Bob ... This comment is too boorish and insensitive to ignore: "You and your colleagues would be out of work, which would be mighty inconvenient, I'm sure." Spoken like a true consultant - a con-artist for whom nothing is important and nothing ever gets done. I, on the other hand, take pride in my work, don't view it as a game, and think it has worth and meaning to others. When I retire I have every intention o Bob …This comment is too boorish and insensitive to ignore:“You and your colleagues would be out of work, which would be mighty inconvenient, I’m sure.” Spoken like a true consultant – a con-artist for whom nothing is important and nothing ever gets done. I, on the other hand, take pride in my work, don’t view it as a game, and think it has worth and meaning to others. When I retire I have every intention of looking back on a career of accomplishment and value. If your career is just a game, maybe you should find something else to do. Maybe something that you wouldn’t call “a different line of evil.” – Not a con-artist or con-sultantDear Not-a … One of the definitions of “game” is: “a physical or mental competition conducted according to rules with the participants in direct opposition to each other.”Business in a capitalist, market economy is a game according to this definition.I’m a consultant. I help CIOs succeed and help their organizations succeed. This has meaning to me and provides value to them. While I appreciate the thought that I’m a con artist, regrettably I have to work quite hard for my money and have to provide real value to my clients or I lose their business and their willingness to serve as a reference for my next potential piece of business. My consulting business is, however, a game as well. There are plenty of other players who would be delighted to beat me at it, winning clients instead of me. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t. It depends who plays the game better.Same as you in your career. There are plenty of other people competing for your job right now, and for the job you want next. If you don’t play the game better than they do, you won’t get the job you want and might lose the one you have. They’ll get it, either by replacing you at your place of employment or helping some other place of employment take business away from yours.That makes it a game. The only question is the stakes. Boorish and insensitive? Boorish would be pandering to my audience and clients, telling them only what they want to hear instead of what’s important for them to hear.It might be insensitive. Some people do consider losing their job to be a tragedy. As a generality, I’d say they’re far less likely to find their next position than those who keep it in a better perspective. And I say that as someone who was on the wrong end of a layoff a couple of years ago.Let me tell you, I found it damned inconvenient. – Bob ——– Technology Industry