When I was in business school a few years ago, the Darden School of Business launched a new brand slogan that was pretty catchy – “Put your why to work.” I thought it was a little silly at the time…isn’t that a given? Flash forward just a couple years, and I’ve watched scores of my classmates transition to new career paths. Of course you expect some turnover as people find new advancement opportunities at other companies, but I’ve heard over and over again of my classmates leaving because they didn’t feel their work brought them a sense of purpose.
We spend so much of our time (and life) at our jobs, it really is important to personally care about the work we do. I feel purpose in my work at KCG because, even though I do not directly work with patients, I feel the strategic and operational engagements that we partner with our clients to deliver have a downstream impact to improve the health and lives of their patients. Six months ago, I was hunched over a spreadsheet analyzing the ROI of requesting new FTEs for a clinical team. Today, that team has almost doubled in size, the health system has seen significant revenue gains, and the expanded team means more patients can be seen and in better time. I’d call that a win-win for everyone, and that makes me feel good about the work I do.
I’m curious…Have you ever made a jump to a new job or career because you didn’t feel you were putting your why to work?
