Nice to see you again. Follow me, @SydneyOwen. Thanks for being here!
It wasn’t until I went to SXSW that I realized the power one word can hold. I was talking to Ben Smithee of Spych Research (Ben, I’m totally loving then new website btw) when I said “Ooh, there’s a guy here from a company I’d like to work for!”
Ben said, “you mean with?”
Puzzled, I just had a blank look on my face.
“You mean, you want to work with them, not for them.”
Ben then enlightened me on the power of with vs. for. From that moment on, in any interview situation, in any random networking connection, in any follow-up email, I would say “and I look forward to working with you soon”. It makes sense, in conversation, to say with. But when talking about companies that could potentially hire you, it’s easy to say “ooh, I’d love to work for them!”
With vs. For is also a mindset. Just imagine how different the dynamics of a workplace can be if you’re working “with” people or working “for” people. Working with, you’re learning, engaging, you’re expressing your imaginative ideas at brainstorms and listening to those of others, you’re adding your value to a team. Working for, you’re likely running errands, being passed off tasks that your superior is “above” or are timid in expressing your ideas, because, after all, you are working for ______, not yourself.
Scratch that. I think it’s all about the tonality of the atmosphere. You can run errands with a smile if the atmosphere is supportive of that. Maybe that’s something we should all think about. Whether you’re the errand-assigner or the errand-runner, think about how it’s asked. If you say “hey, I know you’re swamped, but could you run down to _____ and pick up ____ for (insert project that you’re working on here)?” the runner recognizes that this errand is an important part of the team’s overall goal and will see the importance of the task at hand. If you shoot over an email that is condescending, then there is this tension, the “part of a team” mentality is gone, and now it feels like you’re working for that person, not with.
I think, too, that a lot of the with vs. for mindset is part of the industry you’re in. Working with makes sense to me because I’m more of a creative (though that side of my talents hasn’t really been tapped into yet, which is another thought in itself) than a number-cruncher or statistic-creator. So I think in a creative environment, it only makes sense to say “with”.
Fortunately, in my little world that I’m living in now, it’s a whole-lotta working “with”, not “for”. So that’s great.
What do you think about with vs. for? Does it matter? Say it out loud. Does one sound better than the other? Does it depend on your environment? Are there industries that are more “with” or more “for”? What are they?