Good Job, or Good Work?

Goleman illustrates:

Lacking any of these three ingredients, a job or profession may be great in other ways, but it does not make the cut for good work. For instance, I know the head of a global environmental organization whose role expresses his values quite well, but he does not feel engaged or challenged. In search of just such engagement, a physician I met recently had given up his medical practice to head an auto racer's pit crew, his real passion.

I just finished what may have been the best job I ever had, even though the pay was lousy and I was working 12-hour days, seven days a week, for months. I donated my services to the press and new media teams for Obama for America in Michigan and Colorado during the general election campaign (previously I did some media work leading up to the Pennsylvania primary, along with some radio production and volunteer organizing in California).

Oh sure, you may say, a presidential campaign is glamorous and exciting! And lot of it really was. At the links are photos I took during one short stretch in Michigan, when we went from handling visits by Barack and Michelle to staging a Saturday night concert by Jay-Z, to doing a Monday afternoon show by Bruce Springsteen. On the other hand, a lot of it was grunt work, too.

But what will stick with me is the feeling of complete satisfaction from the combination of being called on to perform at a high level, in support of my ideals, while enjoying the basic day-to-day activity. For me it was the Obama campaign; for others, of course, it would be something else. But whether you were an Obama supporter or not, I believe everyone can learn from the way that campaign was run - it was the best-managed organization of any kind that I've ever seen, and I think everyone I worked with, despite ending the campaign in a state of exhaustion, will remember it as a highlight of their lives.

Goleman cites three questions devised by Gardner to help judge whether a job will make you happy:

Does it fit your values? Does it evoke excellence; are you highly competent and effective at what you do? Does it bring you that subjective barometer of engagement, joy?

Developing that third one further, Gardner says this:

Ask yourself, 'Is this the kind of place where I can see myself in others?' You might make five times more money at one place, but does it reflect who you are and who you want to be? 'Are my colleagues people I'd admire or people I'd prefer to avoid?'

I think that might be worth turning into a fourth key question, about the social dimension of life: Does this job connect me to people I like and respect?

For me during 2008, it's been check, check, check and check.

The Obama Michigan press team: Alec Gerlach, Raina Hunter, Brad Carroll, Erin Burger-Gohl, Brent Colburn, Scott McConnell, Spencer Critchley, Kevin Lewis.