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Re: "Are jobs obsolete?"
ER — (archived)

The man makes some good points, although I have difficulty seeing how they can actually be realized in practice. After all, when we go to work, that is, when we join a team of other workers (because hardly anyone works independently any more), we are assigned strict duties and specific expectations are placed on us. Being entrepreneurial is great, but there aren't that many positions open in that job description, and where they do exist they are jealously guarded. Being an "organizational entrepreneur" is nothing new, but traditionally it has been carried out by brown-nosing, butt-kissing and back-stabbing. And believe me, I've met a lot of those guys and they all sound a lot like this one.

Even in any one workplace, your creative and entrepreneurial position can simply evaporate when your superior is replaced, or the company is re-organized, events over which you have no control. A decision made by someone you don't know and who doesn't even know you exist can suddenly make you redundant. It's not like your skills and achievements no longer matter, its like they never mattered.

"Creating" a job is fine if you are a software designer, or a creative writer, (sometimes!) but you can't create customers for your work. That is also out of your control. Most bosses don't need you to be creative, they know exactly what they want you to do, not because they are nasty guys, or because the system is evil, but because they have no choice. And we can't all be boss. Creativity is not an asset in the modern workplace. You will be seen as a threat, by both your peers and your supervisors.

In a way, Bowermasteris delivering a corporate pep talk, just like Rushkoff was delivering his own, but different, kind of pep talk. The rap here is essentially, "...don't tell me your problems, stop your whining and MAKE something happen." It's easy for them to say that. They already have a job.

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