Career Development and the Hard Work Fallacy

24 Aug, 2007  career-management, personal-branding

I taught two executive MBA classes this summer. One at SMU and the other at an amazing university called Universidad Francisco Marroquin in

Guatemala. The hard-work-fallacy seemed to frustrate the execs in

Dallas. They didn’t deny it, but habitually ignored it in their own careers. The Guatemalans, on the other hand, did not embrace it, but accepted it and worked within its confines. Every class has its own personality, and this difference between these two classes was startling.

If the world were truly just, a gifted writer would land a lucrative publishing contract. A talented actor, with the gift of moving us to tears or laughter, would be a shoe-in for the red carpet. A mind-blowing rock band in

Austin, TX would be an MTV staple (if MTV still showed videos).

And a hard-working, productive employee would be promotable.

Wouldn’t that be nice?

We know that hard work and talent don’t guaranty prominence in Hollywood, on Broadway, on iTunes… or in

Washington, DC. So why do we fall prey to the hard work fallacy where we work? Why do we think that if we just keep our head down, keep plugging away, one day we’ll get the recognition we deserve?

Is hard work, productivity, efficiency (etc.) necessary for career success? I sure hope so. But these qualities will only get you so far. Eventually, its not who you know, but who knows you, not what you know, but who knows that you know it, and, of course, who likes you. Only then are you promotable.

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  • Ridwan

    Hello Dr. John Burrows.
    I laughed out loud when I finished reading your post. I am from Nigeria and I could not help sharing with those seated around me here how the whole world is just one same pallete in different colours. The road to the top of one’s career in this part of the world is just as you painted it.

    I chose the word “career”, because that is where I want to differ. Achieving the topmost height of one’s career may not be a certainty, but being happy with one’s situation no matter what it is, is a right that everyone needs to fight for, have and keep, if everyone recognises it as that that is. Getting to the top of one’s carrer I believe is not necessarily what constitues success. Success I want to believe is being happy in whatever you do, not minding if you get credit for it or not. The credit when it comes is just icing on the cake. This kind of conviction I believe will spur an individual to always be at his productive best, because this state is meant to bring joy and not to impress anyone.

    I am sure not everyone will share my opinion about what really constitutes success, but it is an opinion that guarantees sanity amidst the chaos we find ourselves in the world today.

  • http://www.personalbrandingblog.com Dan Schawbel

    It’s all about content and communication. Even if you are the smartest person in the world, if no one knows about you, it means nothing. You need to make content and then let people know it’s there.

  • http://adamsalamon.wordpress.com Adam Salamon

    Personal branding is all about marketing and selling yourself like a good company would do. If that mind blowing band in Austin wants to make it big in NYC, they have to communicate on a mass scale. They need to build a name and a following. The fastest way to do that is through mass communication.

  • http://blog.johnwburrows.com/2007/08/28/paris-plugging-and-conflict-at-work/ Paris, Plugging, and Conflict at Work « The Promotable Employee

    [...] I suspect that the colleagues’ different political styles (see Survival of the Savvy by Rick Brandon and Marty Seldman for a great intro) are the true source of conflict. The frustrated manager seems to be extremely under-political. This type of results-oriented employee plugs away, head down, producing for their organization. They are ‘pluggers‘. [...]

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