In my June 20^th 2023 article, WHY JUMPERS SEEM TO WIN, one of my readers, Dubem Orji, shared a beautiful comment. The closing line of the comment reads: “…My take is this, you can either be a missionary or a mercenary. Whichever one you adjudge pays you better but you can’t have it both ways.” I found the comment quite enlightening and have borrowed the line as today’s topic.

You see, the concept alluded in that comment inadvertently assumes that all the playing cards are with the employees; that employees, alone, determined their career objective, and as such one must decide whether to be a missionary or a mercenary. However, experience has shown that the arrow points both ways—employers too can be missionary-driven or mercenary-driven.

Please note, the working definition of both words are: Missionary=one sent on a mission. Mercenary=one motivated by gain, especially monetary (Wiktionary).

To expound on this, missionary describes one who comes for the vision of the company, and is invested in ensuring that it is fulfilled. Characteristically, missionaries will stay longer with an organization, since their primary motivation is for the well being of the company. On the other hand, mercenaries describe those that take a job for the amount it promises to pay, and expectedly, will leave once there is a higher bid for their talent. And the preceding argument by my commenter is that you can’t be both.

Meanwhile, my counter-argument, and therefore my admonition here is that you can be whatever the company wants you to be. Some organization prefers missionaries, others prefer mercenaries. And they show you this by how much they price and reward each. When an organization will rather hire a replacement at a higher salary grade than promote their current hire, they are a mercenary company. When a company will adjust their policies only when a new hire brings it up, but will never do so when a current hire suggests such a change, that is a mercenary company. And my recommendation is to be a missionary to a missionary-driven organization, and a mercenary to a mercenary-driven organization.

And one last thought. Friend, keep on building on your value. Keep on growing in your niche. Continue to master your craft. It will give you all the chips you need to negotiate your winning strategy.

I will keep rooting for you, always. Cheers.