A review of ‘The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work’ by Alain de Botton; ISBN 9780241143537

Ever had that sinking feeling of seeing something that you invented in your mind becoming a huge commercial success … for someone else? As a writer, that’s the same feeling I had when I read The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work. In many ways this is a book I wish I’d written.

Most of us spend a healthy slice of our lives working. We spend additional time thinking about work, but these thoughts are generally focused on the job at hand. We think through an upcoming meeting, worry about a deadline or scheme about our next job change.

Much less often do we think about the wider connection of our work to our community. Rarely, if ever, do we think about the extent to which others’ work impacts on, and is essential to, our way of life.

As is so often the case, it takes someone like modern philosopher Alain de Botton, who as far as I can tell has never had a ‘normal’ job, to expose us to the real goings on under the coat of our existence. In The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work, he turns that coat – this time a fluorescent orange safety model – inside out and gives it a damn good shake.

de Botton’s trademark method is to immerse himself in his area of study and to entertainingly share with us his deep insights along the way. In this book we follow a tuna from its capture on a fishing vessel in the Maldives to an eight-year-old’s dinner plate in Bristol in under three days. We spend time immersed in the invention of a new biscuit. We sit in the broom-cupboard of a career counsellor and spy on a counselling session. And we tramp over field and dale following electricity pylons from go to whoa in the grey English countryside.

de Botton’s definition of work is deliberately broad. Apart from accountants and manufacturing managers he also visits an obsessive artist, a number of misguided entrepreneurs and a group of earnest, white-coated rocket scientists launching a Japanese satellite from French Guiana.

A central theme is what de Botton perceives as an increasing disconnection.

“We are now as imaginatively disconnected from the manufacture and distribution of our goods as we are practically in reach of them, a process of alienation which has stripped us of myriad opportunities for wonder, gratitude and guilt.” and later “How ignorant we are … surrounded by machines and processes of which we have only the loosest grasp.”

A similar disconnection occurs within our work, where the increasing specialisation of work leads to greater and greater separation of those doing the job from the goods they ‘produce’.

“It is surely significant that the adults who feature in children’s books are rarely, if ever, Regional Sales Managers or Building Services Engineers. They are shopkeepers, builders, cooks or farmers – people whose labour can easily be linked to the visible betterment of human life.”

The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work does have some flaws. There are times when de Botton drifts a fair way from his theme with occasionally disingenuous observations of ‘ordinary’ workers. And the structure is a bit ad hoc at times, with no real effort to bring it all together in the end. On the whole, though, I found the book an engrossing and thought provoking look at both work and modern life as a whole. An accompanying collection of stark black and white photos by Richard Baker beautifully reinforces de Botton’s messages. You won’t look at your work in the quite the same way again.

We recommend BookDepository.co.uk who provide free shipping worldwide. To buy from Amazon.com, click here. Australian buyers might like to check booko.com.au for comparative online pricing. The book is widely available in bookstores.

Do you hate your job? I did, fifteen years ago. Stressed, poorly rewarded and unappreciated, I found that simply packing my bag and leaving for work gave me a headache. It wasn’t just the company I was working for that was the problem. I was simply in the wrong career.

Trouble was, at the time, I really had no idea what else I might do. The internet was in its infancy so browsing the web for new opportunities wasn’t an option. It was very difficult to think outside the narrow bounds of the career I had more or less fallen in to.

Thankfully I did manage to turn things around. I have now found work that I can get paid for and enjoy. But looking back over those years has prompted me to rethink the way we go about choosing jobs and careers, and in fact the way we go about setting ourselves goal more broadly.

Goal Setting has become to Complex

My main conclusion is that goal setting has become too complex and scientific. Importantly, the idea of the ‘dream’ has become lost.

Goal-setting books and websites – and there are many of them – tell us that, as individuals, we should be making detailed career plans in order to achieve our goals. They advocate  the steady rung-by-rung climb up the ladder to the position ultimately sought after.

This ‘orderly approach’ thinking has a place, but it needs a context.

Back in that unhappy period, I struggled to set meaningful goals for myself. I remember being encouraged to write my goals down. To plan out 1 year, 3 year and 10 year goals. But I felt so trapped in the job I disliked – and so unclear about what I wanted to do as an alternative – that setting specific and measurable goals was impossible.

Having a dream is a starting point

What I did have was a dream: a very fuzzy idea of what I might want to do. For many years – since very early in my career – I had felt that I wanted to make a difference. To be in a situation to have a positive influence on peoples’ lives. I also knew I wanted more variety (I hate routine). And I had always admired genuine ‘experts’: those who not only knew their speciality really well but also knew how to put it into practice.

Deep down I knew these were things I wanted. Trouble was, I couldn’t get them in my career at the time and no amount of goal setting would see me move towards them. I just didn’t have enough detail to build a detailed plan on. However, with the benefit of hindsight, I now realize that this dream was fundamental to giving me the courage to break out of the bind I was in.

It was the dream that helped me see obscure opportunities when they came my way. And it was the dream that gave me the courage to take risks and actually pursue jobs which some others thought a bit mad.

Building a satisfying career takes time

It has taken many years, and there have been twists and turns along the way. But I am now working from a solid foundation. As my dream has gained sharper focus, I can more readily work on more concrete, ‘by the book’, step-by-step goals.

Goals are important – both for you as an individual and for your business. But goals are like the frame of a house. They need to be built on a solid foundation. Your dream is that foundation. Your dream is the simplest goal.

This article was written for Classifind.com.au.

The red rash around the top of the collar gives it away. The urgent tone of his voice only confirms Kate’s hunch. Mark is angry.

‘You said “no” to that urgent order I sent through,’ says Mark sharply.

‘That’s right. We can’t do it in the time you want.’ Kate surprises herself with her outward calmness.

‘But we … you … we … never say “no”. We’re all about service, remember. Service. The customer as number one and all that. Isn’t that what we talked about only last weekend at the retreat?’

‘Yes,’ replies Kate, ‘but it was “customers” that we talked about. Not “the loudest customer with the most urgent order”. There is a difference.’

‘Oh, come on! These guys have an urgent order themselves which they won’t be able to meet if we can’t supply them today. They’ll go nuts. I’ll be spending the next few weeks getting them back on board.’

‘That might be the price we pay for avoiding a whole lot of cost and hassle for a lot of other people,’ says Kate. ‘I could change all our plans to get this urgent order through. If I do that, I will satisfy this one customer. Given that we are already flat out, other orders – orders that have already been scheduled – will be put back. That will mean at least three customers who’ve been promised delivery today will end up receiving their product late. On that basis alone the maths is simple: three annoyed customers versus one annoyed customer. No change wins.’

By now the redness has crept up and colonised the whole of Mark’s face. Kate’s apparent unflappability only seems to increase the hue.

‘But the factory can run faster if we ask them too. We’ve done it before. Just squeeze the order in. That way everyone is happy: better productivity and extra sales. A win-win.’

‘No. That won’t work. Every time we do that we have quality problems. We end up throwing out defective product and we put our quality reputation at risk by sending out substandard product. In other words, more cost and even more disgruntled customers.’

‘Then let’s run overtime. I need this order to meet my budget,’ pleads Mark.

‘No. I won’t do that either. This product you’re ordering hardly makes us any money – the margin is already low. Run it on overtime and we go backwards. It might make your sales volume look good, but it will cost us more. And on top of that, this customer of yours only orders from us once every two months. They’re not that important.’

‘Not important!’ Mark’s exasperation leaves him momentarily lost for words. ‘Not important. Of course they’re important. Every customer is important. Every sale is important.’

Kate is unperturbed. ‘Relatively less important. The three customers we would irritate are all major customers. You know: big sales, big contributors to our profits. The reality is that moving heaven and earth for this one small customer is simply not worth the trouble or cost if we look at the big picture. That was another catch phrase last weekend, if you remember.’

Mark has no response. He turns away and stares blankly down the corridor, then looks back at Kate.

‘So what am I supposed to tell them?’ he says, subdued.

‘You have to use your least favourite word. You have to tell them the truth. You have to tell them sorry but “no”. N. O. Not this time.’

Kate waits for a response but is met only with a silent stare. She turns her attention to the wall beside her. A large whiteboard summarises the production plan for the next few days. She turns back to her computer and taps away for a moment, then looks back at Mark.

‘Tell them we can get it to them on Friday afternoon. Point out that that will be a day quicker than what we normally promise; that you are doing them a favour.’

‘Sure,’ says Mark dispiritedly. He skulks off.

‘And tell them,’ says Kate loudly after him, ‘to learn how to say “no” themselves.’

As she turns back to her planning board, Kate ponders the stress, extra cost, rework, waste and general complexity she has just avoided for the business.

‘Wow,’ she says quietly to herself. ‘”No” is a powerful word if you want to keep things simple. I’ll have to try using it more often.’

It was a dubious form of punishment. The small cafe was subtly lit, its distressed brick walls and retro furnishings creating an unhurried mood. It was quiet too, the background music contemporary but gentle. The place seemed a world away from the glaring sun and unbridled cacophony of the holiday resort’s teeming main street just half a block away.

The first customer, Shane ordered his espresso and withdrew to a comfortable nook at the front window. He smiled to himself as his coffee arrived. If I’m going to be banished from the beach, he thought, there could be worse places to be sent.

But I’m here to think, he reminded himself. Lyn is right. I’ve been crusty since we got here and it’s not fair on her. After all, this is a rare fortnight where we actually get to sail along beside each other rather than pass as ships in the night. The business is closed for a month. The weather’s awesome. What am I so grumpy about?

He knew the answer to that question already. It had been hovering about him since they shut up shop before Christmas. The goals, he thought. All those goals I set for myself a year ago and not one of them met. What sort of half-baked excuse for a business owner am I?

We missed our growth target by two percent. We only introduced eight new products instead of ten. Productivity improved by three percent, not four. The staff averaged three training days instead of five and I only did half the personal development I had planned.

Here I was thinking we were going well, I was going well. I’d even achieved my fitness goals. And then, on that last day, nothing added up. All these shortfalls appeared. Talk about finishing on a low!

Shane’s absorption was broken by the sounds of a bevy of kids passing the front of the cafe. All bags and boogie boards, swimsuits, sun hats and screams of anticipation as they half ran, half stumbled towards the beach like a pack of over-excited puppies.

Shane caught the eye of the cafe owner and they shared a knowing smile. “Kids,” said the owner as he turned back to his work. “They know how to enjoy themselves.”

Yes, thought Shane. And not a concrete, written down goal amongst them.

And suddenly it came to him. Why have I let myself be shackled by my goals? Yes, they’re important, but they are just sign posts. They give me – us – some direction. But does it really matter that we didn’t meet them by the end of the year?

The tap on this new line of thinking opened further. Why do we place so much importance in what is just one arbitrary date along the journey anyway? Does it really matter that we won’t meet these goals until a bit later. We’re successful after all, and enjoying what we’re doing. Aren’t those important in themselves?

For a few moments, Shane stared into his now empty cup. He turned his gaze out the window and up the lane towards the beach. It’s been a good year, he thought to himself finally, and there’s a good chance this year will be too. I should be celebrating my success, not crying over my shortfalls.

Thanks Lyn, he thought as he rose to leave. I think your ‘punishment’ might have worked.

Simple Thoughts on When Goal Setting Lets You Down

To have no goals is to be aimless, but to put too much emphasis on them is to forget to enjoy the journey. As always, it’s about balance. Some thought starters for this year’s goal setting:

• Stick to two or three clear, simple-to-understand goals. Make sure they’re specific.
• Make the goals shared – with your colleagues, and with your team. That way you can celebrate the wins – and losses – together.
• Make sure all goals are measurable, not only at the end but along the way. Track progress and avoid surprises.

One of the benefits of the mobile phone culture is the ease with which one can do informal social research. It may not be kosher to eavesdrop on one half of a private conversation, but I figure that people who choose to loudly air their wares are willing subjects. This year I’ve noticed a disturbing trend in the Out-Loud Index.

My research findings can be summarized thus: people in ATM queues, on trains and in supermarkets are feeling over-stretched at work.

They feel their challenges are misunderstood. They frequently feel unacknowledged and under-rewarded. They have little or no remaining loyalty to their employing organisations or their managers. They are often sticking it out until something better comes along – or so they say.

These people feel – in fact know – that they are doing the jobs of two or three others. They know this because those other jobs used to exist. Sometimes it’s a former colleague on the other end of the phone.

These people are not just ‘front-liners’. They are supervisors and managers too. They work in large organizations and small, private corporations and the public service. They are both young and not-so-young.

And it’s not just the Out-Loud Index that provides this view of the working world. The Bleating Blog Index and the Tell-Me-Your-Challenges-in-a-Management-Workshop-Index follow the same trend. In the world of more scientific research, a large U.S. survey in 2005 found decreasing levels of job satisfaction across industries and demographics.

Of course all of this could be discounted as the ‘same old same old’. People have always complained about their work. No doubt the pyramid builders would have had a gripe or two to relay through their hieroglyphs, and the Viking oarsmen can’t have been too rapt in their conditions. And shouldn’t all those people on mobiles just be grateful they have a job?

On the other hand, surely we can do better than this. Surely it is possible to have productive people who are also happy. Surely it is possible to have success in a capitalist society without wringing the very last drop from everyone who works.

Of course it is. The paradox here is that those organizations who win ‘employer of choice’ type awards are also some of the most successful. Building a happy, engaged workforce is an investment, not a cost.

Where is your organization? Does it hearten or dishearten? If the latter, what can you do next year to make a difference? The answer is not complicated. It’s commitment. Perhaps a new year’s resolution would be a good place to start.

And, by the way: remember to keep it down when using your mobile in public. You never know who might be listening.

I just stumbled across a 10 year old interview with the late Ken Iverson, long time CEO of U.S. steel manufacturer Nucor. His philosophy on management centres on keeping it simple. And it helped grow Nucor into a leader in its industry, and an outperformer of the market, from near bankruptcy in the 1960s. (Nucor is one of the primary examples used in Jim Collin’s must-read book, Good to Great).

Tom Brown, author of the article, isolated five of Iverson’s keys to managing simply (with my comments in italics):

• Destroy hierarchy: management exists to help workers do their jobs. In 2006, only 66 of Nucor’s nearly 12,000 employees were in head office.

• You need to trust to operate efficiently. Iverson believed in pushing decision making down to the lowest possible level. But you can only do that if you trust people to make the right decisions.

• Give workers a stake in the success of the business. Workers are rewarded financially for their productivity. But it’s not all about money. Job security, the chance to contribute and supportive management are also highly valued.

• Centralization vs decentralization is not the issue – decisiveness is. Which is probably why the centralization vs. decentralization debate has never ended!

• Don’t overlook the virtues of smallness. A similar formula for success has existed at Virgin.

Iverson’s thoughts, as expressed in the Harvard Management Update piece, might be 10 years old. But they are by no means out of date. Nor, sadly, are they any more commonly applied.