It is a sad truth that the concept of “dagongren”(worker) becomes so popular
It means lots of people have the same feeling
They’re not doing what they want to do
Or what they should do in the eyes of others
What’s even worse
They might feel they can lose the job anytime
Max Weber reminded us
We should go further
To find a vocation
Which can support us
And offer us dignity
And a sense of achievement
At around 20
I was determined to become someone
Without any title or post
Now I’m almost 60
And I have basically achieved that goal
The most important identity of mine is that
I’m a man who reads
I have done lots of jobs
Most of which were related to reading
Weber also described vocation as “calling”
Which makes it quite sacred
He didn’t call it a job
To be honest
Dagongren is far lower than calling
Or vocation
As described by Weber
Nowadays there’s such a discussion in the Europe
It’s about guaranteeing people’s right to not work
Instead of their right to work
The core idea is that
Working is not a necessary part in one’s life
It’s only a means
To realize his or her goals in life
The so-called “35-year-old crisis” shows
The mainland society is still young
So there’s a lot of competition among the young generations
What impresses me the most is that
Young people spend the majority of their time chasing after existing jobs
They keep doing that
In anxiety
If you spend too much time competing with each other
And wasting your youth
Then
The advantages of a young society will be lost
Gradually
They should be creating new trends
New opportunities
Or even new job types
They’re a really capable generation
There’re 100-200 million young people on the top of China
They should make a breakthrough
And reach a higher level
In terms of big companies
Generally
I would like to propose a concept
Which is totally on the opposite side of the current trend
That’s Japan’s Shojunin
For example, a beef bowl restaurant
It may only offer 100 beef bowls a day
The food is limited
You probably feel it’s boring
Why doesn’t the restaurant increase its capacity
Why doesn’t the owner want to earn more money
Why doesn’t the owner want the sense of achievement of running a company
Because beef bowls are his creation
Like an artist’s art works
For him
Each beef bowl is from his life
So hiring people to cook the food is not the same
To him
He will gain a sense of satisfaction and achievement
Only when he tries his best
To cook each beef bowl
Let’s look at Weber’s explanation of calling
It’s something that will not make you feel boring
If you keep doing that
Forever
Because that’s the purpose of your life
That’s what you like
Big companies need to keep expanding
Like they will be at risk if they don’t do so
It might be good to an organization
But is it good for the staff
In that organization?
I really wish everyone to think about it
With a totally different attitude