I have had multiple friends tell me they need a “job that matters.”
Some of my friends who are stay-at-home parents tell me they wish they could be out in the world making a difference.
And a few years back I told my brother that I wanted a job where I could make a difference. I wanted to impact people’s lives and not just be busy doing something just because I enjoy the type of work it is.
As a pastor, he fully understood. But he also reminded me that businesses need people of integrity and with a commitment to excellence. He encouraged me to think about how my job does impact people and how I can make a difference to others.
He is right, you know. In the end, all of us are in jobs that impact people and make a difference in the world.
The question is – are we conducting ourselves in a way that positively impacts others?
It doesn’t matter if our job is to make a home for our children and raise them to be people of integrity or if our job is to stack boxes at the Amazon warehouse.
If we want our lives to have significance, we need to conduct ourselves according to certain key principles.
- Do everything as an act of service to others.
- Expect the best of others.
- Welcome the contributions of others.
- Strive for the highest quality work.
- Be committed to the truth.
- Be willing to admit “I don’t know.”
- Keep praise and criticism in perspective.
- Use your strengths to provide value to the team.
Yesterday I talked about how a failure to respect others was the downfall of the governor of Puerto Rico. And I talked about how we will be more committed to quality if we have authentic respect for other people.
Today’s point is much the same: if we focus on serving others above all else, we will work to have the best quality work and provide value to the team.
If we focus on serving others, we are doing a job that matters.
Consider David Begnaud, a journalist with CBS News, and an excellent example for this point.
We rarely know the names of field journalists, because we read the headlines and just move on. They are just the mouth for the story and we tend not to notice the voice at the microphone unless they are spectacular.
Well, David happened to be on Puerto Rico when Hurricane Maria hit. He voluntarily stayed for weeks covering the story of how the island attempted to recover. This was after most other mainland journalists had gone home.
He was relentless in his pursuit of truth and he gave a voice to the people who felt so forgotten after the storm of a lifetime.
It became much more than just headlines for him. He was there for the people.
And then he returned this month, to cover the story of the protests and the governor’s eventual resignation. I watched an interview with him tonight and was struck again by his humility and commitment to quality work. (I include the interview below so you can watch it if you want to. Only the intro is in Spanish.)
His commitment to the principles I mentioned above catapulted him to a household name in Puerto Rico and much of the mainland US. His quality work earned him a journalism prize. But most importantly, the people in Puerto Rico love him for his service to them.
Here are just a few ways in which he transformed the “job” of journalism into his way of significantly impacting the lives of others:
- He noticed everyday people, not just the powerful ones, and he encouraged his peers to do the same.
- He committed himself to the truth, unwilling to report something unverified just to make “news.”
- He shrugged off both criticism and excessive praise so he could continue to focus on his job.
- He went the extra mile to ensure everyone in his audience could watch the story unfold, uncolored by his personal opinions.
- He recognized the valuable contribution of other journalists.
- And he performed his job duties in an attitude of service to the people in Puerto Rico.
The result is that the people there love him. They feel like someone is listening to them. They feel hopeful, that change is possible, just because they suddenly have a voice through him. They trust him to be fair and accurate and they turn to him for the latest stories sooner than anyone else.
His example demonstrates to the rest of us that any job can be a job that matters.
I think of the mom whose daughter will never forget sweet moments of encouragement and love, moments the mom thinks are so small but which stay with her daughter for a lifetime.
I think of the daycare assistant who bonds with the one troubled child in the classroom and is able to help him feel loved.
And I think of the school janitor whose attention to detail warms the heart of the teacher who is grateful to start each day in a pristine classroom.
In my performance reviews at work my managers have continually told me that the value I bring to a team is an ability to encourage other people to put forth their best effort. It’s not something I understand or can do intentionally, but it is how I help the team.
So my brother is right – my work matters.
And that means yours does, too.
Really, your job title is irrelevant. If you focus on people and work in service for them, your work has significance, whether you understand it or not.
And in time, you will begin to see it, because just like the Puerto Rican people greet David Begnaud with a hug out of gratefulness for his dedication to them, so the people you serve will one day express their gratefulness to you.