
Contrary to popular opinion, it is not wrong to use a human being. It’s wrong to ab-use someone. It’s wrong to exploit someone. It’s wrong to deceive someone and then use them under false pretenses. However, provided that the person in question has consented to being used, and that they’re adequately compensated, there’s nothing wrong with one person or organization using another. This is called “employment.” Without it, the world as we know it would cease to go round.
Once, someone told me, “You’re lucky. You’ll get hired just for being brown and blind.”
When I heard this, I didn’t feel lucky.
Don’t get me wrong: I don’t mind being brown or blind. I’ll never deny these things, any more than I’ll deny that I love reading, or that I’m married, or that I have a gluten allergy. These are parts of who I am, and I embrace them.
They are not, however, things that I can do. I cannot do brown. I cannot do blind. I’ve spent decades training myself to do things, from speaking many languages, to solving complex problems, to giving powerful presentations, to writing clear and moving prose, to developing effective strategies for survival and success, and after all that, I find it somewhat absurd that anyone should want to hire me, not to do things for them, but because I’m brown and blind—two things that anyone can be as long as they’re willing to suffer a violent head injury and have reliable access to spray tan.
It seems to me that many people are currently suffering, many organizations are currently failing, and many societies are currently coming apart because the distinction between doing and being has become confused. Doing can be difficult. Not everybody wants to do. Some companies, like some people, simply want to be—but only by doing can we grow our enterprises and improve our lives.
I escaped from homelessness, earned the Fulbright, completed my MA in journalism, and launched my own business by studying hard, working hard, pursuing opportunities, building relationships, and developing valuable skills—in other words, by doing. If, at any point, I’d stopped doing things like eating, drinking, and sleeping for a long enough time, I would’ve ceased to be.
Being hinges on doing, not the other way around, and while being does matter, we must go on doing in order to be.
The same logic applies in the workplace. If someone hires you because of what you are, you’ll always be replaceable. I am brown, and I am blind, and I am not the only one. If someone hires you for what you can do, though, you’ll have a chance to earn your keep. If you develop skills that your employer values, you’ll win the respect of your bosses and colleagues. You’ll enjoy an edge when negotiating for better pay and more amenable working conditions. You’ll add value to the company. The company will flourish, and so will you.
Of course, in certain professions, employees do get hired because of what they are and not what they can do. Every day, in countries all around the world, recruiters abduct and disfigure young children so that they can earn more by begging—not by doing anything in particular, but simply by being disfigured children. Pimps traffic women and children into prostitution—not because of what they can do, but simply because they are women and children. Doing hinges on being.
These professions are lucrative indeed, but only rarely do these employees see any significant cut of the money. Beggars and prostitutes usually take these roles under duress, either forced by another person, or by necessity, or both, and they have no leverage with which to negotiate for better working conditions or more appropriate compensation. These jobs carry physical, psychological, and social risks. For most, they’re profoundly demoralizing.
We should never disrespect the people who do these jobs, but neither should we let these professions serve as models for entire economies. At present, organizations of all shapes and sizes seem to be experimenting with the workplace dynamics of begging and prostitution, hiring people because of what they are and not because of what they can do, then exploiting them ruthlessly, often until they collapse.
Since organizations depend on their employees, we shouldn’t be surprised if these companies start to collapse, too—but since we also depend on the products, services, and opportunities generated by healthy employers, we should be concerned. We should all want to return to the practice of hiring people for what they can do because whether we’re hiring or seeking employment, we stand to gain more from this model. Only by putting doing first can we hope to grow our enterprises, improve our lives, cultivate dignity, and be.
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