4/27 2008
Did you see the little blurb in the Sunday NY Times business section? MBA students from the top 15 schools were asked to select the 3 topo factors they wanted in a job. #1 was ‘challenging job responsibilities”. The second was money - not the first as many think. Work-life balance followed and then came ‘potential to make a contribution to society’. These are MBA students, not teachers or social workers, and although money is important to them they want to contribute.
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April 30th, 2008 at 8:20 am
That’s reassuring! I’d contend that belonging/acceptance and making a difference are universal needs. Maybe in a Maslow sense, first we need to survive (make money), but I see very poor people (e.g., subsistence farmers in rural Africa) who are very happy… and very connected… and making a big difference in their family and community.
Anyway, this has big implications in the “war for talent” — we’ve been telling leaders: If you want top talent, create a great place to work. Similarly we’ve found that talented people say they leave a job for material reasons, but they STAY for relational/purpose reasons.
But why do so few leaders take this seriously? How can they continue in the old thinking that “if I pay well, I’ll get great people”?