Voices
the meaning of work, shows that
a core element of a calling is the
belief that your work makes the
world a better place.
Enriching the Meaningfulness of a Job
Becoming a neurosurgeon isn’t
for everyone. The good news is
that there are steps we can take to
make jobs more meaningful — for
ourselves and others.
In many cases, our jobs do have
an impact, but we’re too distant
from the end users of our products and services. Think of automotive safety engineers who never
meet the drivers of their cars or
medical scientists who don’t see
a patient. By connecting directly
with these end users, we can see
our past and potential impact.
When university fundraisers met
a single student whose scholarship was funded by their work,
they increased 142 percent in
weekly phone minutes and over
400 percent in weekly revenue.
When radiologists saw a patient’s
photo included in an x-ray file,
they wrote 29 percent longer reports and made 46 percent more
accurate diagnoses.
This is why leaders at John
Deere invite employees who build
tractors to meet the farmers who
ADAM
GRANT
HUFFINGTON
02.09.14
buy their tractors, leaders at
Facebook invite software developers to hear from users who have
found long-lost friends and family
members thanks to the site, and
leaders at Wells Fargo film videos
of customers describing how lowinterest loans have rescued them
from debt. When we see the direct
consequences of our jobs for others, we find greater meaning. “The
greatest untapped source of moti-
In many cases, our
jobs do have an impact,
but we’re too distant
from the end users of our
products and services.”
vation,” Susan Dominus explains,
“is a sense of service to others.”
Of course, some jobs are simply not designed to have a major
impact on others. In these situations, people often make the mistake of treating their job descriptions as fixed, overlooking the fact
that they can take initiative to
alter their own roles. Wrzesniewski, Jane Dutton, and Justin Berg
call this job crafting — adding,
emphasizing, revising, delegating,
or minimizing tasks and interac-