Building Great Companies and Great Jobs Through Contribution & Commitment
A business colleague of mine once wrote that a business owner must ask and answer 4 basic questions: (1) What do I need and want out of life? (2) How can my company help me accomplish that? (3) What would such a company look like? and (4) How do I get my company to look like that?
While these 4 questions are extremely useful, I believe that the first question is slightly off the mark. As I've said in earlier posts on this blog, we each have the ability to define for ourselves the meaning in every moment. The deepest meaning in our lives derives out of love, which is expressed in our relationships with others. Love, in turn, is expressed in the form of what we give, not what we get.
To build a great company (or a great job), it seems to me that the 4 questions above make a great deal of sense, with one important variation. The first of the 4 questions should be reconsidered as "What unique talents and abilities am I committed to using at work in service to others?" The answer to this question gets to the heart of meaning in the world of work, which is found in its highest form when we make a conscious decision to apply our unique gifts and talents in service to others.
In addition, this revised question includes the critical element of commitment, for it is only that to which each of us is committed that we will pursue in the face of obstacles and setbacks. Deep, abiding meaning and personal satisfaction comes from the experience of giving the best that we have to offer in service to a cause or mission that is bigger than any one of us and that provides a benefit to others.
So the correct question isn't "what do I want", but rather "What unique talents and abilities am I committed to using at work in service to others?" Great companies and great jobs can be built from this and the other 3 questions described above.
While these 4 questions are extremely useful, I believe that the first question is slightly off the mark. As I've said in earlier posts on this blog, we each have the ability to define for ourselves the meaning in every moment. The deepest meaning in our lives derives out of love, which is expressed in our relationships with others. Love, in turn, is expressed in the form of what we give, not what we get.
To build a great company (or a great job), it seems to me that the 4 questions above make a great deal of sense, with one important variation. The first of the 4 questions should be reconsidered as "What unique talents and abilities am I committed to using at work in service to others?" The answer to this question gets to the heart of meaning in the world of work, which is found in its highest form when we make a conscious decision to apply our unique gifts and talents in service to others.
In addition, this revised question includes the critical element of commitment, for it is only that to which each of us is committed that we will pursue in the face of obstacles and setbacks. Deep, abiding meaning and personal satisfaction comes from the experience of giving the best that we have to offer in service to a cause or mission that is bigger than any one of us and that provides a benefit to others.
So the correct question isn't "what do I want", but rather "What unique talents and abilities am I committed to using at work in service to others?" Great companies and great jobs can be built from this and the other 3 questions described above.
posted by Chris Kenny at
5:11 AM
