Timepass2007 makes an interesting point in her comment on the Being-miserable-builds-character post yesterday, that being miserable does not necessarily build character for everyone.
Ketan's comment on
the post 'In defense of Capitalism' got me thinking about why some people seem to enjoy
their work and others will shirk at the first opportunity available. We
can think of people who truly seem to enjoy their work. Names that come
to mind are Shivkumar Sharma or Sachin Tendulkar.
"Sure,"
I hear you say, "I would enjoy work too if it involved playing a sport
or a musical instrument. What about people do office work for a living?"
Clearly,
prototypical government employees are at one end of the spectrum. At
the other end, there are those who look forward to Mondays. This becomes clear when you read about people like Akio Morita, or Jack Welch, or Joe Sutter. These guys really loved their work. What makes them tick?
Money
can be one motivator, but surely, there is more to it. Joe Sutter
mentions in his book that a number of patents on the design of the 707
carried his name and as per standard Boeing policy of the time he was
paid $50 for signing over each of his patents to the company.
What is it then that separates these
people who look forward to Mondays and the rest of the world. The masses who work
Monday through Friday only to earn a living or so they can afford to pay for the stuff of weekends? And the
really sad fact of life? A lot of them don't even do anything on the
weekends.
Mohit has articulated this really well, "true joy comes only when one has bested the elements and the people to achieve something that one knows is right. In fact, I feel that that is the core of happiness at work too - high growth and difficult challenges."
Is this drive something that can be engineered in schools, Or are we to resign to the reality that driven, motivated people are born not made?
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