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Firm owes you zip, author says

By Teresa M. McAleavy
The Record (Bergen County, N.J.)

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It's an antiquated view that management consultant Howard Goldman has no trouble being frank about.

"What we have in America are lazy, complacent people who are basking in the illusion of entitlement, like the world owes them a living," says Goldman, a partner in the California-based international firm Management Consultants.

"And the sad part is, the people who are taking our jobs are better educated, more ambitious and higher-skilled than we are," Goldman says. "What we have here are people who want to make $80,000 a year and not do anything."

Tell us how you really feel.

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The author of "Choose What Works: The Proven Secrets to Professional Greatness," Goldman has done business with some high-profile clients, including Apple Computer, Walt Disney Co., Land Rover and Sprint PCS.

He recently talked about his latest project, a book on "The Death of Loyalty" to be published next year.

Q: Don't you think calling workers in America lazy, especially in the context of outsourcing jobs, is going to offend people?

A: This is a very adult conversation. It's like people looking at a round world with flat-world thinking. In 1492, smart, intelligent people thought the world was flat and if they said it was not flat, they were crazy. In 2004, the flat-world thinking is that somehow the economy or your company owes you a living, as opposed to having to look at ways of mobilizing yourself to the thousands of opportunities to creatively respond to the marketplace, either as an employee or a self-employed person.

Q: What do you mean?
 
A: I'm saying that for the most part people are reactive, or even worse, passive, with regard to managing their careers. They wait for something to happen to cause them to act. What I'm advocating is an approach where people actually declare themselves self-employed. I call the term "creative agent."

Q: What does being a creative agent involve?

A: Being a creative agent is about being able to position yourself as someone who is responsible for your success in your career as opposed to being someone who is victimized by the economy, globalization or your boss.

Understand where your industry and company are going with respect to what's happening in the market.

As an example, am I working for a financial-services company whose employee base can easily be outsourced to India or China? Try to do the kind of work that adds value and can't be done remotely.

Q: What else do you recommend?

A: You have to sell yourself in ways that are subtle, systematic and reinforce you becoming the person you want to be ... You have to be able to connect to new opportunities that you help create by virtue of your approach in the world.