Jennifer Rice is a brand marketing pro who became disillusioned with her job. I found her web site through Tom Peters two months ago, and found her thoughtful, but her last post was in August. Bummer. This morning, however, that I find that she's writing again. The end of her hiatus was brought on by a reconnection with her passion: I've been struggling with the age-old dilemma of doing something that satisfies the soul OR doing something that pays the rent. I've thought about teaching, writing, coaching, counseling… even moving to some godforsaken place in the world in order to "make a difference." One thing I haven't thought about until recently is whether I could make a difference in my own profession. She resolves it by choosing "to work with companies who are either doing something they believe in, or else they recognize the need to create a purposeful brand." And thus, she is reinvigorated.The comments section for this post had some good things to say. (The drag about RSS feeds is that they don't convey the conversation between the blog author and the audience. Sure, some blogs show comments via RSS, but they typically span every post and don't show up as conversation within a post. Why not tell the whole story?) In the comments, a fella named Scott quotes Howard Thurman saying, "Don't ask yourself what the world needs - ask yourself what makes you come alive, and then go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive." I'm reading 12 Elements, which is a book that describes the great relationship between the employee and good management. The eight element is "a connection with the mission of the company." When people believe in what they're doing and find it worthwhile, they're more satisfied. If a job were just a job, it really wouldn't matter where someone worked. A good paycheck, decent benefits, reasonable hours, and comfortable working conditions would be enough. The job would serve its function of putting food on the table and money in the kids' college accounts. But a uniquely human twist occurs after the basic needs are fulfilled. The employee searches for meaning in her vocation. For reasons that transcend the physical needs fulfilled by earning a living, she looks for her contribution to a higher purpose. Something within her looks for something in which to believe. The folks who published 12 Elements are the same ones who published Now, Discover Your Strengths.If we spend our time trying to fix our weaknesses, we waste time. These are our weaknesses and we try to be something that we're not. If we spend our time building on our strengths, we magnify who we are and we expand what we can achieve. That's time well spent. Jennifer was obviously in the right field, but lost connection with why she was doing it. She wanted not just the job that emphasized her strengths, she sought the motivation of meaning. Customers seek the same thing from their purchases today. It's one thing to buy a cake. It's another to have it served to you. It's yet another to have it wrapped around a memorable event. At that level, customers are most deeply satisfied. A manager of mine once told me that every employee has the same job description: "To build in the customer not just the desire but the burning desire to return again and again." The best way to achieve that is to find or create employees who have not just the desire but the burning desire to return to their work again and again. A book written about wisdom gleaned from Starbucks, Tribal Knowledge, has this to say (#32): The best internal culture a company could hope for is one where the employees are so loyal they spread word of the company and its product with fierce passion, a culture where employees go way beyond being minions to being missionaries.Turning minions into missionaries can only happen if the employees truly believe in the company. The company with missionary employees is one where the workforce is there because it wants to be, not because it needs to be. These employees talk about the quality of the company itself, the values the company endorses, the way in which their lives are enhanced because of it. This is where employees see their employment not as a job, but as a lifestyle. The company speaks of them. It's part of their identity. They're quick to tell anyone why they do what they and they're quick to explain how they try to enrich the lives of others. Their job work is meaningful, purposeful, and worthwhile. That's the difference between a thrilling day-by-day experience and just phoning it in Monday through Friday.Meaning and purpose matter. |
