meaningful work
22 posts
Walking As Yourself
The legendary British actress, Helen Mirren, says the hardest thing you can do is walk as yourself. She may have been speaking about acting when she said this, but I think her words carry wisdom we can use beyond the stage. Society conditions us to fit in from a young age. The way to fit…
Stronger Together
It’s the day before Melbourne cafes close again under reinstated lockdown restrictions. The owner of the Italian restaurant that opened in January is heart sore. We get chatting as I’m paying the bill. He explains that due to then pandemic they’ve been able to have patrons dine in for only nine of t
A Good Job
George is in his seventies. His hearing has deteriorated over the years, but he’s reluctant to wear a hearing aid. He hates missing out on parts of conversations and often feels isolated because he can’t hear what’s going on. He’s embarrassed about his disability. But he feels self-conscious about w
The Power Of The Unexpected
Last Monday I got a handwritten letter in the mail. Imagine my surprise when I opened it to find a note from a contractor who had unsuccessfully quoted for a small renovation project on our home. In his letter, he said he was sorry things hadn’t worked out this time around but that he hoped…
Leveraging Our Mistakes
Each day we overlook some opportunity to see or to serve. We fail to challenge our assumptions and hold fast to our opinions. The result is that we sometimes miss the opportunity to do better. This feels like bad news. But it doesn’t have to be. What if instead of saying; ‘I could kick myself…
On Ambition
Before I went to high school, everyone in our year sat an aptitude test. We were eleven years old, and the assessment took place over three hours one morning early in summer. The goal was to identify each student’s potential and stream girls into year groups based on their IQ. The theory being that
The Human Advantage
Consider the things we value in our interactions with others—kindness, honesty, patience and empathy, for starters. Now, think about how often you experience them. How many opportunities will you have today to amplify these qualities in your everyday interactions? How many will you take advantage of
The Unremarkable
Lately, we have come to recognise the remarkable contribution of the people many considered unremarkable. The people who stack our food on the supermarket shelves through the night. The truck drivers who get behind the wheel every day ensuring deliveries reach us. Those who wake early to clean our h
Lessons From A Low-Touch World
Technology presents opportunities for efficiency and scale. And for the last century, conventional wisdom equated progress with efficiency—doing more with less friction. We’ve worked hard to build systems that scale. Frictionless innovations for a low-touch world. Now, we’re beginning to realise tha
The Efficiency Paradox
The young woman got off the tram, carried along amid the throng on their way to the various law firms along Collins Street. She walked briskly, heels clacking, her big Beats headphones clamped over her ears. Two bags were slung across her body. One leather contained her laptop, the other made of clo
Opportunity Knocks
There was a talent show on television when I was a child called, Opportunity Knocks. It wasn’t unlike some of the reality talent shows broadcast on TV today. It was lower budget and had a lot less glitz and glamour. Prospective contestants wrote to the show’s producers via snail mail pitching to aud
On Tipping Points
Life, as the well-worn adage, written on many a motivational fridge magnet, reminds us, is a journey, not a destination. We know this. Yet we strive for our tipping point—that moment when the series of small steps we’ve taken towards our goal will be significant enough to cause the big breakthrough
In Praise Of Incrementalism
One of my favourite TV programs, when I was young, was Columbo—which followed the sometimes scruffy, seemingly absentminded, always polite, homicide detective, who solved murder cases in Los Angeles. What struck me about Columbo was the stepwise way he made progress towards solving the case. He wasn
Giving Attention Vs. Getting Attention
The more people have to attend to, the harder it is to get their attention. Attention is a precious resource. And as with any resource, scarcity creates value. Our culture has taught us that those who can capture the most attention win—never more so than in the digital age. So, we devote a considera
The One Thing
What one thing are you willing to do today in service of tomorrow?
By Heart Vs. With Heart
We have the opportunity every day to work by heart or to choose to do it with heart. The more often we choose the latter the better for all of us.
Efficiency Vs. Meaning
Mike’s been driving for Uber for three years. In that time he’s done 20,000 trips while maintaining a consistent 4.94-star rating. Mike works when he wants to. He’s earning more than enough money to pay the bills, and yet he can’t help feeling there’s something missing. Mike is a phenomenally succes
Proud Work
When I was growing up, work was a means to an end for many of the breadwinners in our neighbourhood. Work meant food in the bellies and clothes on the backs of the people you loved. There is both dignity and joy in providing, especially when you’ve gone hungry and shoeless, as my father often…
The Immeasurable Benefits Of The Immeasurable
Joanne has no idea what the return on investment of sweeping her bakery floor is. And yet she does it first thing each morning before the first customer arrives. Harry has no way of knowing if the three hours he spends cleaning his taxi inside and out at the weekend makes a difference to passengers.
The Power Of What Goes Unnoticed
The two sign installers stand back to assess their work before finishing the job. But something isn’t right. A couple of the large adhesive letters they have applied to the storefront window are crooked, and one of the men calls this out. His colleague agrees. The sign is definitely looking a little
