Why Work for Free?

Students often ask me for advice. They flatter me that they would like to do as I have done.

I am humbled to recognize how luck has been with me. I could not even replicate my life if I tried to do so. But perhaps I might hazard a few suggestions. As Louis Pasteur, the biologist who discovered germs, said, "Chance favors the prepared."

Here is the long and the short of it. All of my best career decisions have been made without regard for money.

I do not mean to imply I am some sort of saint. I need to have an income like anyone else and despite my efforts to be ascetic I continue to covet new gadgets. Yet I do mean that even self-interest is not served by being selfish. The more I have done for others and the less I have been concerned about the paycheck, the better I have done for myself — the money comes.

These could be platitudes. Allow me to explain more concretely.

When I practiced law, I realized that no institutional client was willing to entrust major litigation to a new attorney straight out of school. Pro bono clients had no choice though. I took on as much as I could, representing tenants in eviction proceedings. I gained experience I could not possibly have acquired otherwise. I was in court immediately.

I knew I wanted to pursue an academic calling. After some time, I resigned to teach. My salary as an associate at a major firm was not quite three times my salary as a fellow at a reputable school. I had to begin at the bottom.

I spent the summer between the downtown firm and the return to campus as a full-time volunteer organizer on an immigrants' rights campaign. That was an intense experience in politics. It also had the salutary effect of dissuading me from ever running for office.

I soon made it to a tenure-track appointment. The risks had been reasonable in retrospect.

Later I found myself on the lecture circuit. I was represented by an agent and had lucrative public appearances around the country. Even when I was traveling for paid gigs, however, the majority of my speaking was not directly remunerative. Most of the speeches were for community groups, for which the compensation was the meal. I donated all of the profit from sales of my book at signings — which likely improved how many copies we moved at these events.

The same was true of writing. My scholarship was turned into newspaper op-eds. All of my ideas that have been expressed in presentations or in print have been available gratis to anyone who cared for them, before they ever generated honoraria or royalties.

Then I was surprised to be invited to join boards. Although a director of a listed corporation can receive substantial sums for quarterly meetings, a trustee of a college works for free. It is akin to holding a part-time position on the side, real work bereft of glamour. The responsibilities are similar to what they would be if one were an employee, except people are polite at all times.

At each stage of my development as a professional, I have been not as ready as I should have been. I've always believed it was only worth seeking opportunities for which I have not been quite qualified in terms of my resume. If I were a conventional candidate, there wouldn't be enough challenge in the interview process much less if I were hired for the job.

What has made me credible as an applicant for management roles is neither education nor experience — not if those terms are defined as formal and full-time. My advantage has been the extensive background I have had beyond the 9 to 5 occupation. It turns out to be easier to be put into an oversight function on a board than an operational one as an executive, but the former can bring about the latter. It trains a person in policy.

For those who aspire to make a difference in the world and are confident they can lead, I conclude with two bits of advice.

First, if you want to seize power (to put it in brute terms antithetical to the goal of social justice), it isn't all that difficult. All you have to do is show up. Most of us are overcome by inertia. Someone who makes a meeting is noticed. Then you have to appear repeatedly and follow through on tasks. Many of us who are enthusiastic about a cause are not reliable in supporting it. The individual who shows up consistently, and who executes the to-do list for the annual gala, is exceptional.

If there is a non-profit that you would like to run, showing up three times in a row likely will land you on the board. Showing up to all the board meetings will earn a nomination to be the chair. It is an uncommon means of moving up in the world. Give away your services until you are indispensable.

Second, you have to want to do it — whatever "it" happens to be — intrinsically and not instrumentally. I don't mean that even in the sense of a moral principle. I mean it merely as a practical matter. You ought to care about "it" for its own sake rather than its value to you. In the long term that is what will count for you.

People say to me all the time, for example, that they believe they'll improve the odds of admission to a selective school if they perform charity for three months. They are not inhibited against revealing their indifference to the benevolent cause they have selected, because they suppose it will be helpful to their own advancement. Aside from whether it is right or wrong to display altruism for such purposes, it won't work since you'll either be found out or you'll lose interest.

The point of pro bono work is to make the contribution to the community. The benefit to one's self is incidental — yet it is not insignificant.

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