Compass for 'How to Live' Vol. 133

The pitfall of 'for the sake of the company'.

Hello everyone! This is Yoshiyuki, the paper counselor.

This time, I will be talking about the pitfall of 'for the sake of the company'.

Generally, 'working hard for the sake of the company' is considered a good thing and is something to be praised.

Also, things like 'I improved efficiency by changing X to Y and contributed to the company's profits' are wonderful things, aren't they?

What these things have in common is 'for the sake of the company'... How would you feel if I told you there is a pitfall there?

You know, 'for the sake of the company' usually brings to mind an exemplary employee with high loyalty and engagement.


I'm not saying that's bad. There is a huge, huge pitfall that many people don't notice.

What is it?

'For the sake of the company' can easily become self-serving if you take one wrong step.

Huh! Some of you might be thinking, 'How can working for the company be self-serving?' right?

What you have to be careful about is thinking that 'for the sake of the company' means 'for the sake of the company's profits'.

Even so, you might be thinking, 'Why would trying to contribute to the company's profits be self-serving?'

Then, shall we try replacing 'for the sake of the company' with 'for our own sake'?

For the sake of the company's profits -> For the sake of our own profits
For the company to survive -> For us to survive
For the company to prosper -> For us to prosper

Is it easier to understand if we put it this way?

This might be a problem of how we perceive work, right?

Isn't there room to rethink the feeling of 'trying to earn money' through work?

Of course, you can't live without working and earning money. That's fine.

What I'm saying is this. Work is a means to earn money, but if the purpose of work becomes just to earn money, you will end up suffering yourself.

Work exists to make the world and society more convenient and prosperous. It's what we call social contribution.

You receive money as compensation for being useful to someone or something, don't you?
You don't contribute for the sake of money. The order is reversed, isn't it?

So, isn't it that the more work is useful to someone or something, or the more it brings joy, the more it leads to a company's sales and prosperity?

To avoid falling into the trap of 'for the sake of the company',
perhaps it is better to have the mindset of 'I will do my best through the company and my work for the sake of social contribution'.

Depending on the person, a paradigm shift that fundamentally reconsiders their way of thinking is necessary, so there may be people who cannot accept it.

'For the sake of the company' versus 'for the sake of social contribution'.
It might be worth thinking seriously at some point about which one has a better influence on you.

In the end, does 'for others' mean 'for oneself'?

This time, it was a discussion about the trap of 'for the sake of the company'.

Thank you for staying with me until the end.

This article will likely be the final post of this year.
Thank you very much for all your support throughout this past year.
I look forward to your continued support next year.
Wishing you a happy New Year.