We are told to take our Profession seriously, to take our Work seriously, to take our Boss seriously, to take our Career graph seriously and the Brand that we are working for, seriously. I cant disagree. I used capitals for all the “sacred cows” in the previous sentence. Its good advice. Only, its incomplete.
Now suppose that your Job was actually a game..a sport…perhaps chess, perhaps cricket or any other? Imagine if you were to get out of bed everyday and longed to get to the arena to whack the ball out of the stadium. Imagine, after having tried one’s best, if it didnt work out the way we would have hoped, we went home and slept peacefully saying "its only a game". Picture all getting together to intimidate the competition, team meetings full of plotting and scheming. Try thinking like Andy Grove of Intel, who used to say to his troops "its nothing personal, just go out and kill them!". Imagine if work was so much fun and inclusive that one didnt have to agonize over work-life balance: when work was life and life was a great life. Imagine if you could take a day off just to get better at the game.
Many years ago, I noticed that the publication Business World had a byline which said "Play the Game". It struck a chord and has stayed with me ever since. Isnt all that we do everyday and embroiled in, not "sport"? And if it doesnt feel like sport, are we perhaps in the wrong job, wrong profession?
Decide, if you want to be a Tendulkar or a Harsha Bhogle on the team. Both are very good at their jobs and we can see that both enjoy their work immensely. While the world needs both the Tendulkars and the Harshas I tell our new hires at QAI that we need the Tendulkars (whom we watch) and its he whom we respect. That we already have a Harsha (whom we hear) in the team. And that they need to go out and get some runs on the board (or wickets). That its infinitely more difficult to be a player in the middle, than commenting from the stands. Earn our respect, get out there yes, its a tough organisation to work for. And yet at the end of the day, remember its only a game. Tomorrow, we get another shot.
Lets try and view our job as a sport…If we are lucky, our sport will also have Purpose and make the experience even more satisfying. If we are not that fortunate, then lets work really hard to get real lucky.
To me, if my job had all the elements of a sport and also Purpose I would be really thrilled.
It does, and I am.
What about you?
