Archive for the ‘What’s Important’ Category

The clients with whom  I most love to work are people who have achieved some degree of worldly success, but who are not happy in the work they do. They want both success and happiness, but are having difficulty figuring out how to do that. One day, I mentioned this in a brief presentation I made to a small group. The next day, one of the group members dropped off in my mailbox not one, but three, articles that argued it was somehow selfish and irresponsible to want to be happy and fulfilled in your work!!!!! One even suggested that you should be moderately unhappy in your work, to make you hungrier, I suppose. I was stunned that some people really believe and argue this nonsense.

Actually, what the writers were doing was assuming that being happy in your work means that you aren’t making any money – the “starving artist” image. Unfortunately, many people who are unhappy and unfulfilled believe they cannot have it all. They think it is either “success”/or satisfaction. It isn’t. We spend far too much of our lives working to be anything less than happy and fulfilled. Otherwise it is a horrible waste of our energy, enthusiasm and talent. It is a “lose-lose-lose” situation. We lose, the organizations for which we work lose, and the world in general loses, because we could be contributing so much more.

The first step, then, toward finding both success and satisfaction in your work is to get rid of the idea that you can’t have both. You can, even if you don’t know yet how to do that.

To your success!

When I arrived at my car early one morning not long ago, I discovered that one of my tires was very flat. I had to be at a short, but important business meeting at 9:00 am and getting there was going to be very tight. I contemplated changing the tire myself, but I knew I wouldn’t make it to my appointment on time, if I did. So, I called a cab, picking a company out of the Yellow Pages.

Fortunately, the cab arrived within minutes and, even more fortunately, Pierre was driving the cab. To keep the story short, Pierre drove me to my appointment, arriving with 5 minutes to spare. He redirected me, when I went to the wrong door, waited for me (no charge) and drove me home again. When we got back to my car, Pierre pumped up the tire for me, using a compressor and hose built into his van and sent me on my way to get the tire fixed.  I was in such a good mood after my encounter with Pierre that it didn’t bother me that the tire couldn’t be fixed and I had to buy four new tires!

All of what Pierre did for me is good service and smart business, but there is more to it than that. Pierre is a helper. Whatever job he might choose to do, he would be a helper. Pierre has been driving a cab for 35 years, and he makes a difference in this world, one customer at a time, because of the way he chooses to do his work. Judging from some of his stories, while we were waiting, Pierre treats his customers and everyone else alike. He is cheerful and helpful beyond “the call of duty”.

Thank you, Pierre. You made my day. I hope we will cross paths again.

There is a lesson for all of us in this. How we choose to do our jobs often matters much more than what we do. Attitude may not be everything, but it certainly is very important, both to our clients, customers and co-workers and to our own job satisfaction.

I love to be around people who bring a positive attitude to their work. How about you? Do you know anyone who makes a great contribution to others because of the way they choose to do their job? If so, please respond to this post with their story. How do you choose to approach your work?

If there is one theme in all that I do, have done and want to do, it is that people matter. My personal mission statement, which has evolved over the years, is this:
To educate, empower and inspire people

• to be the best they can be;
• to appreciate themselves and others;
• to collaborate and make the world a better place; and
• to achieve what they truly want.

Life is first about being. “Who am I? What’s important to me? What do I have to offer?” Then, it’s about doing. “How do I live the life I want? What’s my focus? How can I contribute? How do I interact with others?”
Whatever role we play – business leader, worker, spouse, parent, team member, volunteer, friend or any other – we bring ourselves to whatever we do. I love the title of one of John Kabat-Zinn’s books, Wherever You Go, There You Are. It’s true. We can’t escape ourselves. In my perfect world, no one would want to.

My work, in a nutshell, is helping people align what they do with who they are. That defines their purpose. That’s where the passion comes from. My tag line for my Ascendo Consulting business is “Helping you fly in your work and life.”

I work with leaders who want to make a difference;

• with organizations that really mean it when they say “People are our greatest asset”;
• with those searching for the right kind of work and work environment; and
• with people who are in career transition, voluntary or otherwise.