Company men lookout for the company, but what if the company is wrong?

By Javier Palenque

What is a company man/ woman? The definition has changed over time, in the past, the “company man” refers to the traditional worker; one who gets their degree finds a good job and continues to work there 20, 30, or 40 years. A person who values the company that they work for more than anything else in their life and are willing to do whatever the company needs. A lifer is a proper word for these kinds of individuals. I did a little bit of research since I couldn’t understand why someone would want to be their entire life in one place and be referred to as a company man. Well, what I have discovered is that most of the definitions have negative connotations rather than positive ones. As I could understand through these definitions and my experience, being a company man is not an epithet, compliment and, not achievement worth of any commend it means in most cases that the person stays in one place and makes their life in one business their career. That was the normal way of working for people born before 1950. As each new generation enters the labor force this of course has changed a lot. As a reference Millennials will have had 8 jobs before 40 while generation X will have had 2–3 and Baby Boomers 2 at most by the same age.