Jesse just wrote a great article for CP.org, which got me to revisit a topic that I love discussing: the idea of selling out. 

I graduated with a degree in business (from a pretty pretentious B-school) and am now working for a non-profit... kind of the opposite track this book suggests (and from most expectations).  But I think it was a desire to get that pragmatic education and bring a different skill set to my future work with non-profits, which I knew I'd eventually work with. 

I used my degree to do non-profit consulting while my friends were spending summers on Wall Street.  I went through a period where I secretly (and sometimes not so secretly) judged them for doing so, until I wrote a paper for a CSR (corporate social responsibility) class about a book called "The Tempered Radical."  My prof hooked me up with the author and I got an interview - we had a really in-depth discussion about how people are making changes in the private sector by entering a system that they know they can't change, but still trucking through.  For example - women fiercely working their way through the glass ceiling at their companies and then serving as mentors for younger women entering the field.  Or GLBT's creating a safe space for colleagues and working together to address firm policies that exclude them. 

It's not ideal, and sad that we live in a society where we have to go into a system knowing we want to change it.  But it's one of those sad realities that you eventually learn to face (do I sound jaded yet?) and figure out what to do about it.  If everyone who worked for a multinational corporation was on the same side of the ideological spectrum, you can be pretty sure that the world would be a lot more messed up.  I don't buy the argument that people with lower salaries in non-profit positions are doing the best or most selfless work.  I was judged by my friends for going into business school, and then judged by my classmates for being a "bleeding heart liberal."  I think both sides have got to change their outlook.  There's plenty of people facing challenges where they work, and as someone who's been in the business world, I can tell you that it's not always easy being progressive and trying to talk with conservatives about political issues, but the conversations and debates are important and need to be had. 

That said, I think we do need to acknowledge that many people working in non-profit or similar positions are doing amazing work that shouldn't be downplayed; it takes a lot out of you and can become mentally exhausting if you can't see change happening.  For people who do manage to hold on to a non-profit job, especially when they're brilliant and motivated, like many of my senior managers where I work, I give them a *lot* of credit - and often more than I'd give someone who's making a much higher salary at a corporation.  That might not be necessarily fair either, but that's the society we live in.