MOTIVATIONS FROM THE HEART

Duda Owner IONOS • February 3, 2016

Doing a job for a wage is honorable. More honorable still is doing a job from the heart independent of the wage. Sometimes we perform a certain job simply because we are being paid to do it. Yet those times when we perform a job because our heart is in it raises the endeavor to a new plane.

Whether the motivation is merely money or passionately personal, we should monitor our motivation. Why? Because it can tell us a lot about ourselves and how effective we might be in the job we are doing.

Bernard Tyson is the CEO of Kaiser Permanente. He shares a compelling personal insight behind his career motivations (“How Did I Get Here?: Bernard Tyson” Bloomberg Businessweek , 9/28/15–10/4/15, p. 96):

“ My mom was sick from diabetes, so we were in hospitals a lot, and I decided I wanted to run my own. ”

Our careers can grow from many different motivations ranging from merely money to the passionately personal. I have a feeling the passionately personal breeds the greatest success.

< Older Post

Newer Post >

Mail

LET'S BE CLEAR ABOUT SURCHARGING (THE 3% CONVERSATION)

By James Meadows • July 13, 2026

What every front desk professional should know about credit card surcharging

DEGREE OR NONDEGREE, THAT IS THE QUESTION

By James Meadows • September 7, 2025

Is a college degree still worth the investment? It depends of the path you craft.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: TAMING THE TIGER

By James Meadows • August 12, 2025

You need to give serious thought to taming the tiger before you are in its cage.

HOW I EMBRACED A 2020 LAYOFF TO CAPTURE A NEW LIFE SEASON

By James Meadows • June 8, 2025

My transparent reflection about my five-year post-layoff experience, how I navigated it, learned through it, and identified some wisdom that might inspire others.

GAME OF THRONES LEADERSHIP LESSONS

By James Meadows • June 29, 2024

The earliest days of this series present fundamentally significant leadership content.

FIDELITY TO SCIENCE

By James Meadows • August 22, 2023

What we should expect from fidelity to science.

A BETTER WORD THAN HONESTY

By James Meadows • August 9, 2023

We explore the overuse or inappropriate use of the words "honest," "honesty," and "honestly." Much of the overuse or inappropriate use of these words is in contexts that intrinsically message the audience that the speaker is not trustworthy. I call the overuse or inappropriate use of these words in this context HONESTY VALIDATORS because the speaker believes they validate the truth being spoken. We need a solution to this problem. My solution is to replace these honesty validators with CLARITY VALIDATORS. Instead of trying to be honest, try to be clear. Replacing "honest," "honesty," and "honestly," with "clear," "clarity," and "clearly," produces significantly more benefit to the speaker and to the audience.