Last week, first year Fuqua students completed our orientation, a rambunctious, energy-intensive three-day marathon that served to introduce us to the curious world of the Daytime MBA. It was performed in the playful guise of an extended pep rally. Our 2013 Class of 444 students, having been split into six sections, donned color-coded t-shirts and threw ourselves into rowdy cheers, equipped with horns, vuvuzelas and cow bells. It was interesting observing how rapidly the class transformed from a group of nervous strangers into a wild, thunderous mass of competing tribes. My own, Section 2, chose to remain (relatively) quiet amidst the cheers of the other groups while in the auditorium, but sprang to life during the 'Section Olympics' (see pictures, courtesy of Enlin Jin), sweeping almost all of the events.
Breaking the group into sections makes sense of course, given the overwhelming size of the entire class, but over the course of orientation, I found myself somewhat torn at my natural tendency to gravitate towards only those in my own section. With so many remarkable, amazing new people to meet and befriend and gain 'strategic networks' with, why did we have to limit ourselves to the random one sixth that we were assigned together with? I heard from several second year students that socializing with those outside our section happens quite organically over the course of the degree. I certainly hope so.
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Today, in our Leadership, Ethics and Organization class, we discussed motivations and incentives. We discussed five intrinsic motivating factors that compel many people at work: (here's a different but related article on the subject)
Meaningfulness
1. Skill variety - using different skills in work
2. Task identity - seeing the whole process and final product
3. Task significance - making a useful contribution to others
Responsibility
4. Autonomy
Knowledge of results
5. Feedback
This resonated strongly with me. When I was younger, I used to focus heavily on the sense of task significance--making a useful contribution to others--and neglected to consider the importance of other aspects. As such, I naively believed that working in the social sector would somehow be inherently more satisfying than working in the private sector, that the non-profiteer serving a noble cause would by default be more fulfilled than the corporate 'soulless drone.'
While it took me a while to realize, I began to see that work satisfaction is far more complex than that. Indeed, serving a noble cause with the NGOs that I worked for did provide a certain level of satisfaction. But it didn't necessarily make up for any of the other elements mentioned above. It reminds me of a conversation I had with an investment banker friend in Hong Kong, who described how much he loved his job, despite the lengthy hours.
"I get to fly around the world and have in-depth conversations with incredibly smart people," he explained. "What's not to like about that?"
I had to agree with him. It sounded far more intellectually stimulating than my previous positions. Conversations with folks such as him thankfully opened my mind to the many facets of a satisfying, varied career, helping me to consider my possibilities with a more open mind.
Moreover, a noble cause is not limited to the social sector. There are few companies these days who would not lay claim to having a mission of some significance. And while their employees might view such claims with varying levels of belief or cynicism, the private sector's contribution to society is unequivocally clear.
