WORKI NG FOR A LIVI N'G

hat do you do?"

When someone asks you that question, you could offer any number of answers. You might discuss your role as a parent. Or yOU' could talk about the various things you do to maintain your household. You might respond with a list of your hobbies. In America, though, the question really means "What job do you do?"

and the only expected answer involves your work.

There is something very powerful and revealing about the way ~e ask «What do you do?" in American culture. It's another WalY of asking "What is yo~r purpose?" as though one were looking at an unfamiliar machine and asking "What is it tor?" We usualjy ask it almost as soon as we meet someone. "Where do you come from?" is the first question, followed by "What do you do?" The answers enable us to size someone up, as well as providing an evening's worth of small talli."

In several other cultures, one's work is not nearly the passion and preoccupation it is in ours. StendhaI's classic novel The Red and the Btackdefined a French culture in which one's life had value only if one served the country (as part of the military-the red) or God (as one of the clergy-the black). All other occupations were vulgar, best left to peasants. This attitude still pervades French culture and. leads

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to a system in which the unemployed receive more money than many service employees receive. A major best-seller in France is Bonjour Paresse, whose title 'translates as "Hello Laziness."

Most of my European friends are baffled that I continue to work so hard long after I've made enough money to keep me comfortable the rest of my life. To them, the concept of continuing at one's job because one loves one's work is unfathomable. Europeans usually take six weeks of vacation every year. Here, two weeks is the norm, and many people take their work on vacation with them. or even go years wirhout a vacation while they are building their careers.

This has been the American approach to work from the very beginning of our culture. When our forefathers came to America. and dis-

. covered a huge undeveloped land, their first thought wasn't "Let's· have some tea." It was "Lees get to work." There was a New \"X7orld to create, and it wasn't going to create itself. Towns needed building. The 'X'est needed opening. The rudiments of a bold political experirnenr needed to be put in place. There wasn't time for leisure then, and in a very real way. we still believe there isn't time for it now, A mericans work longer hours than the people of any other culture.

Americans celebrate work and turn successful businesspeople into celebrities. Donald Trump and Bill Gates are pop stars. Stephen R. Covey, Jack \X1elch, and Lee Iacocca are mega-selling authors. Instead of Bon/our Paresse, 'Our best-sellers include The Seven Habits 0/ Highly Effective People and Good to Great. Billionaire owners of sports teams, like George Steinbrenner- and Mark Cuban, make the headlines as often as the athletes they employ.

Why does work mean so much to us? Why do we need to love our jobs?

Why is it so important to us to have a strong work ethic?

W'hen. I set out to discover the Code for work in America, I was able to play my role of "visitor from another planet" with tmusual credibility. While I myself had an extremely positive attitude toward

11 <L C!ot~Lre RA.I" I4LUe

work and a huge arnount of passion for what I did, 1 grew up surrounded by those who errrbraced the French arrjt ucle. Iaheady knew that Americans took :3 very different approach (00 work, but li was curious about how they imprinted this and what it meant to them. at an unooriscious level.

The "bad focus group" conversations of the first Iiour of the discovery sessions varied wirlely. \~hile some participants spoke with excitement and optimism about their jobs, others corripjainer] about long hours, low pay, and difficult employees. And while all seenred to agr'ee that work was somerhirig you co had to do," their attitudes about this obligation ranged. Wnen\ve got to' the third hour, however, and I asked participants to recall their first im.print of work, a very clear pattern emerged.

I had a paper ruute when I was a eeenager. There were days when I dreaded it-· snow was tbe worst-but for the most part, I had fun wirh it. I liked collection days, and nut only because 1. got tips. 1 liked ralkjrrg to the customers and getting to know them.-a /orty-/ive-year-old man

My most powerfuJ: memory w as just a couple of weeks ago. I'm a camp counselor and I ran into one of my k.icls at the video STore. She saw me and r-an into my arms and broughr me over to meet her father. \X'hen she said, "Dad, this is my counselor," she said it like I was a queen or something .. -an eigbtcen-ycar-oid

W01Jlan

I work three jobs to keep my family going. It seems that the only thing I do is work all the tirne .. -a forty-seven-year-old man

I rernern her my first gr'own-u p job. I worked! during the summer in high school and college, but this was totally different. This

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was a career, I liked having colleagues and taking on assignments and planning out my future, I got a promotion mer only six months and I felt like I was: on the map'J--.1 t.hir'ty.fwo-yea~old

woman

I worked for the same company for rwenry-three y'ears. One day" a bigger company bought them and' suddenly I was out on the street. For six months, I kept trying to find a new job and! kept getting nowhere. When 1 wasn't looking for a job, I felt like I had nothing to do. My wife and lads had their lives, but I had nothing. I finally gor a new job for much less than I used to make. It doesn't feel the same, and I don't "feel the same.-a /orty·seven"year-old man

My firsr paying gig changed my life. This was ,k I had arrived. 1 was a professional musiciant-i-e twenty .. nine-year-old man

My first memory of "W:9rk was watching my mother beeak her back lugging boxes of.fruit for her fruit stand. It seemed! tome that she' was struggling all the time. but she never complained about it. 1 know she didn't tile the long hours and the hard [a'bm, but she liked talking to customers. Everyone knew who she was-she was the fruit stand lady,-' a sixty-nine-yeer-old woman

The tone of the stories ran the gamut-people were happy .with their work, they hated it, they felt invigorated, disappointed, or over, whelmed-but the energy of the stories moved in a very specific direction, Work put you in a position to get to know people, excite diildeen, keep your family going, or plan 'your future. Work could make you.feel that you. were like a queen, that you were' on the map, o:r that you had arrived; work could make you feel that it was all Y01l1 did; if you Iost your work, you could feel that you had nothing.

Though paraicipants might have suggested otherwise in the first hour of our sessions, their third-hour stories gave them arway. For Americans, work .... vasn't simply something you did to make a living or because you had to do it. Even if you didn't like your work, it had a much more powerful di.lnension, a Iife-defirsing dimen·

ssors,

The American Culture Code for work is WHO YOU ARE.

'X!hen we are wearing the new glasses provided by the Culture Code. the question "\1Vhat do you do?" takes on added meaning. ill essence, when we ask someone what she does for a living, we ask her who she is. Americans very strongly believe that they are whatthey do in their jobs. \Vhy Sire unemployed people often depressed hy the loss of their jobs? Because they are unsure of how they will pay the bills? Certainly. At a deeper level, though, it is because they believe that if they are "doing" nothing. then they are nobodies.

If work means "who we are," then ~iI: is perfectly understandable that we seek so much meaning in our jobs. If our jobs feel meaningless, then "who we' are" is meaningless as weD. H we feel inspired, if we believe that OU:If mobs have: genusne vaJIue to the company we work for (even if that "company" is ourselves) and iliat weare doing something worthwhile in our work, thar belief bolsters our sense of identity. This. is perhaps the most fundamental reason why it is important for employers to keep theiremployees content and motivated. A cornparry operated b), people wirh a negative sense of identity can't possibly run well.

Rita-Carlton does an excellent job of giving its staff <'II posstive sense of who they are. The company calls its employees "ladies and gentle-

. men serving ladies and gentlemen," 'Thesr goal is to give their guests, the' best hotel experience of their lives, and their employees' job is to provide that experience. Ritz-Carlton understands that if 'they want 'to create a culture of sophistication for their guests, they need to do the same for those who work there, They treat their staff like adults and

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give them a strong sense of empowerment. If a deaning person encounters a guest with a probdem and the guest complains 'to her, that cleaning person has the power to improve his experience by giving him a. free meal or even a free rnght in a room. This gives the cleaning person at strong sense of motivation, the belief that she is part of the corporate mission.

Another component of the Ritz-Carlton management approach is that they refuse to burden their staff with the rnorto that «The cusromer is always right. " Understanding how humiliating it can. be to live by mat precept, the president of Ritz-Carlton tells his employees that if someone gets out of hand, to let him. or someone else in management know and they will take care of it. Again. this approach {eu"tifies the employees' sense of who they are .. It is much easier to treat the guests like "ladies and gentlemen" when you are treated like a lady or a gentleman yourself. Ritz-Carlton employees tend to be very loyal and. very proud of what they do.

Effective employee relations in other cultures reflect that culture's attitude about work. Irr France, work takes a backseat to the pursuit of pleasure. If a job isn't entertaining, most French workers W01JJd prefer unemployment ... 'Gerard Blitz adopted this French approach to staff management when he founded Club Med. One of the first thjogs he did was change job tides~for instance, the manager of a Club Med is th.e chef du village (chief of the village). Then he instituted nightly shows, at which employees entertained guests. Any member of the staff could go up on stage if he or she had the guts. In addition, when Club Med opened its doors, it positioned itself as a welcome place for ,"-rilling and adventurous singles. In such a sexually charged environment, the personnel had an excellent chance of sharing in the fun. 'T'Ws camp.like atmosphere in a resort setting made work pfeasurable for the staff-so much so that Club M.ed reguiarly gets away with paying their employees less th~ the competition.

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ALWAYS ON THE .JOB

Americans rarely accept a dead end in their jobs without a fight, and they strongly believe that you are only as good as your last deal. A billionaire still works sixty hours a weck because he needs constant affimlation of who he is. A recently promoted middle manager ratchets up her work energy because she already has the next promotion in her sights. Our work ethic is so strong because at the unconscious levd, we equate work with who we are and we believe that if we work hard and improve our professional standing, we become better people. Remember, the American Code for health is movement; this extends to professional health as well. It is possible to be happy doing the same job for thirty years, but only if that job provides consistent new challenges. Otherwise, \I:e think of ourselves as .. stuck in a rut" or «going nowhere." How many people do you know who art: thrilled to do the same job on an assembly line or as an office functionary indefinitely?

\"X'e're always seeking the next promotion, the next opportunity, the next chance for something big. If you talk to a cabJriver in Manhattan, you're more likely to find that he's going to school to get a better job than that he plans to drive a cab the rest of his life. If you meet a waitress in Southern California, she's likely to ten you that she has an audition for a movie next week. The cabdriver might never get out of his cab and the waitress might be performing a recitation of daily specials for the next twenty years, but the sense that they're moving toward something more glamorous is very much on Code. On the other hand, those who fail to act, who accept the limitations of their work with barely a grumble. arc likely to fed miserable about their Lives. TIle hopelessness of their jobs has done critical damage to their identities.

Our new glasses also help explain why we celebrate hugely successful businesspeople. \Ve love the story of Bill Gates laboring a\vay in

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his garage, coming up with a great idea" and becoming the richest person in. the world, W'hy? Because it reinforces the notion that "who we are" has endless room for growth. The self-made millionaire (or, in Gates's case, "fifty-billionaire") is an inspirational symbol for us because iit proves that all of us can work hard, find the thing that we do superbly, and forge an extraordinary identity. Similarly, stories like those of Torn Clancy (a JniJdLe-aged insurance salesman who became an enormously popular novelist) and Grandma Moses (a woman who started painting when she was in !:ler seventies and became a legendary folk artist) show us that we always have the opportunity for

greacness.

Deep down, we believe that you never have to be stuck in what you do. Self-reinvention is definitely on Code. If your work no longer provides you with the sense of who you are that you desire. it is not only acceptable hilt also preferable to seek something new .. Americans champion entrepreneurs because they are our most aggressive identity-seekers. They don't wait for someone to tell them what to be, bur rather take significant risks to become what they believe they should be.

Entrepreneurs are inspirational to us because they set their own course for identity evolution. We all want to believe that we are headed somewhere in our work, that we aren't going to stay in the same place for the rest of our lives. Most of us have an ideal job in mind, and it usually involves rnovernerir of some sort from orrr current place (bigger office, bigger staff, being the boss, being able to quit tha; second job). Since work suggests who we are to us, we put significant stock into this progression. None of us want to feel that we are '<done," lhat who we are will remain stagnant for the remainder of our lives. Retirees, after decades of work, seek new jobs in retirement, even when money isn't an object. ,W'e saw earlier that they do so in part because they dread immobility, which is equivalent to death. It is significant, though, that the activity they choose is work. They don't

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work because they need the income: they work because they so strongly connect their .idenltities with the work they do that they fed the need to keep working in order to feel that they still exist.

So what does one do with knowledge of the Code? From an employees perspective, the Code offers at path to making the most of employee relanons, as Ritz-Carlton has. The understanding that empfoyees . connect their jobs with who they are makes it dear that employers should put a premium on keeping staff inspired, Calling regular staff meetings [0 .solicit input on how to improve a company is on Code. Involving staff in the direction of the company gives them an elevated sense of identity. the feeling that the}' are integral to the

,

company s success.

Similarly, helping employees understand their career paths is on Code. If someone can see that a clerrcal position Leads to a: position with greater responsibility, which leads to a management position, a middle management postticn, and ultimately an executive position, ' she can see that she is going somewhere, and that heightens her sense of who she is.

. Ernpjoyees always expect monetary rewards to accompany promotions. but an on-Code employer rakes rewards further. Promotions should come with new responsibilities and especially with new tools to help the employee do a more effective job (a better computer, access to an expense account, operation of machinery that is more powerful). In addition to giving him a way to do his job better, such changes give him a visceral sense that his identity is expanding.

One of the common mistakes that employers make is looking at a team of employees (for Instance a sales force or a marketing staff) as a homogenous. group That rises and falls together. Offering incentives (a group bonus or a: vacation trip) to a team as a.whole is off Code because it fails to acknowledge who an individual is. \Slfhile teamwork is im.portant within a corporation. the team shonfd be regarded as a support group that allows individuals to become champions, Think of

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a jazz, band,. The band lays: down a bask musical structure that allows each soloist to shine. When a saxophonist plays a stirring solo, he receives individual recogn.ition (applause after the solo) abovethe other rnembers of the band. (who will get the chance for recognition dur.ing their own. solos Iater in the song}. Sending an entire team to the Bahamas fora job well done actually blunts an employee's efforts to do his best work. He only needs to perform well enough to belp achieve the team objective. If, on tbe other hand, the employee knew that indtvidual rewar-ds were' possible, he would be more likdy to strive to outperform expectations.

'''SHOW ME THE MONEY"

Ask most people why they work and they're likely to' answer "To make money." The Culture Code shows us that this !isn't actua]1]y true, but there is a very strong .connection between wozk and money in this culture,

The Cock for money offers a very powerful tool for understanding America, People around the world perceive us as being concerned only with money. This huge misconception is one of the reasons so many-of them fail to seerwlrat really does motivate us. At the same time, thougb, Am.e·ricans themselves perceive this preoccuparion with money and thin!: it suggests that we are greedy at heart elf that we prize material goods over enlrancernent of the spirit. This) too, is a misconception, orie that gives us much less coedit '[han we deserve.

There is very little "a.1d. money" in America. The overwhelming preponclerance of the wealth in this country belongs to the person who originally earned it. Ourculture is filled with "self-made" peopIe, and in some very real way, we .aU have the same stactirig point with regard to wealth-we all began poor. We came here with no rnoneyarrd established the ,goal of making life better for our children. Some succeecled in extraordinary ways immediately; while others sirn-

piy improved. the siruation slightly for the next generation. RegardJess. the notion that we "come from nothing" pervades America, In at sense, we· have the poorest' rich people in the world, because even those who accumulare huge sums of money think Jike poor .people. They corrrinue to work hard, they continue to. focus 00 cash fl.ow and ' expenses, and they continue [0 st["llJlggJe to earn rnoce.

A discovery emderraken .for J. P Morgan and C.itibank revealed why Listen to the third-hour stories:

I still have the first dollar I received when I opened the doors at my dry-cleaning business. It's in a frame' in my office in the hack of the store, I look at it every morning to remind me that my business is, a good one_-a sixty-stoo-year-old man

My dad got injured one spring when I was' a teenager, so. he asked me to turn over the vegetable garden fOir him and put in new plants. 'This was much harder work than anything I ever did before arrd there were a couple of times when I thought: about quitting .. I kept going, though, because I knew my father needed

,

me to do. it.o" When I finished, be gave me twenty bucks, which was a decent amount of cash at the time. I .wound up getting a radio I redy wanted with lit. r hdd ·on co that rsdio fo~ a long time because I worked so hard! to get it.--a man in his fifties

My first, most powerful, and most recent memory of morrey is, that I don't have any. Whatever I make goes to pay the bills. I never expected it-to be like this after all these years .. I don't know

. how ru ever get out of thts hole_-,,-a /orty-thl'ee-yea,.-old man

'\)!;ire never .had mopey when I was growing up and I bad. to take out a Jot of loans. to p.a:y for college .. That felt like ,~ huge burden wilen I graduated. Fnrtunately, I aot a good job right away and

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after some quick promotions, I was making good rnoney, One of the fust things, I did was pay off my student loans .. I loved that I could do that and stiU. have plenty of money left over.-a thirtytsoo-year-old woman

My most powerful memory is going in and! asking my boss for a raise .for the first time. I was doing okay and I di:dn't need the money all. that much. but I also knew I was making a lot of money for him .and that I deserved it. He gave me a hard time at first, but then he gave in, It felt great to know lthat he appreciated me enough to pay me more.e--,« tbirty-five-year-old .man

I was the fifth of five kids in my family, Q!nd all of my sibmings

. ~

were significantly older than me. \X!henever we went out to-

gether, one-of them always paid my way), which was necessary because I didn't have much money, but always made me feel a little had. One night-this is my most powerful memory-s-we all went out to dinner at an Italian restaurant .. The food was great arid we all had at really good time. Whe~ the check came, I reached across the table and 'grabbed it. They tried to argue with me, but I told them. r d just gotten a little bonus at work and wanted. to treat everyone. They were very proud of me and I felt like I had! a different place in the family ~fter thae-a woman in her thirties

This whole session has been cUfficult for me .. I try Dot to think too much about money. I'm up to my neck in bills and r" don't have a due how I'm going to pay them off. Most of my friends have more money than I do and I try to lake it and keep up wirll them when we're out. I know J carr't keep up, though, and it's gonna kill me if I don't stop.--a twenty-/our-year-old man

Clearly, money signifies more to Americans than the means to buy things. It shows us how we're doing, tells us how far we've come from impoverished poor roots. Moriey reminds you that your "business is a good one," that you've worked hard to get something, that you can carry your burdens, that y~u are appreciated, an.d that you are moving up to the next level. Nat having money makes you feel as if you are "in a hole"; you may feel that "it's gonna kin me."

The ' .. American culture has no tides of nobility to show us who the big winners are. Without them, we need something that performs a similar function. Participants tell us through their third-hour stories that that thing is money.

The American Culture Code for money is PROOF

In spite of what people from other cultures-s-and many from our own-say about our attitude to~ard money. the Code shows that money isn't a goal in and of itself for most Americans, Vile. rely on it to show us that we are good, that we have' true val~e in the world. An.American can't be knighted for his deeds or become a baroness, as Margaret Thatcher has. American accolades are relative and ephemeral. We can prove what we've accomplished only by making as much money as possible.

Money is our barometer of success .. Most Americans find it impossible to feel successful if they feel they ~re underpaid, Money is a scorecard. If someone is doing a job similar to yours and making more money, you unconsciously believe that he or she is doing a better job. Being paid for a job imbues it with instant credibility. I spoke with someone recently who told me about his early struggles to become a professional writer after leaving a corporate career. For two years, even though he was doing high-quality work, he failed to make any money at it, "I felt unemployed," he told me, "even [hough I was working ten hours a day." A publishing contract changed his attitude about his accomplishments instantly. Suddenly the previous two years gained validity. The money the publisher paid him was proof.

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Because we believe money is proof, we see a very strong connection between money and work. MOoney earned via hard work is admirable, proof that you are a good person. We have Iittle respect, however, for those who inherit money rather than making lit on their own. We might be fascinated by the exploits of someone like Paris Hilton, but we don't fed that she's proven anything, because she was born rich arxl her celebrity stems exclusively from her wealth. We attribute Patty Hearst's early difficulties to her growing up an heiress, and we consider the ongoing problems of the Getty children to be the product of old money. We love it that Bill Gates has more money than the Queen of England, because he earned every penny of it himself.

\Xlbile we don't have much respect for trust fund babies who Jive off the family fortune, we have completely different feelings about those who build on their inherited legacy and establish substantial careers of their own. Robert Wood Johnson worked hard to take john-: son & Johnson to new levels of gro~h and profitability. Willianl Clay Ford Jr. did the same with the Ford.Motor Company .. These people. while starting from a very different place from most Americans, prove themselves by making their own money and increasing the. family fortune. Wealthy American businesspeople will say that they want their children to establish themselves. They will of course provide access and connections (and they might underestimate the extent to which this makes a difference), but they won't give their children a "free ride." Making every generation prove itself anew is definitely on Code.

Even if we work very hard, we can :find this Hood money/bad money dichotomy in our own lives. One of the things revealed by the study J did for Morgan and Citihank is that Americans see interest income and capital gains as "bad money" because they didn't earn it themselves. Investors who took a very active role in managing their stock ponfoIios felt they "made" this money, while those who simply followed the advice of their brokers did not. Banks and investment

firms that tell their customers "Give us your money, and we'll make iit work for you" are totally off Code. On-Code firms portray themselves as facilitators who provide their dients with tools for generating rrrore money.

Many European cultures have a different view of money and its function. Ata certein point, if one earns a great deal of money in these cultures, one simply settles hack on the estate, leaving the world of commerce behind. Here, of course, we believe we're only as good as our last deal, and even when we've made billions we want to make bilIrons more to prove how good we are. In America. we can dream about Iraving no lirnsts, about striking it rich regardless of how little we had: at hirth. In Europe, you might start out with a bit of money, but it is considerably more difficult to grow out of your station (a French book published a few years ago whose title can he translated as "The Fleirs " showed that there was very tilde economic movement in that: country: the children of doctors became cloctors, the chil.dren of bankers became bankers, and it was very difficult to move into these classes or beyond them). Hence, money in France isn't a form of proof, but an unpleasant fact.

In France, a common topic at elegant dinner parties is sex, The French consider it entirely acceptable to discuss sexual positions, multiple partners, and different kinds of lingerie while entertaining guests. They consider the topic of money, however, to be vulgar; it is exceechngly impolste to ask how much money someone makes or how much he or she paid for sornething.i Here, of course, we would be appalled by van explicit sexual discussion at dinner, but we can talk about money all night long. Different Culrure Codes lead to different behaviors,

It has been said that Americans consider money their religion. \X1hi1e this is often meant critically, it has an elemern of truth that doesn't have a riegarive dimension. The "proof" that we derive from money is the proof of our goodness-not only of the quality of our

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work at our chosen professions, but also of our quality as people. We truly believe there is a link between goodness and monetary success and that those who cheat and he their way to the top ultimately meet their comeuppance on both the spiritual and financial planes .. Consistent with this mind-set is the American attitude toward charitable donations. There is no. luggage rack on a hearse, and since you cannot take yo.ur. possessions and money jnto. the :afterlife with you, Americans (not Just dying ones] choose to. give a significant amount of it away eo those in need. Studies show that Americans are the most charitable people in the world. Even people who barely scrape by tend to. be generous with the m:oney they share with others. The rich even appear to. compete over who makes the largest donations. Wbile the generosity seems to. be heartfelt, there is a strong sense of obligation that comes with being wealthy in this culture. Americans expect their. most fortunate to share what they've earned, and we have an entire system of laws in place for giving one's money away.

The new glasses of the Culture Code offer us strong, even counterintuitive, insights into dealing with money in America. It is off Code, for example, to preach profitability to one's employees, Money is the proof of goodness, not in itself the goal. Instead, a company's management must inspire employees to be the best [hey can possibly be and to make the company as strong as h can possibly be. This is on Code for both work and money and, if done effectively, leads to profitahility.

The two Codes together lead to another surprising conclusion: money alone is the worst reward for an American employee. It doesn't last and it is never sufficient. Yes, money is proof, and as such, it is a critical component of any reward system. But the most on-Code approach is to use money as a global positioning system that shows the employee where he is on his career path. At every promotion, the employee should be shown a visual representation of the income

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curve that he or she is on. The angle at which one's salary is climbing is a powerful symbol of growth. It is visual proof. A tangible award of some sort presented at the same time as the promotion gives the ernpioyee a tactile experience of his enhanced sense of who he is. Maybe it is a plaque of some sort. Maybe it is a new office, or a new accessory for the office, These tangible symbols last much longer than money, though they admittedly mean very little without it.

WORK AND MONEY: AN AMERICAN MARRIAGE BUILT TO LAST

The Codes show that Americans draw a very strong connection between work and money. The sense of "who you are" derived from work is intertwined with the "proof" provided by the money one earns. We are suspicious, and even dismissive, of money gained without hard work. For instance, we have little respect for those who gain sudden wealth through the lottery. Americans don't regard this as "real" money because it isn't earned. A lottery winner proves nothing by winning the lottery, except that he or she was very fortunate. Lottery winners themselves seem to share some of this sensibility. Their instant wealth makes them anomalies: they don't truly belong with the rich, because they didn't work their way into that world, nor do they fit any longer among their peers, because their money separates them. \YJe tend to forget thenames of lottery winners within a day or so and never hear from them again.

T nterestingly, we look at game show winners differently. Of course, this is on Code. When Ken Jennings won seventy-four consecutive rounds of the quiz show Jeopardy.' (acquiring more than $25 million in the process), he became an instant celebrity. Unlike a lottery winner's, however, Jennings's star didn't fade immediately. He received endorsement deals, speaking engagements, and a place in television history. Ken Jennings earned his money by battling and heating contestants for months; he proved himself repeatedly

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Ken Jennings received an oppo.rl:w.l.iity and h·e made the most of II:.

This is what we really want as Americans. '\Xire may clr'earn of winning the lottery and escaping the rat race, What the Codes for workand money show, rhough, is thai: work is an essential part of who we are and that we just want a chance to prove o urselves and receive tangible evidence that we have succeeded..