⭐4.0 Finding meaning in work in the age of the Great Resignation
Seth Godin, the marketer and author who has given me so much inspiration since last year, shares his insights on work and the workplace in his latest book, The Song of Significance.
His argument is that the reason so many people, young people in particular, are quitting their jobs is above all that they couldn't find meaning in their work.
It gave me a chance to think about something I'd only vaguely considered before: the meaning of work, and work that creates real change. 🤔
If you work in an industrialized way, you'll be replaced.
Since the arrival of generative AI last year, the value of industrialized work, work based on fixed rules and repetitive tasks, has been falling fast.
This applies not only to the factory workers we call blue-collar, but to white-collar workers and most ordinary office jobs as well. To do work that won't be replaced by machines, you need, above all, to bring your "humanity" to it and take the lead in designing how you spend your own time.
A prime example: meetings where orders are simply handed down from above should disappear, and each individual worker needs to take an active stance and do work that creates real change, he argues.
Like the "freedom and responsibility" culture in No Rules Rules, I suspect this would meet especially strong resistance when applied to Korean organizations, where hierarchy and control run deep.
Still, what exactly does it mean to work with meaning?
For the new era, we need to work like bees.
Seth Godin says the way bees work is a good example.
Contrary to what we might think, bees don't work for the "queen" or for the "honey."
In the process of finding new sites, building hives, and gathering food, each bee flies around and dances ceaselessly. Honey isn't the goal; it's just a byproduct of that process.
Applied to our workplaces, the right attitude, he says, is not to simply do the assigned work to earn money, but to work in order to genuinely create change for the market and for customers.
The important thing here is that money shouldn't be the purpose. It should be the natural reward that comes from the process of creating change.
This is genuinely hard.
To leave behind the hive you've built and keep flying and dancing toward new ground, you have to keep overcoming the resistance in your own heart.
And an era is coming in which this mindset, leadership, and charisma become the real competitive edge.
Soft skills aren't "soft."
We commonly call a person's technical competencies "hard skills" and the ability to build relationships and solidarity with people "soft skills."
Until now, our salaries and compensation systems have largely been determined by hard skills.
That's because what was needed was skilled labor producing predictable output.
Now the times are changing.
Soft skills, actively building relationships, forging solidarity, and paying attention to people, have started to lead the creation of change.
Because these skills can't be measured, they don't translate directly into compensation.
But one thing is clear: in the era ahead, hard skills will be replaced quickly, and those with soft skills will take the lead.
Let's become marketers who create change, and who people want to work with.
Along with The Icarus Deception, which I read late last year, this book changed how I think about my career quite a bit.
Until now, I'd considered things like exchanging greetings and small talk at the office to lift the mood, or creating a pleasant atmosphere for collaboration, to be secondary skills.
I learned that becoming a "marketer people want to work with" is just as important as becoming a technically excellent one.
It also gave me more conviction in the philosophy behind Marketer Haven: "supporting junior marketers in taking the lead in their own career growth."
Since January 2024, when I started with simple portfolio reviews, I've been helping job seekers every week and feeling small but real change.
Seth Godin's latest, The Song of Significance, left me with a resolve to create change and solidarity, both at work and in my personal projects.
If you're wondering how to find meaning in the work you do, I'd especially recommend this book. 😄
What is Marketer Haven?
"Haven" carries two meanings: a place of refuge and a harbor.
It exists to pass along useful information to junior marketers who are struggling with job hunting and career management, and to cheer them on at the start of their journey.The goal is to publish at least one piece of content every week. 😀
