Over time I've learned that there are a number of personal and professional things I have a categorical responses to, that I hope align and support my values. These could be requests, offers, or a behavior I'll do in response to some action, social media post, etc. Many of these things make my life easier in that I don't have to think very hard about doing them, there's no debate about if I should, how I should, or other cognitively demanding weighing of social, personal, and professional factors. As I get older I am finding that weighing these factors is kind of stressful and taxing on me, so following these kinds of heuristics is really helpful.
Here is my current list as I think of them;
Always share job postings I run across in my feeds on social media, and if I can think of someone who may be good for a job forward them the posting.
One of my work study jobs was to help out at a student employment office and from that experience I gained a better appreciation of how hard it can be for people to find jobs. In sharing job opportunities with my networks my hope is that others who may not have heard about the job see it, apply, and get that job.
In forwarding job postings to others my hope is that I'm acknowledging the potential in others, and for those of us who suffer from imposter syndrome to give some kind of encouragement and support. When I do forward job postings too many people respond with "Oh, I'm not qualified for that job." and I don't understand that response. My mom always said "Let them tell you no." meaning to apply for the job, even if you think you have little chance of getting it, and don't let your internal doubt get in the way. Sure, you might not get that job, but you could very well get the next job, or be thought of for a future position.
Always pay for whatever my friend is making or doing.
I've never understood asking your friends for free stuff from their business. If they're working at some giant retailer, that's a moral gray area for me, but when your friend is working with their own hands to create their own business, I don't get it. A corollary is to always like and share my friend's business posts.
So what values do the two dictums above reflect? I'd like to think they reflect my belief in the potential of everyone to grow, and become the person they want to be. Not in any achievement-for-achievement's sake way, but for personal betterment, growth, and to make for a more successful community. I don't agree with prosperity theology, but I think there is a humanist equivalent where humans have agency over their own financial future and physical well-being, and that of others. That last part is what I believe we're addressing with BLM, Me Too, and other movements that are trying to address the systems some humans (that look a lot like me) have setup that negatively impact others. It's kind of hard to pull yourself by the bootstraps when someone has cut all of your bootstraps, let alone that expression doesn't make any sense by itself.
Never participate in reviews, trainings, or workshops of products where the host offers to pay me.
I regularly get emails asking me to go to some event sponsored by a textbook publisher, technology company, or another institution where they offer a gift card, or to be entered into a drawing for a trip or some such thing. Sure, I might be missing out on padding my bank account, but if the thing they're selling is all that great I kind of doubt I need coaxing to check it out.
The value here would be personal integrity, but valuing my time enough not to take these sale pitches.
Always take the meeting.
Now, if some textbook publisher, technology company, or another institution reaches out to me specifically and wants to meet about a product, service, etc. I'll take it. Sure, they get some of my time, but I will usually try to ask questions of them to get a sense of what problems they're trying to solve, their approach, and if they might have something of interest to me. This also applies to job interviews, publication interviews, etc.
I get the feeling that some might think this dictum runs counter to valuing my time enough not to take a sales pitch, but I think of this more as an opportunity for two-way information flow. With those kinds of paid sales pitches all the information is one way, from the host to you. In a conversation I feel more confident in asking questions, gleaning information from the host, and sure learning about a new product that I might not have known before. The value I hope I'm expressing here is that I love learning. If I didn't, then why teach?
This post is a bit more navel-gazey than I thought I would write for this blog, but I'm becoming more worried about those of us in higher-education that are asked to perform administrative tasks without reflecting on our core values. If we are always buffeted about by endless emails, 2-4 hours tasks that crop out of no where, and the grind of grading then where do we let our values lead our actions?
