a little cynical, and I do genuinely believe there are good bosses within the systems that really do care about their people, but the purpose of a job has never been to fulfill your passions, so stop expecting to find one that does.
Career Capital
So taking my word for gospel (which you shouldn’t), what is the answer every smartarse teenager should say to their parents who are simply telling them to find what motivates them?
I’ve spoiled the answer earlier on but Cal Newport argues that the correct answer lies in the concept of career capital, which is akin to how valuable you are as a worker. The corporate middle manager has more career capital than a fresh graduate, because the manager is more valuable to the company than the newcomer. The CFO has more career capital than the middle manager because the CFO is more valuable to the company. Career capital is earned by being important enough to your company, thus the title of the book: So Good They Can’t Ignore You. The CTO who is the only person who understands how the company’s financial algorithms work is indispensable and thus has immense career capital, capital which can then be traded for what they actually want.
Want to retire by 40? Trade your career capital for a larger salary by negotiating it at the next increment meeting or just walking away to whoever pays you the most.
Want to watch your kids grow up? Trade it for more flexible work hours or the ability to work from home.
Want to change the world? Trade it for contacts and resources that will help you turn your non-profit into the next Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Your career capital can be leveraged in negotiations with your own organization, or by going somewhere else that wants a valuable employee and is willing to give you what you want, what you are actually passionate for. A fresh graduate just starting as a lowly executive has no career capital, no value to their organization. They have nothing to trade to get what they want, so compromises become the order of the day. Get great working hours and a measly paycheck, or be paid the big bucks but don’t expect to see sundown outside your cubicle for a few years. Generating career capital is the key to eventually getting what you truly desire without compromises, like being a good enough programmer to work at a FAANG, or getting that SAFOS scholarship to settle in to an ironclad job to your 50s.
Cal Newport actually has a whole other point to make about how passion can be created for your work by gaining competence in it that I agree with as well, but this post is getting long as it is. Another story for another time then.