What Is Purpose?

Originally posted 3/7/2011.

Saturday I brought up purpose, the third of Dan Pink’s “incentives that work” for today’s workers. Today I’d like to further investigate what purpose is and how it effects people more than money. Purpose is the idea that what you do matters, that your actions every day in your job have an effect on people and the world at large. But how do you find purpose in your day to day job? This part is all about mindset. Perhaps these three stories will help put “purpose” in perspective:

Johnny the Bagger
You have probably heard the Johnny the Bagger story before. It is a famous true story about a young man with down syndrome who found purpose in his job as a grocery store bagger through providing the best customer service he could. Johnny would insert motivational quotes into the bags of his customers telling them, “I hope you enjoy my quote of the day.” Pretty soon, everyone was waiting in Johnny’s line. They loved his quotes and enjoyed that special interaction Johnny provided.

Now, many people think this story is all about customer service, and in part it is, but it is also about finding purpose in your work, even when the work is as routine as working as a grocery store bagger. Johnny found purpose in his work, and in doing so, found far more job satisfaction and success than he ever would have had he considered the job of grocery store bagger demeaning or unimportant. Johnny proved otherwise.

Middle School Janitor
I remember another story about a middle-school janitor who took great pride in how he cleaned his school and classrooms. His reasoning was that these kids had the chance to go to school someplace that was clean, neat and tidy and that would contribute to learning, or they could go to school in a building with overflowing trash cans, dirty blackboards and grimy carpets. It was up to him to give these kids every opportunity to grow up to be successful, even though his only part in their lives was played out at night, long after the kids had left school.

Michael Gill, author of How Starbucks Saved My Life
Michael Gill is a former advertising executive who, at the age of 63, found himself unemployed, divorced and out of options. Gill ended up taking a job as a Barista at his local Starbucks and in doing so, found new purpose in his life through meaningful interactions with people on a daily basis. I read Michael Gill’s inspiring story in 2008 and was taken by how happy Gill seemed talking about his passion for a job that for many of us would seem unimportant. But to Gill, the five minutes he had with his customers was the most important part of his day- it was crucial to ensure his customers walked away having had an excellent experience.

Think about it, whether your job is the head of a corporation, a Procurement Agent buying airplane parts, the teller at a bank or the barista at a Starbucks, each of you has the opportunity each day to serve your customer in ways that will make their lives easier. Customer service is everywhere, it is not just for retail environments any more. If your job is unfulfilling, it is up to you to find something in it that will make it fulfilling. It is not your company’s responsibility to make you happy in your job. Happiness is a choice, and it is not always easy to achieve.

Now, even though it is not your employer’s responsibility to make your job enjoyable, there are things employers can (and should) do to make what is often a daily tedium more fulfilling. We will talk about some of those things in my next entry.