Tres interessant.
One of my female friends in PR put forth a very interesting theory, passed on from one of her friends.
In a nutshell, her theory is that men who go into public relations/communications fields typically have very low self-esteems. They then use their position as a kind of ego-booster, being able to capture the attention of a room with their ideas. And—and if they are the supervisor or the boss—this gives him all the more reason to yell and demand respect.
I have, by no means, a solid base of knowledge from which to say that her theory is correct or incorrect, but in my experience, there is perhaps a kernel of truth to be found there. Then again, my experience is limited (given my age, and the places I have worked, etc.). I don’t like these gender-based work generalities, because when you start to talk about theories like this, it opens the door for people to start making comments about how women should not be this, and well men can’t do that job, and the conversation spirals out of control. I absolutely don’t think this is true for all men in public relations (I mean, come on, that’s ridiculous), but when I look at a few of the men I’ve worked with…let’s just say that they have a lot more in common with the theory than not. But, before you come after me (guns blazing! comments flying!), know that I am fully aware that my small sampling of the human population in public relations is by no means a marker of anything larger. Furthermore, I worked in one of the most narcissistic, egotistical cities in the world, set about 15 years behind every major U.S. city in all sorts of fantastic ways, including (but not limited to) the rights of women in the workplace; transportation infrastructure, and, of course, Late Night Shots. (Gross.)
But, I digress. This theory makes me wonder about a larger question. Are there jobs/careers that men and women seek out more readily if they have a low self-esteem? What kind of job can make someone feel better about themselves? Do you look for a certain job or career because you have a kind of power over people that you’ve never had before in your life? Is it because you want to do something in life that you know you can succeed at, rather than taking a risk because you’d hate yourself if you failed?
I knew I wanted to go into PR long before I had to declare a major. Once I settled down from all those crazy things you think of as “careers” as a kid (musician! brain surgeon! astronaut! marine biologist!), I realized that I enjoyed reading and writing far more than memorizing the bones in the body or solving math problems. Except for a brief moment when I thought an English major was the right way to proceed, I figured that a job in which I had to develop strategies based largely on the words I could put to paper would be a good fit. Could I have done something else—something more risky? Probably. Should I have? I don’t think so. Instead, I’ve always tried to find ways to make what I’m doing for the majority of my day something I enjoy doing.
But, am I doing this because it helps my self-esteem? Did I choose what I wanted to do because it would help me be more confident? Would it give me power over other people in a way that I found intoxicating?
Nah. Superficially, perhaps the most you could say was that I knew what I liked (reading/writing) and what I hated (math) and exploited my interests and developed “talent” where I wanted it to be. Is that related to my self-esteem, though? I don’t think so. I think that was just a smart direction I started to travel in, and one that my parents and school guidance counselors and advisors helped to narrow and define into a specific decision.
What about you? Were you like me, and you chose something because you were drawn to it due to interests/abilities? Did your parents have certain expectations for you? Did you want to do something totally different because your parents had certain expectations for you? Or did you want a career path that would eventually allow you to yell indiscriminately at an office of employees because it made you feel bigger and better than you ever had before in your life?
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