What‘s The Point?

I find myself asking this question, internally and amongst my leadership team, more and more. One may say, discernment is a superpower, but it’s also very annoying when the team’s trying to wrap up quarterly strategy(ies) for next year’s annual business plan. I feel like the question have to be addressed, so I addressed it. The question were brewed out of months of synthesis, overthinking, over clarifying intentions and severe under satisfaction on where things are going, so in a way it’s a form of taking back the steering wheel (or in this case, brake pedal)… before the company’s fuel ran out.

Matter of frank, if I were to think of building an early stage company is like a road trip, despite the car mileage going up, I truly do not see any change in scenery. Despite that, the question of “Where exactly are we going?” are treated secondary to stationary pseudo-productivity. The energy is there, the talent may be there, the intentionality however…

Photo by Manuel Boxler on Unsplash

Let me tell you, this happens super often. Most early stage builders are Dreamers, that in itself is a superpower. However, as a dreamer whose head are always in the clouds (in a good way), you have to plant your feet on the ground and have intentionality while executing. In that sense, a pathognomonic incapacity of following or creating structure can not be justified just because someone is a ‘Dreamer’. Amongst this unique group of overconfident (again, in a good way) entrepreneurs, there are also ‘Doers’, not more or less important than the ‘Dreamer’. Both of these archetypes are needed in an early stage organization, acting as a check and balance off of each other. Most ‘Doers’ will not wait around and follow instructions, if the two Archetypes are aligned on where to go, the ‘Doers’ will head there.

The biggest pitfalls : The Dreamer dreams along the way, distracting the Do-er with opportunistic side quests, straying away from the main goal. If there’s no alignment that the main goal is still the main goal, there will be no trust left. The Do-er will continue to ask “What’s the point?”, without a satisfying intentional answer, there’s no trust. When trust is eroded no answer from the Dreamer seemed justified to be executed. What happens? Dreamer loses direction, Do-er loses fuel. This post is for those ‘Doers’ currently in a “Why am I bothering to do this?” battle with themselves. For ‘Dreamers’, you will have a separate post.

Have you ever asked yourselves, “What makes my career meaningful?”, I’m emphasizing on the word ‘Career’ because what I want from my work is a path of continuous growth and professional longevity, rather than just a [job position title] at a [mention company name] for [x years] to brighten up my resume in ATS format.

For me, personally, my work have to be aligned with my long term career aspiration, to extend my medical knowledge to keep people healthy and safe them from disability and most of the time… death… and yes, it is very personal. It took me a couple of failed alternate business ventures (during the avoidance phase), impactful patient interactions (when I return to practice), multiple mentorships (during the transition), and a TONNE of therapy. So define your meaningful career yourself, that way, when you’re working at a company and you see yourself drifting away from that meaning, you’ll know how to objectively set up your career path. Regarding right or wrong, I would practically say, there are some wrong career path… like law defying careers, obviously. But within the lawful career options, there’s no right or wrong for anyone to decide what they want to do, preferably for as long as they can contribute to society.

For some individuals, meaningful work HAVE to transcend self-important goals, and that’s beautiful. I’ve felt that a couple of times when a patient came through the ER unconscious, but a few weeks of hard work from my team and I, they’re able to walk out of the hospital on their own two legs with a smile, no company exits or investment rounds have been as satisfying and fulfilling as those moments. For other individuals, as long as they remain reflective during their work, they still find it meaningful and worth doing. By reflective I mean, most of the time when great things are happening in front of our eyes, we missed it. A good working environment will let you look back in awe at your own growth and accomplishment, that in itself, is very very meaningful.

Another group of individual might find reaching certain personal goals to be meaningful, and it is. Meaningful work is very personal. For someone who grew up in poverty, being able to work a steady job and gaining a stable income to afford what they couldn’t even imagine to afford before is also very awe-inspiring. Whose to say it’s not meaningful, besides yourself.

Disconnection between your meaning and your organizational value, is highly demotivating. What can you do? Communicate, reflect, figure it out, from worst case (not being able to align value anymore) to best case (opening better doors or even staying with a changed improved work culture), figure out your steps. Actionable steps (remember, this post is for the Do-ers), always start from yourself. Reflect what your long term career aspiration, what you find meaningful (in most cases, this grows along with you, so don’t worry if it changes after a couple of years), where you think and feel the disconnect is, how to communicate that you’re perceiving disconnect, when to communicate, what you’re gonna do next. Take it up with yourself, completely first, then communicate with your partner. If there’s no actionable steps from that discussion, guess who’s responsibility it is to take actionable steps… yes, yours.

Take that actionable step, do it gracefully, do it in good will. If not, how long are you giving yourself to find meaning in an initially perceived meaningless work? That’s also an option. It’s up to you to reflect and take action, gather all the data you need before making that action, but always take some action. Even if at first you only address it to yourself, you did something meaningful for once. It really, honestly, will make you feel better.