An Open Letter to the 70%ers

Dear 70%ers,

A good deal of the world is talking about you, fearing the staggering implications of your meaning. I confess, I’ve also talked and written about you a lot.

I decided instead of talking about you one more time, I would talk to you.

There’s 300 million of you…

…the research says are allegedly checked out at work. That’s pretty confounding when you think about it. You are the ones returning engagement surveys with the lowest possible scores, scores that show your desperation and your exhaustion.

My friends and I spend our days fighting on your behalf. So I get it – I’ve met the leaders from whom you hide, resent, and fantasize about sabotaging. We’ve walked the halls of the organizations that feel soulless and have drained your passion. We have seen the irrational cost cutting, ever changing priorities, politicized agendas of the favored few, and empty promises of development and advancement that “somehow” never materialized.

And we’ve met many of you. You once had a dream of doing great things in the organization, but your jerk of a boss took credit for your work one too many times to dare hope anymore. You’ve had your ideas dismissed too often to consider offering them anymore. You’ve sat through years of insulting performance reviews (that you had to draft), choking down excuses about why there wouldn’t be any bonuses or raises again, to care about this year’s rating. You resent still paying off student loans for a degree you aren’t using.

You feel like a cog in someone else’s grand agenda, overworked underpaid, unappreciated, unknown, exhausted, and bored.

So you spend lots of time playing Candy Crush and Words with Friends, and snap into “look busy” mode when your boss or untrusted colleagues walk by. You broadcast being permanently depleted to make sure others know how indispensable you are, but privately ache for the chance to do meaningful, challenging work.

On behalf of the organizations that held out tantalizing promises of an enriching and impactful career but failed to keep that promise, I apologize. For the raised and dashed hopes for something more than you have, I am sincerely sorry.

But I can’t help wonder,

Is this what you want?

Unable to quit and leave because you have a mortgage and two kids, so instead you quit and stayed? Working hard only to resent it? Even looking for ways to extract your pound of flesh to make “the man” pay for all he’s robbed from you?

And while many say in resignation, “I’m just glad I have a job in this economy,” are we not made for more than apathy, bitterness, and boredom?

What if….

…that dream you had back in the day to use your talents in unimaginable ways wasn’t dead?

….if your secret passion to (fill it in) didn’t have to stay shelved until (whenever you’d said you’d get back to it) but could be pursued right now?

…. it’s really not too late for you to embrace a chance at meaningful work?

…whatever tapes that play in your head saying you’re not (talented, employable, young, educated, experienced, skilled, pick your refrain)…enough…were all lies?

…all the leaders in our organizations weren’t idiots? (I promise you there are many good women and men working hard to provide meaningful experiences for those they lead…and again, I’m sorry if none of them has yet to cross your path.)

You see, dear 70%er friend, while some of your indifference may be due to the disengaging, even toxic, environment in which you work, if we’re honest, that’s not all the reason.   You may feel your ambitions got hijacked, but I know in moments where you reflectively ponder big “what if” questions about your life, you realize that some of the hijacking wasn’t that, but rather forfeiture. You simply let go of the pen and stopped writing the next chapter of your story. You abandoned personal volition because you lost the will to fight for those dreams. In the face of life’s exhaustions inside and outside your organization, fighting for your future felt too hopeless to take on. Futility seemed the lesser burden.

I get it. Honestly. But what if….

You picked the pen back up?

What if, despite whatever you resent your company for – greed, unfair pay, crappy service, stupid HR policies, management bureaucracy, dirty office space, manipulative propaganda designed to make you care more, a loser boss, or whatever opportunities you once hoped would be yours that never materialized….

…You still had a shot at realizing the dream of the next chapter of your work?

No, this isn’t pie-in-the-sky, motivational self-help poo-poo. It’s not the Jerry Maguire seen where you stand up and storm out fed up. That’s not reality. But…there’s THREE HUNDRED MILLION of you out there – and that’s a force of nature. Our world sits at a desperate inflection point where we can’t afford to have THREE HUNDRED MILLION talented, once-passionate people sitting on the sidelines.

What if you believed somewhere on this planet of seven billion, there was a collection of likeminded people who genuinely wanted, needed you to do what your faded desires imply, and makes you come alive? And what if you began right now to plot the revolution that led you to them?

Because they are out there, and you can find them.

Indulge me for a minute

Take a piece of paper. Pick up the pen. Write in one sentence what your ideal contribution through work would be. Not your dream job, but the impact you would make through that dream job. How would your work matter?

Now identify someone whose work you’ve seen matter that way. Maybe it’s someone in the cubicle next door; someone you read about online; someone half a world away. The point is, someone has found a way to the place you long to be.

Figure out how to talk to them, or someone like them. Be curious. Ask how they got there. Ask for advice. Ask about the season when they feared reaching their dream was impossible – true of most people with big dreams.

Now, get on Amazon and Google and look for information, articles, and books –anything – that talks about this work. (Maybe you’ve already got a covert file stashed away with articles and information).   Just take a step – give up one Candy Crush round – to rekindle your curiosity.

Here’s a really important step – tell someone close to you about this dream. If someone’s heard you endlessly lament about giving it up, tell them you are ready to stop groaning and start growing. Get others to fan your flame. Don’t worry how they will react – if they see you mean it, they will cheer you on.

If you want a practical and useful tool to help you plot your revolution, here’s     a great book that’s helped many, including me. (I’ve also included a list of resources at the end you may find useful).

One of my favorite quotes from philosopher Goethe says, “At the moment of commitment, the universe conspires to assist you.”  I’ve found this true in my own life.

Pick up the pen. Make this your moment.

Commit and watch the world line up behind you.

While my friends and I continue fighting for you and your fellow 70%ers, building healthier, more inspiring enterprises of meaning and joy, take a step to fight for yourself.   Fight for the ambition, the impact, you once so passionately imagined.  

Let’s turn being a 70%er from something gloomy to something grand. Because if three hundred million of you set course to unleash your gifts on the world (regardless of what your organization is or isn’t doing), imagine what could happen.

Our news feeds flood us with catastrophic, enraging, terrifying images and stories of a world that seems more inhumane than good. Still, who among us doesn’t privately envision a far greater world we’d feel proud to leave our children, one more safe and just, less corrupt and divided, whose potential for beauty and greatness seem more in reach than ever.  

Three hundred million of you could turn that tide. Three hundred million of you coming out of the stands onto the field could make our collective dream more real than it feels today, making it less likely more will join you as “disengaged.”

I’m inviting you to wonder “what if” again. I’m making a plea to dare believing again. There is so much more at stake than you imagine. So much more possible than you see.   I promise.

Pick up that pen again. Start writing the revolution of your story’s next chapter. Rightfully reclaim your dream to see your contribution matter. Don’t stop until you feel momentum accelerating behind you. Even if it takes years, start now. For the countless people you’ve heard declare on the news, and all over social media, “I never thought I could, and if I can do it, anybody can…one person can make a difference”, and secretly ached to be the one making that speech, vow you too will one day say those words.

Your story’s next chapter can be epic. Next move is yours.

Hoping on your behalf,

Ron Carucci, Navalent

 Personal revolution resource arsenal:

Some Great Books:

What you're really meant to do

Rework

Find Your Passion

Search Inside Yourself

Springboard

The Art of Non-Conformity

Business Model You

A Beautiful Constraint

Stand Out

The Passion Test

The Element

Joy, Inc.

 Online Resources & Tools

 Quintessential Careers

Career Shifters

National Careers Service

Career Assessment Tool

Find a career coach that's right for you

Career Coaching 101