What Does It Mean To Do Meaningful Work?

By on September 18, 2012 in 21st-Century Business


As far back as I can remember, I have known that I wanted to do meaningful work, which for me has always involved both writing and making the world a better place.

My desires were often downplayed by well-meaning people who encouraged me to abandon my hopes of a meaningful career in favor of something more practical (can’t you at least minor in business?), as though the idea of work that was both personally fulfilling and made a difference in the world was a pipe dream, or worse, a luxury reserved only for the tremendously wealthy or the tremendously lucky.

This is a very impoverished way of thinking about work. Of course we can’t all have careers as poets, painters, and travel writers, but it’s a shame that in a time when we are so collectively hungry for work that feeds our souls (nearly three out of four American workers are disengaged from their jobs, a trend that is also present worldwide), we continue to dismiss the notion that meaningful work should be possible and desirable for most people.

Perhaps this is because we don’t fully understand what it means to do meaningful work. For those of us whose primary source of income is seemingly unrelated to the pursuits we’re most passionate about, how can work possibly be meaningful and enjoyable, much less make a difference in the lives of other people? This is an idea I’d like to explore in much more detail in another post. (Spoiler alert: I think the idea of “following your passion” usually does more harm than good.)

In the meantime, Mike Rowe, host of Dirty Jobs, has some wonderful insights into what makes work meaningful. Watch his TED talk and if the mood strikes you, I’d love to hear your ideas on meaningful work in the comments.

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Photos from the Berkeley Kite Festival

By on August 1, 2012 in Photography

July, where did you go? You flew away from me like the strings of a kite slipping through my fingers in a gust of wind.

I went to the Berkeley Kite Festival last weekend. I’m so glad that I did.

There were kites of all sizes and colors, and families, too. The wind was strong. The sky never looked so three-dimensional.

I was reminded of my childhood, when we would go the county fair, surrounded by other families, the booths selling the same old things like they do every year, and it was almost as if nothing had changed.

It made me glad to know that families can still enjoy kites and cheap food stands, even and especially here in the San Francisco Bay Area, where 22 year olds routinely play the startup lottery and win big (or so the news would have us believe), and where it is so easy to forget something as simple and joyful as flying a kite on a windy day.

There was a little girl with pink sequined shoes. I bet, for her, they were the best shoes in the whole world. How I would have loved a pair of shoes like that at her age. I would have felt like a princess. And for that one moment in time, it would have been enough.

I have always loved kites. They are at once beautiful and tragic, soaring high above our heads, tugging us along in the wind as we hold on by a thread, one inevitable thread that keeps us here, our feet upon the ground, until at last we are overcome, and soar into the heavens one last time.

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What’s Missing from the Debate Over Marissa Mayer

By on July 25, 2012 in Politics and Culture

Whether she wanted to or not, Marissa Mayer has become quite the poster child for the “Can women have it all?” debate. Her story – pregnant ex-Google exec is hired to be CEO of flailing but still powerful Yahoo – is certainly newsworthy. Indeed it is sadly and strikingly newsworthy for a society that still fancies itself more of a meritocracy than not.

Which is why I’ve been so disappointed by the debate around Mayer’s new position. Every major article I’ve seen on the subject falls somewhere along one of these two spectrums.

  1. Trailblazing pioneer <----------------------------------------------------------------------> Wealthy exception
  2. Who cares? It’s her life. <------------------------------------------> She has no idea what she’s getting into.

As much as I’d like to place myself firmly in the “Who cares?” camp, as long as the debate over “having it all” rages on, I can’t. Every time I read another article rehashing the same old points about feminism, economics, and women’s choice to opt out, I can’t help but wonder: where are the men in all this?

I don’t just mean, where are the men covering the story (there have been a few), but where are the men? Why have we omitted one half of the population from this discussion? Most importantly, as we continue to debate whether or not it’s possible for women to have it all, what are the roles and responsibilities of the men with whom we share this society?

When was the last time you heard anything about a male CEO getting ready to have a baby? How many interviews with male executives have you read about the challenges of juggling work and family? How often do we criticize male leaders for looking tired, dressing poorly, speaking out of turn?

The challenge of “having it all” is still treated as a “women’s problem” (or worse, a choice) rather than a societal problem, and, increasingly, an economic problem.

With all due respect to the perfectly valid choices of some women to favor family over career or vice versa, there are larger institutional forces at work here than just choice.

We would never treat racism as merely a “minority problem”, marriage equality as a “gay problem”, or child poverty as a “child problem”. We have not resolved these challenges anymore than we’ve achieved gender equality, but we have made progress largely because our public discourse has evolved to understand that they affect – not just disparate groups – but the health of an entire society.

People who were seemingly unaffected by (perhaps even benefitting from) these problems – white people, heterosexual people, loving parents – decided to join the disenfranchised and say,

“No. I am not a minority, but I don’t want to live in a society where one’s race determines one’s opportunity. I am not gay, but I don’t want to live in a society where two consenting adults can’t get married. I don’t abuse my children, but I don’t want to live in a society that allows children to be abused.”

And we now need men to do the same for women. Because like it or not, women can’t have it all, whatever “all” is, in a vacuum, and framing the discussion as purely a women’s issue does a disservice to both women and men seeking to lead self-actualized lives.

I do not seek to abdicate responsibility on behalf of women and imply that men alone can save us, nor do I seek to paint all men as willing collaborators in some great oppressive scheme. But the forces of gender and societal norms are more nuanced and interdependent than we often care to believe, and those with the power to shift and question those norms are often the same people, male or female, who benefit from maintaining the status quo.

I look forward to the day a pregnant woman becomes CEO of a major company, and no one even thinks to remark upon it, except perhaps casually, as one might remark upon the color of one’s eyes.

But that day won’t come until men and women together decide what kind of society they want to build.

Image source: Fotopedia

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