Meaningful work and the Song of Significance

Today I’m sharing a few ideas from a wonderful new book by Seth Godin, The Song of Significance. It talks about the future of work in a post industrial era, post pandemic, and with AI. His intent is to describe how to create more humane work, workplaces and more meaningful lives by giving people agency, an ability to solve problems that surprise themselves, to feel connected and working on something important.

He writes about the Japanese term Kokoro,

“which means heart, spirit, mind and self. It’s the inner and outer expression of who we are and what we’re capable of….to find kokoro in the way we spend our days is magical. To give someone the opportunity to bring their self to work is generous and powerful. In this moment, kokoro isn’t simply what we want. It’s also what our organizations need.”

He talks about what makes work significant and this part resonates with me so deeply. Those projects I’ve had, where we take on a huge audacious goal and get it done against the odds, form bonds and deep connections like no others. You forever feel a kinship with those people, even if you don't see each other for years. It's the kind of work I seek, because once you've had it, it's hard to work any other way.

“A job that is repetitive, easily measured, and consistent lends itself to industrialization. The pressure is on to make it cheap. But when we think of the important moments in our work life, we think of projects.

A beginning, filled with possibility. A middle, with challenges and insights. And an ending, bittersweet, with thoughts of what we did, and who we did it with along with ideas on how to do it better next time.”

If you don’t have time to read his new book, this interview is great too.