Job Crafting from the Outside In

A job is more than the sum of responsibilities outlined on a sterile resume. And a career is so much more than performing tasks you are assigned in exchange for a paycheck. In place of the notion that we work primarily for pay, we need to think about how we work for a purpose that creates specific improvement in another person’s life. Just as an organization is unlikely to invest millions of dollars in a product that has a small chance of serving many customers, you don’t want to devote thousands of hours of your learning and development time to an area for which there is little demand from your employer or community. This is one of the critiques of advice that says “follow your passion” — it presumes that you are at the center of the world, and that pursuing your own joy (not in service of others) is the objective. Those who leave a lasting mark on the world, in contrast, are always asking what they can give.