Business Comment - our regular column on a variety of issues, by Mike Johnson, consultant, author and chairman of FutureWork Forum, an independent global think tank on the future of work.1
I’ve just seen a survey of more than 3,000 very smart 18 – 28 year-olds, that asked them what were the most important things about work. And do you know what came out on top? “Wanting to be happy in whatever I do.”
Becoming powerful, influential or rich didn’t even figure in the statistics. Why? Because it just isn’t important to this group – the next generation in the workplace. And here we are talking not just about the next generation at work. In that group will be the movers, shakers and market-makers of the coming decades.
These 3,000-plus young people are all graduates of the very best seats of learning in Europe. These are the people who will set future agendas, trends and styles. These are tomorrow’s CEOs. And they have one very important goal – they want to be happy, fulfilled and turned on by what they do.
Looking for work-life balance
I’ve been around the business world for quite some time now and I’ve never heard or read about a CEO whose sole ambition was to be happy. In fact most of the CEOs I see don’t look all that pleased about anything very much, never mind showing signs of being happy. All that power, that big salary, that even bigger bonus don’t seem to have done much for the CEOs’ ability to smile. Look serious, concerned, tough even; that’s no problem. But crack a smile. No way! What would the shareholders and the analysts think?
But those young people aren’t finished yet. Not a bit of it. Also listed in the very important category in this survey by these thousands of bright boy and girl wonders are other expectations headed by, “being respected by my family and friends”, “achieving a good life/work balance” and “making the world a better place.”
Out go jokes…
This is heady stuff. What we are seeing here is nothing more than a call to a revolution. Our future business, academic and political leaders are clearly saying that they want to be happy and they want others to be happy too. And why not? Maybe it would be a good idea to inject some happiness and fun into our staid business institutions.
Indeed, just the other day I was talking to a colleague and we decided that today’s business world has become way too serious. “Remember,” he said, “when colleagues used to call you up and spend half an hour telling the latest New York jokes?” Well, that sort of thing doesn’t happy any more. Not only don’t they call (and e-mailed jokes are not funny!), but when did you last hear a joke being told during office hours?
…and out go lunch breaks
It is all too, too serious. Just the other week there was a long article in one of the financial newspapers bemoaning the fact that in the London and New York financial districts, stepping out for lunch is considered practically inexcusable behaviour. And if you do make it out, it had better be a hot dog on the sidewalk. Sitting at a table and ordering two courses is probably rewarded with being fired, and asking for a glass of anything other than water is known to be a hanging offence. Sure, people make a lot of money. But they’ve forgotten how to have fun. When was the last time you heard someone whistling while they worked?
And now along comes this survey of tomorrow’s captains of industry and they want to have some fun. They dare to be happy and expect flexibility and a real balance in their working lives.
Can they do it, will we see a revolution? Are we going to see smiles and laughter in the corridors of power?
The real world intrudes
Of course we aren’t. Don’t be silly. There’s not a hope in the world that that will happen. “But,” you say, “what about all these thousands of people whose goal is to be happy in whatever they do; are you suggesting they’re wrong? Of course not. Misguided, yes. Wrong, no.
You see, there is one interesting thing about this sample. They are young and, therefore, inexperienced. Or to put it another way, they are uncorrupted and dewy-eyed with expectation and the world has yet to ride roughshod over their dreams.
What the sponsors of this research need to do is go back and survey the same people in two or three years’ time. Let them go through a recession, fail to balance the budget and have a thirty-something mid-career crisis and then ask them if they think “being happy” is an achievable career goal.
Yes, it’s a shame. People should be allowed to be happy. Trouble is, the reality of our market-driven society doesn’t leave much room for happiness to grow and prosper. If it did, I’d be the first to sign up. Sadly, the two words business and happiness don’t go hand-in-hand. They don’t even share the same sentence, paragraph or page.
But, as I sat reading that research, just for a while I thought: “If only we could.” But we can’t, can we? Well, can we? Go on, tell a joke in the office today. Bet it’ll do your life/work balance some good!
Contact
1) mikeajohnson@compuserve.com
