On June 19, 2006 I gave a lecture to a group of students

who were studying how to get jobs. These students live in

the inner city of Memphis. It is one of the poorest

communities in the United States. Most of them had no

experience in getting a job. Yet most of them were at

least 20 years old. Several of them were over 40 years

old.

There were 17 students in the room. Only one of them

was male.

My goal for the lecture was to introduce them to the

concept of the calling. This is different from the concept

of the job or occupation. I wanted to make certain that

they understood that their occupation is subordinate to

their calling. This is not widely recognized.

Whenever it is not recognized, people have a tendency

to overestimate the importance of their occupation. They

become motivated primarily by money, prestige, or fame.

They become sidetracked from the important issues of their

lives.

On the other hand, some people are not highly

motivated by anything connected to their job. The modern

State welfare system enables them to gain a minimal living

without working. For these people, a job may seem

superfluous. So, when the going gets tough on the job,

these people tend to resign. They quit. They go back onto

the welfare system. They do not learn the basics skills

associated with the job.

The longer they stay out of the labor market, the more

likely they will not be able to get permanent employment.

The privately funded organization that invited me to

give the lecture is dedicated to bringing to inner-city

residents the basic skills of getting a job and managing a

personal budget. One of the programs sponsored by this

organization is a three-week class that trains people how

to get their first job. The organization actually pays

people to attend this three-week course. It raises money

from donors who want to help people escape the welfare

system. Sometimes, people enroll in the course, and then

quit after a few days. Even though they are being paid to

attend, they lose interest.

All of the people in the class were Afro Americans.

Because only one of them was a male, I decided from the

beginning that my goal was to explain the difference

between calling and occupation in terms that would be

familiar to black women. I wanted to motivate most of the

people who were in that room.

I began by playing a CD of a song. I used the song as a hook. The song is about a man whose job was his calling. Not many wage-earning people ever experience this. Here is the background to that song, and its lyrics.

What I'm about to tell you is not commonly known. It

has been very important in my life, both professionally and

financially.

I was trained to be a college professor. My field was

history. Today, I'm in business. There is a lot more

money in business than there is in teaching in a college.

Nevertheless, the important work in my life is still my

academic work, and much of it is connected to history.

My calling in life has not changed, but my occupation

has changed. What is most important in my career has not

changed, but the way that I make my money has changed.

I define "calling" as follows: the most important

thing that you can do in which you would be most difficult

to replace. I define "occupation" as the way you put bread

on the table. Sometimes these can be the same, but not

very often. The most important thing is your calling.

Your occupation should support your calling.

A hundred years ago, there was no confusion about

calling and occupation for most women. The calling for

most women was related to their families. So was their

occupation. They were wives and mothers. They did not

work outside the household for money. They were not paid a

wage. In such a case, the calling is the same as the

occupation.

But in American life, there were exceptions to this

rule. Afro-American women often served as domestics.

Sometimes they took in washing. They earned money outside

the household in order to help finance the household. This

began shortly after the end of the Civil War.

If you asked one of those women what her most

important task was, she would have defined that task in

terms of her family. She would not have defined herself as

a washerwoman. She would not have defined her life in

terms of domestic service. If you explained what a calling

is, she would have understood that her family

responsibilities were her calling.

There has always been a tendency for men to define

themselves in terms of their occupations. Yet man change

their occupations. When they are husbands and fathers,

they're not supposed to make changes. Like women, their

callings are related to their families. But they don't

always understand this.

In my case, my calling is my academic work. The most

important thing that I can do in which I would be most

difficult to replace is related to my academic career. Yet

I don't earn my living by my academic career. I earn my

living by selling information in the area of business and

finance. I do my calling free of charge. My occupation

supports my calling.

When people understand the distinction between

occupation and calling, they are far less likely to make

serious mistakes in the allocation of their time. They

won't confuse money with the most important thing that they

can do in life. But not all people understand this. I

hope you do.

NO DEAD-END JOBS

I want you to understand that there is no such thing

as a dead-end job. Every job can be a stepping stone to a

better job. The limitation is not the job. The limitation

is the person who has the job. When you get your job,

think of it as a stepping stone to the rest of your career.

Think of your career as your calling.

To understand this distinction, let's consider the

career of a pair of billionaires.

Bill Cosby has always understood that his calling is

his family. His humor was always tied to family living.

He began his career by telling stories about growing up in

South Philadelphia. They were very funny stories. They

were not particularly racial. His humor was therefore

universal. Later, he wrote a book called "Fatherhood."

In terms of his career, his great gift was his humor.

Unlike most people, he found that he could earn a great

deal of money with his gift. But this took many years. He

was fortunate, because when he began his career, there was

a market for comedy records. He gained a national audience

by means of these records.

Then he got the opportunity of a lifetime. In the

mid-1960s, he was made co-star of a popular television show

called "I Spy." He won an Emmy three times for the show.

After that show was cancelled, he kept working. Then, in

the 1980s, "The Cosby Show" became the most popular show on

television for eight years. The money rolled in. As a

result of that show, he became a multi-multimillionaire.

Some estimates put his total wealth at a billion dollars.

Cosby's career was based on his humor. The most

important thing that Cosby could do, outside of his family,

was to entertain people. He never forgot this. He always

maintained high standards. Step by step, the money he made

from his occupation increased. His occupation supported

his calling: making millions of people's lives more

enjoyable.

Now consider Oprah Winfrey. She is said to be worth

$1 billion. She entertains millions of women, but she also

uplifts them. Hers is a self-help show, not a scandal-of-

the day show. She offers people hope. Her sponsors see

her as a way to make money, but her calling is not making

money. She has no immediate family, so her calling is her

career.

Now she faces a big problem. So does Cosby. When you

have this much money, you have enormous responsibility.

You are going to die. That money is going to go somewhere.

Someone is going to put that money to use. What use will

that money be put to?

Bill Cosby is in a better position to solve this

problem than Oprah is. His career as an entertainer is

probably close to the end. His more recent television

shows have not made much money. So, he can devote time to

giving away his money, which he does. He has so much money

that he can't give all of it away without wasting it.

Giving a way that much money is a full-time calling -- not

a job, a calling.

Oprah, on the other hand, still has to devote most of

her time to her television work. She makes far more money

than she can possibly give away. So, what is her calling?

Is it entertaining women? Is that the most important thing

that she can do in which she would be the most difficult to

replace? Or is giving away her money the most important

thing she can do? Most people never face this problem --

not on this scale, anyway. A few people do.

Bill Cosby and Oprah Winfrey worked very hard for

years before they got rich. They paid attention to their

occupations. They put time into mastering their jobs.

They got better and better at it. Then opportunities

opened up for each of them. They were in a position to

take advantage of those opportunities.

ALWAYS HAVE YOUR BAGS PACKED

In the 1970s, Daniel "Chappie" James became a four-

star general in the Air Force. He was an Afro-American. I

once saw a film of a speech that he gave. He said that his

mother had always taught him to keep knocking on the door

of opportunity. But she told him that when you knock on

the door of opportunity, you had better have your bags

packed. You had better be able to take advantage of that

opportunity as soon as the door gets opened. You have to

do your homework first.

When you get your job, do everything you can to

improve your skills. Master the details of that job.

Don't think that it's a dead-end job. It isn't a dead-end

job. It's a stepping stone. Prepare yourself to take each

new step. This is the way he become successful in your

career.

Once you prove to your boss that you can take on more

responsibility, and you can improve your performance, he

will be ready to promote you. For every dollar he pays

you, he probably makes two dollars. He would rather pay

you $50 and make $25 than pay you $10 and make $5. He has

no financial incentive to keep you in a low-paying position

when you're capable of moving to a higher paid position.

Never forget this. He has every economic incentive to make

you more successful if you can make him more successful.

It is possible that he does not have any way to pay

you more in his business. It may be a very small business.

If you can figure out a way where you can make him more

money, tell him. He may not have seen this opportunity.

But if it's clear that he has no way to promote you to a

better paying position, then it's time to look for a new

job. As your skills increase, your opportunities will

increase.

Your first job may seem like a dead-end job.

Remember: There are no dead-end jobs. There are only

stepping stones. It is important that you stick with your

first job for at least a year. You have got to prove to

your boss that you are capable of taking greater

responsibility. The way to a successful career is through

increased responsibility. You have to prove that you're

competent at simple jobs before you're going to get an

opportunity to prove yourself competent at more complex

jobs.

As you move up the ladder of responsibility, never

forget your goal. Your goal is not simply to make more

money. Your goal is to exercise your calling. Your goal

is to do the most important thing in which you would be

most difficult to replace. The greater your skill, the

more difficult you will be to replace.

There is no guarantee that you will make more money

just because you become better at your calling. But in

most cases, you will make more money. Or, if you don't

make more money, you will achieve greater influence. I

can't prove this, but I have seen it in my own life, and I

seen in the lives of many other people.

This is why it is so important to get that first job

and keep it. The first job is the stepping stone to

success in your whole life. If you able to get that first

job and keep it, your career will open up. You'll be able

to use your occupation to extend your calling.

These are basic principles that are not taught in our

schools or our churches. I don't think they are widely

understood.

If they were better understood, we would have stronger

families and greater wealth. The great irony is that the

pursuit of money is self-defeating. When money, a tool of

our callings, is defined as the supreme goal of our

efforts, we mistake a means for an end. This is what Jesus

called Mammon. It is the great rival religion in history.

There is so much that a person can accomplish in this

life, if he puts his mind, his heart, and his back to it.

But it is so easy to get sidetracked. Like the student who

initially pursues grades as a way to climb the academic

ladder, but then substitutes grades for knowledge, or term

papers for productivity, so is the person who pursues money

at the expense of his calling. He confuses a success

indicator in serving the public's economic demand with

success in extending his vision of how things ought to be.

He gets seduced.

For people in the inner city, they have already been

seduced by the welfare State. For them, getting a job is

the stepping stone out of dependence on the government,

which keeps them impoverished. Yet they need motivation

beyond just getting off the dole. They need to understand

their callings as much as anyone else does. They need to

be motivated by something more than money.

The tragedy of the inner city is seen in the make-up

if that classroom: sixteen women and one man.

If you want a hard-nosed analysis of just how bad it

is in the inner city, read about Bill Cosby's "Call Outs."

He is lecturing to black audiences around the country,

telling women that they are now the backbone of the inner-city communities. He is catching a lot of flak from the

Establishment. But it's hard to argue against what he has

to say.