Consider a fairly routine career choice facing a college graduate, say, advertising vs. IT. Neither job quite counts as living-the-dream, like playing cricket for India. But the college grad finds advertising more interesting than IT. The follow-your-dream school of thought would typically recommends taking the advertising job, since that initial interest is a sign that the grad will enjoy advertising, more and therefore be more successful. My hunch is that that initial interest in advertising contains no information about whether the grad will ultimately enjoy her job.
Post Grad, a movie I watched on a flight recently, broadly in the Reality Bites genre, illustrates the point. It is about a smart, spunky college grad who loves literature, and has dreamed her entire life of working in publishing. After many ups and downs, she finally gets her dream job at the top publishing house in town. Her boss is a jerk. The job sucks. She quickly moves on.The factors that actually predict whether someone enjoys a job are profoundly situational. Things specific to a particular role, in a particular organization, at a particular time. Questions like: is her boss a good people manager? Does she get along with her colleagues? Does she have the right level of independence, the right support, and prospects for advancement? Does she get paid enough to cheerfully suck up the inevitable hiccups? Is the organization as a whole growing, and filling colleagues with a spirit of generousity? Or is it shrinking, and making colleagues mean-spirited?
Asking situational questions like these feels less pure than looking within and asking "Is this the real me?". But they probably matter more.
Prithvi, building on your last thoughts (Following Dream = Introspection or Situational Factors?).
ReplyDeleteA somewhat cynical take could be that the situational factors that provide job satisfaction/ happiness are only ways for us to reconcile reality with our dreams. The truly influential (and dare I say, successful) are the ones that look at true introspective satisfaction as following their dreams. And then by the courage of their convictions, influence their immediate surrounding and literally transform it into a shape that enables the following of dreams. Think Gandhi, Buffet. "My inner motivations tell me that the world can be a better place and I WILL make the world submit to my convictions."