Contrarian Take: Hard Work Doesn’t Speak

Growing up, I was surrounded by the core Asian Male work ethic of “Hard Work Speaks for Itself”. Put my head down, don’t stir the pot, do my job, and someone will notice me and reward me.

Key emphasis on the last part - someone will notice me.

And from there, they will save me.

Yeah I don’t subscribe to that and I hate it.

My Contrarian Take

I think that’s the most selfish and entitled way of viewing things.

This notion where I hope and expect someone to notice me, and I haven’t done anything to make it easier to be noticed, seems quite one directional…toward me.

At core, it reads:

- I don’t do anything.

- Someone else will do something for me.

- Someone else has to define the meaning of what I do.

This didn’t sit right with me since there’s so much room for miscommunication and mistranslation.

In this age where information is overtly abundant, time is finite, and attention is fickle - my job is to make myself matters to others by crafting the narrative, as well as delivering the results.

That means I focus on the story of my work. I provide clarity and direction on what matters to the audience - almost spoon feeding it.

- What did I do?

- Why did I do it?

- What makes me proud to do it?

- What would I do better next time?

- What was the most challenging part it, and what did I do to overcome it?

- What’s 1 thing I would recommend to others about the thing I did?

- How did the work you did lead to clarity or better decision making?

In the work you do everyday, there’s a lot of rich context left unsaid.

The emotional attachment, sense of pride and confidence, the decision making - unless you clearly state what you did and why it should matters, the rest of us can miss that boat.

But I’m doing my job, doesn’t that count?

Executing the job matters - that provides real value. Telling the story about the job you did also matters. This provides perceived value.

Real value is tied to your task output; perceived value is tied to your brand and what your boss and boss'es boss is thinking of you.

Think of the channels that your supervisors have of you.

- How would they actually know what you did and what it meant?

- How much energy do you want them to expend to figure that out?

I have great disdain for the very Asian Male way of doing things that I observed growing up, which is to be silent and assume my work speaks for itself.

It does not.

There’s the work, and then there is the story of the work.

And it’s very selfish to assume and expect the audience to figure out your work, guess your expectations, and reward you - if you don’t even tell your story.

The irony I find here is that you can be a great writer, but if you are a terrible salesperson you'll get 0 copies sold.