The Manager - Edition 93 - Something you live to do
THE MANAGER - BY ROB LAMBERT
Hi,
Hope you are safe and well.
It’s all action here at Lambert Towers.
This week I launched my new brand and business Parent Brain. Don’t worry, Cultivated Management is still going strong and I’m still creating new content and books for you all. I’m currently writing Meditation on Management (working title), which I hope to be a great resource for anyone working as a manager.
But I’m constantly reminded of a quote I first heard in the great book “Growing a Business” by Paul Hawken.
“A business isn’t something you do to live, it’s something you live to do”
Doesn’t that sum up what we all want from out work?
To live to do it. Not just for the paycheck, or the role title, or the career ladder, but for the fact it’s something you have to do. You need to do it for higher motives. You get to do it. You live to do it.
And this is an interesting concept, not just for those who run their own business, but for those who also work in other people’s businesses. It’s hard to find many people who live to work on something special, meaningful, impactful.
It’s why, after 10 years of being scared to launch Parent Brain, it’s gone live. Because it’s a business, like Cultivated Management, that I feel I’m here to do. It’s gnawed away at me for a decade, and each year that passes is another year where I get older, but the business just slips by.
You can spot a manager (or employee) who is living to do their work. You can also spot one who is doing that work just to live.
It’s hard though, we are all in different seasons of life, with different motivations, with different needs and responsibilities and privileges. We don't all get to choose. But we do get to seek out and try to find work that we live to do.
What drives you?
What should you be doing?
What you’re doing now? Or something else?
It takes times to answer these questions and a lot of reflection and a lot of searching. But once we work it out, we become who we’re supposed to be. Whether that’s changing the world or changing just one life – it doesn’t matter.
What matters is that we’re living to do what we’re doing.
There’s a lot of joy in that. People will gravitate to us. We will find fulfilment.
And underneath all of this rambling on is a key aspect. Employee Engagement.
We’ll never get the high engagement rates so many companies are striving for, if we (and our teams) are merely doing work to live.
No amount of table football, free food, beers after work on a Friday and any other "forced fun" will work, if we, and our team, are not doing work we are supposed to do. (See my post on the Trinity of Career Development if you want ideas on how to find what you're good at)
So, I guess the question is:
Are you working in/on a business that you live to do?
If not, what could you do to nudge closer?
If yes, you have found a great thing. Keep doing it. And tell as many people as possible – so that you may keep doing it for as long as possible.
Managers who are doing what they do because they live to do it, are the best ones to work with. They’re also the best ones to become.
Rob
FOOD FOR YOUR MANAGEMENT BRAIN
1. Psychopathic bosses and toxic workplace - times up for this kind of thing - https://hbr.org/2020/06/times-up-for-toxic-workplaces
2. Small acts of leadership matter - https://www.inc.com/maya-hu-chan/why-smallest-acts-of-leadership-are-most-important.html
3. Good advice on how to onboard new employee remotely - https://medium.com/@bloomblog/how-to-build-a-winning-remote-employee-onboarding-experience-during-covid-19-b24453b3500b
4. Do the work that is in front of you - https://austinkleon.com/2020/06/16/doing-the-work-thats-in-front-of-you/
5. Bored at work - do something - https://behavioralscientist.org/the-threat-of-boredom-is-a-call-to-action/
6. "Meditation was correlated with reduced thoughts about the future and greater feelings of calm and serenity — states seemingly not conducive to wanting to tackle a work project." - https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/14/opinion/sunday/meditation-productivity-work-mindfulness.html
7. Are you picky or difficult? - https://seths.blog/2020/06/picky-vs-difficult/
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Thanks
Rob..