Kendall Card 2.0

Remember the movie Pretty Woman? (yea, I can’t believe I’m blogging about this either) Richard Gere, Julia Roberts. OK, remember the part where Richard Gere’s character says to his right hand man played by George Castanza from Seinfeld, “We don’t build anything” and then proceeds to change the deal he had put together which would have scrapped a company for the sake of profits?

So it’s a stretch but the following e-mail from a former co-worker of mine got me thinking about the type of work I do as a blogger and a marketer. Essentially, most of my work is tied to helping companies highlight unique elements of their businesses or products so consumers (we once called them customers) will consume more. It’s really an insidious cycle if you think about it.

But before you conclude I’ve lost my mind, I whole heartedly admit that I enjoy my work as a marketer because the focus I’m dedicating myself to – that of creating relationships with customers who have embraced a product or service.  It’s amazing when a product impacts your life enough that you’ll tell others, at will, about it as often as you can.

This is the type of conversation I look to engage in with others and in this sense I know I’m building something of worth rather than just turning a buck to turn one.

With that, here is the riff that got me thinking – thanks Emily for stirring the mind. (I’ve removed a bit of the text to shorten the read without missing the point she was trying to make.)

Anyone who knows me, knows that I can’t – just can’t – leave without a little note of goodbye and my two cents (yes, that’s what I got from overtime pay so you better read on). I love ‘closing times’…because they give you a time to reflect and take in what you’ve just experienced. I adore romanticizing about old times and, more accurately, love laughing for a second time round at how completely absurd, hilarious, and juxtaposed life truly is – and working for this company has been no different.

From arriving here to snowboard for the Christmas season …I began my work  during the busy Q4. Since then this company has provided me with many laughs – from my paycheck amount to the so-called ‘benefits’ to the lack of natural light, and food smells that emanate from the neighbors cubicle – I never missed a chance to laugh. What was confusing, however, for me was the seriousness that people took this job – the screaming, the passive emails, being told by short guy in man clogs that you’re an idiot – I could never quite understand.

I mean no one was dying that we could see – we weren’t doing ONE thing that was ‘serious’ like making the world a more just place – we weren’t helping to eradicate poverty, or educate people, or get adequate health care (even to our own employees) or even help kids who may not have the chance to get outside to ‘use the gear we sell’ – nope, naddda, as a company. If anything, this company exacerbated our cultural maladies that make these conditions exist in the first place….consume, consume, consume ‘cause you’ll be happy, happy, happy – I couldn’t figure it out and after a great struggle realized that my values were just in complete contradiction to this position. I wasn’t doing anything to make this world a better place, and no amount of money or gear or ‘adventure points’ was able to make up for that.

Therefore, I gave my notice, got accepted into graduate school in sustainable development and economics – yup, you heard it right, economics. Because I want to know how the hell industrialized nations can cause this massive ecological, social and spiritual crisis that we face today , all in the name of profit (and how no one really seems to care).

I know I have so much to learn about this world, but I also know a truth that is deep inside of me that will never let me ‘sell’ what I truly believe in, and that’s hope that we all find a happiness that doesn’t consist of ‘things’.