Talent Management - September 2008 - (Page 58)

[full potential] by Marshall Goldsmith I I Do What You Love, Love What You Do always have enjoyed traveling to new places and meeting new people. That’s good, because in my line of work, I have to ﬂy quite a bit. The presentations I give have taken me, on separate trips, to Kuwait City, Zurich, Abu Dhabi and London in the past month. But I recently experienced my most exciting ﬂight ever when I spent 90 minutes traveling at hundreds of miles an hour in a Navy ﬁghter jet. It was a blast, especially when I actually got to ﬂy the plane. And in case you’re wondering, I never came close to ejecting the aircraft — or the contents of my stomach. This was something I always wanted to try, and I loved every minute of it. I was totally present and immersed in the experience. Here’s the thing, though: While ﬂying a jet was certainly an unparalleled rush, I almost always feel totally and happily absorbed in what I’m doing while I’m “on the job” because I love what I do. has meant a lot to me. Besides being successful and brilliant, he’s thoughtful. These words don’t always go together. However, at one point in his life, Warren was a practitioner of leadership, rather than a teacher of leadership, when he served as president of the University of Cincinnati. Once, when he was speaking to a university audience in his presidential role, one of his friends in the room unexpectedly asked: “Do you love what you do?” A long, awkward silence ﬁlled the room as he pondered the question. As a president, he searched for the right answer, but as a human, he one of the world’s most successful companies at 5 p.m. There was almost no one there. You could ﬁre a cannonball down the hall and not hit anyone. Those days are gone. Almost all of the professionals I work with are busier today than they ever have been in their lives, working 60 to 80 hours a week. They feel under more pressure than ever. Cell phones, PDAs and e-mails forever tether us to our work, whether we like it or not. Put it all together and, if you don’t love what you do, it can be a kind of new-age professional hell. We can waste our lives waiting for a break that never comes. It was much easier to ﬁnd meaning and satisfaction in activities outside of work when we were under a lot less pressure and worked far fewer hours. Not only did people We don’t have to love everything that we do, but we need to ﬁnd happiness and meaning in most of our professional work. About the Author Dr. Marshall Goldsmith is a world authority in helping successful leaders achieve positive, lasting change in behavior. He is the author or co-editor of 22 books, including What Got You Here Won’t Get You There. He can be reached at editor@ talentmgt.com. Successful people don’t always love what they do, and that’s unfortunate. Take Dr. Warren Bennis, founding chairman of the Leadership Institute at the University of Southern California and a visiting professor at Harvard Business School and Harvard Kennedy School. Now, Warren is one of my personal heroes. In addition to being one of the greatest teachers and writers in our ﬁeld, he’s also a good guy. At various stages in my career, he has taken the time to give me words of recognition, support and encouragement. His consideration wanted the real answer. Finally, in a quiet voice, he replied, “I don’t know.” That revelation plunged Warren into deep reﬂection. It dramatically altered his path through life. He had always thought he wanted to be the president of a university. It had not dawned on him that after he got there he might not actually enjoy it. “Do you love what you do?” may be the seminal question of our age. In yesterday’s world, professionals worked 40 hours a week and took four weeks of vacation. In the early 1980s, I remember visiting the corporate headquarters of have more time, they weren’t as tired. But these days, life is too short. It’s not worth it. In the new world, we don’t have to love everything that we do, but we need to ﬁnd happiness and meaning in most of our professional work. As for Warren, he loves what he does now. It’s scary to think what we all would have lost without his moment of insight. 58 September 2008 talent management magazine www.talentmgt.com http://talentmgt.com http://www.talentmgt.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Talent Management - September 2008

Talent Management - September 2008 Editor's Letter Contents Human Performance: Stop Wasting Money on Training Leading Edge: No Whining, No Excuses Learning Connections: Do You Get It? The Untapped Resource Reinventing HR Doing Compensation Right: The Winning Spread Managing Performance in the Knowledge and Innovation Worker Age Stop-The-Clock Time Management Preparing for the Future in the Public Sector SAS: Connecting People, Process and Products Talent Transformation at Textron The Price of Finding the Right Gen Y Candidate Advertiser's Index Editorial Resources Full Potential: Do What You Love, Love What You Do

Talent Management - September 2008

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