Malcom Gladwell explains Passion on Purpose this way, “These three things, autonomy, complexity and a connection between effort and reward – are, most people agree, the three qualities that work has to have if it is to be satisfying.  It is not how much money we make that ultimately makes us happy between 9 and 5.  It’s whether the work fulfills us.  If I offered you a choice between being an Architect for $75,000 a year and working in a tollbooth every day for the rest of your life for $100,000 a year, which would you take?  I am guessing the former because there is a relationship between effort and reward in doing creative work, and that’s worth more to most of us than money.  Work that fulfills those 3 criteria is meaningful.  Being a Teacher is meaningful.  Being a Physician is meaningful.  So is being an Entrepeneur.”

Sage advice.  Meaningful Work is a value proposition deeply coveted by many a person and often overlooked by the organization.  It’s necessary to building a true, sustainable talent advantage.  And personally, you gotta ‘love what you do’!

We’ll do a deep dive today with buisness leaders in Holland, MI during my keynote The Best Talent Wins.

I cannot wait to get to work today!

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 19th, 2009 at 8:26 am and is filed under Employee Engagement. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.