I recently had the pleasure of attending two teleclasses with Mark Guterman and Dan King from MeaningfulCareers.com.
They describe themselves as “two guys with a shared commitment to the power of meaningful work.”. They “believe that every person can have a meaningful career, guided by his or her own alignment of purpose, commitments and competence. People who have meaningful careers do better, feel better, and add lasting value through their work.”
Their philosophy includes the belief that:
- Every person can have a meaningful career.
- Each person creates their own definition of a meaningful career.
- Meaningful careers are created through the alignment of competence, intention, and purpose connected to the world of work.
- People who have meaningful careers do better, feel better, and add lasting value through their work.
Competence:
- Performing: Doing the tasks at hand as well as possible and recognizing that current actions impact the future
- Designing: Picturing and creating a future built from one’s strengths, interests, and aspirations
- Changing: Adapting to changing conditions and transforming oneself as needed
Committments:
- Intentionality: Taking responsibility for one’s choices and being mindful of opportunities
- Attitude: Believing and trusting in a future filled with unlimited possibilities yet to be created
- Perspective: Seeing and appreciating the context from which one moves into the future
Purpose:
- Pragmatism: Work as making a living and means to an end
- Integration: Work as balancing various aspects of one’s life
- Connection: Work as contribution and creating a legacy
- Transcendence: Work as spiritual endeavor
I’m fascinated by the concept and their model of meaningful careers, especially how we each define what is meaningful to us, at any particular time in our life. Also, our definition of a meaningful career often changes based on external factors such as our particular stage of life, and how well we might be balancing and meeting some of our other basic needs.
Have you thought about your career and what might be meaningful to you at this time in your life?
