May 8, 2009
on finding “meaningful work”
Back in October, I wrote a relatively candid blog post, “Note to My ‘Tribe’: Where are we headed, Anyway?”
And as our mutual friend, Seth says, every tribe needs a leader:
The next frontier of marketing is in leading groups of people who are working together to get somewhere.I concur. So I’m guessing that “Leader” job now falls down to me.
Don’t get too excited. I’m not Gandhi, I’m just a cartoonist in West Texas with a few crazy ideas up my sleeve. I find the prospect of leading a “tribe” a bit daunting, to be honest.
Leadership does not exist in a vacuum, you need somewhere to actually lead your tribe to. Moses had the Land of Milk & Honey. MLK had The Promised Land. Thomas Jefferson had the newly-formed United States. Putin has a strong and proud Russia. Doc Searls has The Cluetrain. Steve Clayton and his friends within Microsoft have The Blue Monster.
Me? I have no idea. Like I said, I’m just a cartoonist…
The good news is, to lead a tribe you don’t necessarily have to have a promised land, a utopian vision, or a new world order to lead a tribe. You simply need what my other great marketing friend, Mark Earls calls “The Purpose-Idea”, which as a bona fide Social Object, is THE REASON why people are joining together in the first place.
I’ve been telling my clients for years now, if you’re going to have a following, a community, a “tribe”, it can’t just be about you and your lovely product. It’s got to be about something higher than, and beyond… yourself.
What is true for them is, yes, also true for me. Like I told my good friend, James Governor on Twitter the other day,
If I’m to lead a “Tribe”, it needs to be for MUCH better reasons than “Please buy my lithographs, they’re very nice etc.”Or my original drawings. Or my book. Or my consulting services. Or my speaking gigs. Or whatever.
I’m happy to report, Seth left a very kind remark in the comments:
Ask us something hard, Hugh!
Your mission is clear. You are leading us where we want to go. You are pushing us to demand the possible, not to accept the status quo. In an extraordinarily direct and passionate way, you push yourself (and us) to look at what we do honestly and to remove the bullshit and get down to what matters.
That’s where I want to go, anyway.
When I was eighteen, just after I had finished my final exams at high school, I went out and got my first real job. Trainee bartender at Whigham’s Wine Bar, Edinburgh, Scotland. I loved that job; I kept it every summer for four years. The guy who hired me, Nick Henderson, was a great man.
Since then I have been on the same, unending quest: To find “Meaningful Work”.
“Meaningful” is like “Creative”; its definition is a subjective call. I can’t tell you what’s meaningful to you. Nor can you do the same with me. All we can do is agree that somewhere deep within all of us, the hunger to find it is real.
My blog for the last eight years has been a mish-mash of all sorts of different things. Cartoons. Selling prints. Marketing 2.0. The Global Microbrand. “Creativity”.
Whatever. No matter what topic I was blethering on about that day, this blog has always been driven by the same thing that has always driven me. Finding meaningful work.
I’ve come close to finding it a couple of times. It’s never easy. It’s always elusive. I often wish that weren’t the case, but it is. Sorry.
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Amen, amen, amen!
That makes me wonder what drives me to post/talk/argue about. It isn’t quite “Find meaningful work”, but I find your message parallel to whatever direction I’m going in. It is certainly of the “find” variety. Must meditate on this.
It seems to me that you’ve never not done meaningful work. From back, way back, your cartoons were your expression, no? It didn’t matter others response. Only that you got it out. That was the meaning. It has happened to catch on because you continue to hit on some very insightful distillations of human truth. Your work is not only meaningful to you. You’re now marketing those brilliantly in order to reach maximum contribution to human creativity.
Quite meaningful, not just close.
Peace.
Question: What is the difference between finding meaningful work and making work meaningful? I think there two are not the same, and I think life demands a bit of both.
wow! u are great! i just landed on ur site from some link, and I instantly loved it! The cartoons are great, but it’s the philosophy behind that i really like. Cheers!
I just posted a few days ago about “finding” meaning in your life. I believe the answer is simple, but with the question comes a catch. And the catch is why so many people find it difficult to realize the meaning of their life moment to moment.
Here’s the post..Create a Meaningful Life
Thanks for adding to my understanding Hugh!
Working in a bar was considered cool at 18. But the stuff around work matters too. Rolling out of bed from a salubrious Edinburgh New Town flat, walking less than 5 minutes to a throbbing little basement winebar (enjoying the cheer without the hangover), servicing all the City people, including a high quotient of attractive women to make sure they had a good time, I can see why that might be a job to cherish. And you got to wear an apron too.
GO GET A DEGREE OR A CERTIFICATE, THEN GO LOOK FOR A REAL JOB IN HEALTH CARE OR EDUCATION OR EVEN THE ARMY, GET REAL MONEY AND RESPECT.
IF YOU KEEP DOING THIS NON-SENSE, I CAN TELL YOU THAT THERE IS A HIGH CHANCE YOU WILL END UP LIVING POOR ON WELFARE BY THE END OF YOUR DAYS.