Do you really want that promotion?

Have you ever asked yourself if you really wanted to move up the career ladder? I had always thought I certainly did; that is, until I chanced upon some interesting commentary on moving up the corporate ladder in the book Everyone’s Business on Getting Ahead by Gorden Wells

You work will have become your Life. You get paid a lot more and you have a lot more interest and responsibility. But what about the “quality of your life”? You see less of your family, except at weekends. But you can now afford to have a much better time when you do all get it together. The decision is yours. but you must make it consciously.

In making the decision, think too about your wife. Is she content to see less of you? A busy manager’s life may mean loneliness for the wife. Can she accept this in exchange for a nicer house in better surroundings?

It reminded me of a seminar/talk during my polytechnic days when an entrepreneur opened up the floor for a little Q&A (question and answer) after a presentation related to entrepreneurship. Though highly averse to asking questions at such events (for fear of making everyone else look foolish with my highly intelligent questions), I asked him how his pursuit of entrepreneurial success impacted his family life.

Though I did not think it was significant at that time, it has now dawned on me that it probably revealed something about my personality, especially with regards to how I valued family life. I took a short quiz in the same book that was to show how suitable I was to move up the corporate ladder; apparently due to my inclination to put family ahead of my career, I’m not quite as suitable as I might otherwise be. I honestly don’t know what to make of it.