Here’s a test? When you look at a work, job, or career opportunity during COVID, do you see calamity or opportunity. Is the glass half full or half empty? Or, do you want to design a new glass container and fill it with your fluid of choice? The latter is the key question and attribute of all entrepreneurs, do’ers, makers, dreamers, and creators. It’s all about how you see your world. It’s your risk lens. It’s your work framework. So, what’s your work lens? The pessimist sees the glass as half empty. The optimist sees it as half full. The dreamer, risk taker, and founder see it as a new glass that you design and fill with your stuff.
So, let’s talk level of effort, execution, and money. Jack Ma, China’s Elon Musk, believes that the future of Chinese global innovation, competition, and domination is based on the ‘996’ system of work. The west has the ‘9 am to 5pm’ work paradigm. China has shifted the west’s paradigm to the ‘996’ system of work from ‘9 am to 9 pm six days a week’.
Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba, and Richard Liu, founder of JD.com, go so far to say that 12-hour work days are a ‘blessing.’ And, work ‘slackers’ are risks both to their firms and to the vision of Chinese global economic domination.[i] Tough VUCAN messaging for work models in disruptive times.
What’s happening in China, India, Vietnam and many countries of Asia? No privilege. Just VUCANs who work 996 and want to invent their own glass. Think domination through innovation. Does it work? Well, China has more billionaires than any other country. So, the west bemoans ‘balance of work and life.’ The west bemoans privilege, social injustice, and unfairness. China wants their Working It hustlers owning the Future of Work.
Work Lesson Earned: Those of us tied to old paradigms may feel confused, uncertain, and even pain on the ‘show me da money’ focus. Many say it’s unfair and want Universal Basic Income (UBI) and socialism. What do you think of UBI?
You can clutch at the old paradigm or flow with the new one. It’s not a matter of seeing the glass as half full or half empty. Both are static, ‘so what’ choices. The smart option may be to see a new glass so it can be filled with your beverage of choice. This risk taking choice is proactive, opportunistic, and entrepreneurial. It’s the same with your career. Do you want to seize career and work opportunities, take risks, and design your own glass? It’s your call!
[i] ‘Jack Ma Defends the Blessing of a 12-hour Work Day’, BBC News, April 15, 2019.