When I was paid to taste test Guinness every day, and what it can teach us about purpose

Before we get into this week's article, if you're interested in living a purpose-driven life, our next course date is?Saturday 28th September, in London (venue TBC).?You can sign up here!?We'd love to see you there!

One windy day in March?in?2009, I was putting up some Patrick's Day balloons at the legendary rugby pub, The Cabbage Patch in Twickenham. There were two electricians in the pub, very friendly and jovial guys who took a lot of delight in taking the mick out of me. At one point, they asked,?"Do you need a degree to pop those balloons?"?I laughed and replied,?"I did, actually!"

This?was part of my job as a Business Development Executive (possibly the most over-inflated job title ever) when I joined Diageo's graduate programme. My role in field sales was to visit eight pubs a day and engage with the landlords.?

This?included pouring a pint of Guinness to test its quality (for the nerds, the test was to ensure the head height was between 10mm and 15mm, the temperature between 4 and 6 degrees, and the taste was perfect!) Yes, I?literally?had to sip 8 pints of Guinness a day (and I emphasise,?sip!)?

I still pinch myself that I was able to join Diageo's Graduate Programme. Those years were the finest foundation for understanding how the world of business, leadership, and culture works. I?worked?with leaders, bosses and colleagues whose brilliance remains with me today.?

So, what does this have to do with our primary mission at The Shining Light Project, which is to help people use their gifts to be a force for good in the world??It has to do with connecting the dots between your corporate job and how it gives you the perfect opportunity to be a positive force in the world.

I had four commercial roles at Diageo, and I will?honestly?say I had imposter syndrome almost daily at work. I also didn't?really?enjoy any of the roles, at least in totality. I found two of the roles mortifyingly hard, and I unconsciously mastered the art of projecting a totally different image. All that said, at the time, it was perfectly sane and wise.?

One of the principles we teach at The Shining Light Project is sacrifice, centred on Nasim Taleb's remarkable philosophy, Antifragile. It teaches us that we need to do things we don't enjoy, place us under tremendous stress, and add unpredictability and chaos in our lives to condition us to become antifragile to stress later. If we don't do this, we are susceptible to becoming fragile.

I was lucky to witness the example set by my mum, grandparents, and uncles, who did this as the norm. Between them, cleaning offices (Mum), running youth clubs (Uncle Steve), volunteering for dozens of hours a month (Grandparents), and making monumental sacrifices to rise to the top of Allianz (Uncle Chris), I saw that adding value does not come without immense sacrifice.?

Without those years at Diageo, I wouldn't have learned what I wanted to do, which was to build learning programmes and social impact programmes; I wouldn't have met the dozens of remarkable leaders and several great bosses who have taught me an abundance; and I wouldn't have learned the dynamics of a global corporation. All the dots in my life connect back to the opportunities Diageo gave me, for which I am eternally grateful.

So, lesson 1 of 3 here is to do things you don't enjoy, especially early in your career.?

When you're doing those unenjoyable things, feel grateful and do not stop learning from every person around you, the good, bad and the ugly. These brutal moments will likely turn into gold somewhere down the line.?

The second lesson is to reframe the belief that if you're in a corporate job, you're not able to live the most purpose-driven life possible.?

In our work at The Shining Light Project, at least 50% of people who come to our courses from corporate jobs painfully unload that their job is either BS or, at the very least, 'not doing good in the world.' But this, in general, is just not true.

We continuously make the case that many problems need to?be solved?worldwide. Heartbreakingly, some of those problems?are directly linked?to horrific things such as?war, illness, famine, mental unwellness and so on.?But we can't all work directly?on?solving?those problems, at least in our work.?Some of us?(in?fact,?many of us) need?to work in corporate jobs because we live in a complex?system that, despite?many failings, works miraculously well.

We need corporations to provide insurance, banking, clothing, electronics, etc. Corporations like Diageo?do a brilliant thing by default: creating employment and treating their employees well (which they do).?

The most financially advanced nations could be better. Financial wealth creates a new set of problems, mainly linked to mental and physical health. However, the countries and people aspire to make are those with robust market systems. We need to come together to improve those systems and societies. And we do that by taking the responsibility to be a shining light within our sphere of control.?

Be a great parent (the most important), spouse, partner, son, daughter, sibling, friend, and, in the context of work, a great colleague, boss and leader. You have a net negative impact if you behave like a?tyrant?or a bully in those organisations.?But if you show up each?day?and?do your best to be kind and generous to others, you will be a force for good in the world.

Furthermore, you can share that wealth if you get to a position with excess wealth.?There is a whole debate about income redistribution, trickle-down economics, and tax rates. However, personal action is the fastest way to do good while we debate such things. If you earn an excellent salary, you can redistribute it now!?

And then there is the third lesson - volunteering.

The great blessing of working for a corporation is having the knowledge and skills to be of great value to society. Diageo invested a?phenomenal amount of time and money into their people's development.

With my hand on my?heart, I can say that if?there has been any good I've been able to do, Diageo?played a seismic role in that. From the training they provided (which inspired and sparked my love for learning and development) through to the leaders and managers that I worked with, which?further solidifies the point I make about how corporations, despite?often getting some things wrong (as we all do), they have always been and will always be one of the primary ways we build a sustainable and prosperous future.

Living a purpose-centred life is available to almost all of us. And in some ways, it is most available to people working in corporate jobs.?Most corporate jobs give you the financial security (long and short term) to be content, and they give you enough money not to work two jobs (not true for most people worldwide) and, in many cases, time during working hours to volunteer.

If each of us volunteered 3.5 hours a week, we would contribute 10,920 hours of volunteering in our lifetime! This is available to almost every person in a corporate job.

Imagine what the world would feel like if we all came together to support the causes we cared for in our community.

If you'd like to learn more,?I encourage you to?sign up for our one-day course, The Purpose-Driven Life.?Our?next course date is?Sataurday 28th September, in London (venue TBC). You can sign up here!?

Thanks for reading and take care.

Benjamin

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