I Chose to Work in a Sweat Shop - My Career Turned Golden

 Professional services such as finance, management consulting and law are known as "sweat shops."

Very recently on Fishbowl Big Law there are some comments that law firm Paul, Weiss' Private Equity practice is among the most sweaty. Others note that the firm doesn't really have a PE group, with that kind of work done under the M&A umbrella and that the culture varies with who oversees the individual teams. There are partners who are respectful of associates' time and mentor.

As with much of what goes on inside organizations and on career paths, the concept of "sweat shop" is misunderstood. When almost-bankrupt Chrysler poached me from financially solid GM, colleagues got very busy with the gossip. They smirked that I was opting for a sweat shop. According to the traditional understanding of sweat shop I was. At GM my hours were 9 to 5 (it was a different time). At Chrysler, as we struggled to save 50,000 American jobs, we rolled in about 7 AM and out about 11 PM. Of course, we came in weekends. 

Back then (and now) I was no slouch at what I needed for my career. The overwhelming work load at Chrysler gave me unique cracks at experience in communications. The Lee Iacocca team, for whom I ghostwrote, became famous. A rising tide lifts all boats. Soon enough I had the brand to open my own boutique. "They" all wanted to "sound like" the Chrysler turnaround team. The aura lasted about 15 years. 

Two years ago I shifted from full-time communications to about 80% of my time intuitive coaching and doing tarot-readings. Although it was my shop it was still a sweat shop. To get the ball rolling, at least in the right direction, I accepted assignments from whatever. Sometimes my schedule meant being available from 4 AM to 11 PM. But, boy, did I learn and establish a brand. A few weeks ago an elite tarot-reading firm recruited me on a contract basis. Its compensation ranges between double to triple the standard. 

In this era of WLB, it seems downright wrong to admit to a professional strategy of opting for sweat-shop conditions. Others will put the knock on you, warning of losing anything from close relationships to health. I haven't found that to be true. 

BTW, early in life I learned the brutal lesson of tradeoffs. The college that punched my ticket, funding my escape from the mean streets of 1960s Jersey City, New Jersey, was from the get-go a miserable fit. I toughed it out. I got the degree and my first step into the middle class. Thanks to the Iacocca sweat shop I wound up being in the upper middle class of what those in communications earned at that time. Currently I am working when myriad other boomers can't get, hold or move on to better professional opportunities. 

In coaching and tarot reading I ask clients to ask themselves: How much can they handle in the way of compromise to build a career or their own business? It could be less or it could be more than what is considered standard. That's the issue, not what others size up as, what Stanford Graduate School professor Jeffrey Pfeffer called, "Dying for a Paycheck." I had been blessed with a good sense of what I could endure. 

Limiting beliefs? Self-defeating? Stuck? Complimentary consultation with Coach Jane Genova (text/phone 203-468-8579, janegenova374@gmail.com)