The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of MTN Ghana, Stephen Blewett, has issued a pragmatic piece of advice to all prospective employees and ambitious corporate climbers to rigorously assess the "price tag"—or true opportunity cost—of any job, especially those in senior management, before accepting the role.

Speaking on Joy FM's Personality Profile with Lexis Bill, Mr. Blewett, who has decades of experience leading major telecommunications operations across Africa, stressed that a job's benefits and sacrifices are inseparable, warning that workers cannot enjoy the rewards while rejecting the inherent demands.

The Hidden Cost of High Office

Mr. Blewett, who assumed his role at MTN Ghana in April 2024, acknowledged that maintaining a work-life balance in the high-pressure environment of leading a corporate giant is extremely difficult.

He highlighted that in his position, the time commitment often extends far beyond the traditional 40-hour work week, absorbing evenings and weekends due to the global nature of business and the scale of the operation—MTN Ghana is a market leader with millions of subscribers and a crucial contributor to the country's tax revenue base.

“So, how do you maintain balance? It's difficult. I won't lie,” he admitted.

He explained that the sacrifice must be clearly understood by the leader's family and the prospective employee themselves.

“I always say to my family that when you're a CEO of a large organization, it absorbs your time... So, they need to understand that you are absorbed by your job because it's the nature of the job.”

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Don't Just Look at the Rewards

The core of Mr. Blewett's advice, a lesson he credits to his father, focuses on the concept of opportunity cost.

He observed that most professionals only see the visible rewards of a high-profile role.

“Every single position job has a price tag. Everyone looks at the rewards, the trappings, the nice clothes, the nice cars. They don't read the price tag,” he asserted.

For him, the "price tag" of leading a dominant market player like MTN Ghana is the time sacrificed away from personal life. He detailed the pragmatic reality this price tag entails:

• Disrupted Family Time: “The price tag is you're the CEO of a very large organization. It's going to dominate your time. So sometimes at family dinners, you're going to be taking calls.”
• Missed Events: “Sometimes you're not going to be able to make certain sporting events or do things with my kids when they were younger.”

The Non-Negotiable Package

Mr. Blewett's message to new recruits at MTN is blunt: the rewards and the demands are a single package. He warns that trying to separate the two leads to frustration and conflict.

“If you don't like the price tag, don't take the job. You can't take the reward and say I don't like the price tag. They come together. It's the other side,” he concluded.

This philosophy underscores a demand for clear-eyed, upfront communication, both with one’s own family and with one's employer, to ensure that personal values and professional sacrifices are aligned before embarking on a challenging and demanding corporate career path.