The 2 ways I’m finding more joy at work

Many aspects of work are changing exponentially, and there are even bigger changes ahead. Technology is making it both easier and harder to succeed. We can each do so much more, but so can everyone else, and standards are rising rapidly.

With any technological development in history, experts worried about the future of work -- or in some cases were wildly optimistic and saw their predictions misfire. Over time, society has been transformed, mostly for the better, and work has become an even bigger part of our lives. I doubt that today’s experts can divine the future better than their predecessors, but I and many others are very concerned about the challenges posed by automation against the backdrop of rising income inequality.

Yet, I think some things have not changed that much, particularly human motivation. Case in point: if you read Teddy Roosevelt’s amazing speeches from over 100 years ago, his observations are still very potent. For example, in a Labor Day speech in 1903, he talked about how “far and away the best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing” and how “happiness and usefulness are largely found in the same soul”. (He was speaking to farmers.)

It seems to me that for most of us, regardless of our level of financial success or career accomplishments, happiness and usefulness are as strongly linked as ever. This is evidenced by the workaholism and prolific contributions of many modern role models, such as Bill Gates or Elon Musk.

LinkedIn editors have asked me to participate in a project this month about motivation, and I predict that most other articles in the series will reinforce Roosevelt’s notion.

To say that what I’m in it for is making a difference (true as it is) feels like a maxim, so I would like to dig deeper. I’ve thought about my motivations for a long time, but only in the last few years have I defined more specifically what it is that makes me happy on a daily basis at work. I’ve zoomed in on two activities that give me the most joy, and I try to spend a lot more time doing them.

Solving problems

Much of my energy these days is dedicated to positively influencing the future of work. As I referenced above, I believe that the rise of automation and displacement of workers represent perhaps the single most important challenge of our time. But, I love solving all kinds of problems – from the trivial to the profound.

This may sound strange, but coming up with ideas to make something better and getting engrossed in a productive brainstorm give me a similar rush to adventurous sports. To me, thoroughly exercising my brain “muscles” is similar to the intensity I feel skiing down a steep run, and accomplishing a significant outcome after an absorbing debate is like reaching the peak after a tough hike. Of course, many work discussions and decisions are not mind-bending or spine-tingling affairs, but small decisions and improvements add up, and I tend to be intense even when the stakes seem low.

In a classic chicken-and-egg sense, I am not sure what comes first, curiosity or cleverness. With more experience and knowledge, I have certainly become more fixated on how much I still don’t know and how learning will help me come up with better answers.

I am a highly iterative and collaborative thinker. Rarely do I have a great idea out of the blue, and often I am not even sure it was my idea because it was sparked by someone else or improved greatly by others. I admit that I used to do a lot of mental accounting in an effort to calculate my own contributions until I realized this was seriously inhibiting me. It is incredible how that slight change in mindset drove substantial change in both my interaction style and satisfaction level. Why try to separate your individual impact when you can savour the collective one?

Growing leaders

As much as I enjoy direct problem solving, there is so a lot more impact to be had by empowering others. Creating an environment that enables others to lead and grow can make an enormous difference in any organization.

Compared with problem solving, a more nebulous and varied set of activities is required to develop talent. I think that the best way to grow a great leader is to inspire people to want to become one and demonstrate good leadership by example. That is a tremendously high bar in modern management but nonetheless the right one to focus on even when you disappoint.

As it is very hard to measure inspiration, I’ve reflected on what I do daily to grow leaders. I believe that to provide talented, principled and motivated colleagues with opportunities to grow and develop, I need to delegate enough power to them to fail or succeed on their own terms and a safe environment to learn from such failures.

I try to coach my colleagues to take better advantage of their strengths and recognize their mistakes and unconscious biases while supporting them through difficult personal times and emboldening them to take care of themselves, since personal happiness is a pre-condition for them to be inspiring to others. I also aim to give them the advice they need regardless of my self-interest, which sometimes includes telling people to pursue other career opportunities while knowing I’ll miss them.

The book In Search of Excellence advertised the idea of MBWA (management by wandering around), which resonates with me. Just like small ideas that add up to big impact, growing leaders is not only about formal meetings and structured one-on-one feedback, but also short and random conversations. MBWA is also a way to signal I am accessible and to improve trust by letting people know me better (and vice versa).

However, here, too, I must admit to a fault that I have been working to correct, which I believe I share with many others. Social psychologists refer to it as implicit egotism, or the tendency to gravitate towards people who resemble us.

Luckily, I’ve been helped by circumstance. When I worked in China, especially early on, the only colleagues who were not Chinese were more senior than I was. Although I was in a position to mentor my Chinese colleagues, coaching them felt initially awkward, since it took me time to understand the local context. Over time, it became very rewarding, and being voted a top mentor by my local colleagues in China is still one of my proudest accomplishments.

If I can use this piece to make one call to action, it is for others to invest more deliberately in developing those who are different from them. It is a win-win and a massive source of motivation to me personally.

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Most of my writing has been about improving decision making and creativity or about cultivating leadership. I hope this post helps explain why. Teaching is learning twice over.

What are you in it for?