This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 27th, 2010 at 1:00 am and is filed under Business & Careers, Feedback & Fanmail, Work Is Not for Sissies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
This email will be the reason I unsubscribe.
I agree. When our girls were growing up they attended private schools where they could work off part of their tuition. One of the jobs available was working in a school-owned laundry that cleaned the laundry for local hospitals. It is a hot and tiring job but helps pay that tuition bill. BOTH our girls worked that laundry and both were given monetary awards upon their graduation from the academy because of their work ethic!
Today, our oldest daughter only 28 years old, is doing her surgical residency at Sinai/Johns Hopkins hospitals in Baltimore Maryland. Incidentally, she also picked up a law degree along the way to receiving her MD degree this past May. So, she is Dr. L. K. Evans, MD/JD. Our youngest daughter starts her third year in an MD/PhD program that lasts 6 – 8 years. When she completes her program, her future will also shine as brightly as her sister’s.
Those years working in the laundry and sometimes working in the laundry with a part-time job at Target, working as a file clerk in one of the hospitals close by, AND as graders for the teachers at the school taught them two thing: A GOOD WORK ETHIC and patience for delayed gratification! Observing Mom and Dad going to work everyday and how we have been blessed because of it, didn’t hurt either.
During those days at the Academy, I had a girlfriend who told me, “MY child will not be caught dead working in that hot nasty laundry!” As a result, HER child didn’t have the stamina to complete her program at a local prestigious school and her youngest daughter didn’t even attend college. I praise God for the Madison SDA Academy which provided opportunities for our daughters to learn what it means to do a good job for the sake of doing a good job…and for allowing them to help us pay their tuition. They are so much more the better for it and so are we.
Sign me, “Proud Mom”
Hi Glenn, I am a big fan of your newsletter, an Eagle Scout, and a gen X as well. This issue of Work Is Not for Sissies touched my heart because I was born and grew up in Colombia (South America) where the labor laws are not as protecting as here in the USA like you put it for Mexico. Indeed, things are much harder in developing countries giving workers the stamina they need to survive in their own labor markets and the courage to even succeed in foreign lands. However, I have to add that my strongest sense of work ethic was learned here in the USA working with wonderful mentors and leaders that love this country as much as you and I do.
Thanks and please receive my best left hand shake.
I totally agree about the importance of work ethic, Glenn. I work with people who want help getting into flight attendant careers – I provide interview coaching and some aviation background. In my work I have noticed that many airlines have raised their minimum age requirement from 18 to 21, and hire a HUGE number of over-40 people, due to their superior work ethic.
Love what you do.
Wendy Stafford
President
http://www.flightattendantexpress.com
407-678-3710
I so agree with you. I am Mexican and I know I work harder and more than most of my staff and more than those higher than me. And it has been a challenge to see how people are out of here and keep track of a 40 hour week. Thanks for the information.
I have been working with Mexican labor for 15 years and have learned what Glenn is saying about work ethics is true. In Mexico, it is work or starve. The best of these are from rural communities. Most of the guys that I have worked with come on the guest worker program and stay for 4 or 5 months. They work as much as you will allow them to work and it is not for cheap wages. The wages are comparable and sometimes better because we pay bonuses for production goals. they work for their families in Mexico and are glad to return to Mexico and live well until another season of work. Most of the time we have to limit their hours to make sure that they rest enough and do not overwork themselves.
I have also seen how this work force is changing because of the lack of enforcement of immigration laws. As more overstay their Visas to work year round in nonseasonal work, they start to lose this work ethic and take advantage of the American System.
I agree that the greatest and most empowering gift a parent can give their child is a strong work ethic. However I don’t see the strength in the Mexican work ethic in the U.S., then again I don’t see the strength in many Americans work ethic either!
A strong work ethic is the only thing that gets you to succeed in the workforce. You can’t let the clock tell you when you are thru…a job followed thru all the way is what defines the finishing time. I am not sure Mexicans are the only ones with a good work ethic, I have seen some lazy ones, but the point that you are making still stands, even if it makes some people “unsubscribe”. Truth hurts.
I agree that alot of the 20 somethings are lacking that work ethic. Some ‘get it’ some don’t. Dad used to say the hardest part of work, was getting there. I see the same thing with a couple of my employees that never make it on time, spend alot of time in socializing at their work station, but can leave promptly when the work day finishes. I think the problem with a great deal of the younger generation that struggle with work ehtic is some have a very large sense of entitlement. They feel like a good job and lenient conditions should be the norm. At 60, I think alot of us that were raised by depression era parents were told, if you want something, fine, go work for it. You can have it, you just need to pay for it yourself. When we started having children, many of us, including myself, knew how hard things were going to be on our children, so we tried to help our offspring by buying them a used car, paying for college, etc. etc. Trying to lighten their burden. Creating some children that never learned that they had to put ‘sweat equity’ into their life. Consequently, many, not all, are dysfunctional when it comes to work ethic.
I had to read your article three times to get the full impact of it. I appreciate reading what you have to say. It’s unfortunate that more people do not understand the benefits of coaching. Keep up the good work.