What Defines Your Work?

Justin H
Jan 25, 2017
2 min read

We have had a lot of discussions lately about the nature of our work, and the changing marketplace. As a company, we try to be on the leading edge of technology adoption and new, functional ideas. We have been cutting edge adopters in the past, but found that it can cause more problems than solutions if the technology you adopt isn’t fully fleshed out when you pick it up. This question is posed to get people to figure out exactly what it is that defines work to them.

Do you define work as the function you perform within your company? Are you a cashier or teller? Maybe a line cook or the flash remover in a plastics factory? Maybe you define your work as the function your company performs, or where you work. What do you do for a living? I work at Capital One, I work at Taco Bell, I work at R&R Office Solutions. What do you do for work? I’m a banker, I am in food service, I sell products and services to other businesses. When someone asks you what you do for a living, does it conjure up images of the environment you work in or the role you perform? When someone asks where you work, do you respond by describing what the office looks like, or do you tell the name of the business and where it’s located?

How you define your work, whether you think that all you do is remove the flashing from freshly molded plastic, or if you think you are in manufacturing for Rubbermaid, is a personal choice and a matter of perspective. I’ve worked in manufacturing for Rubbermaid, and we made large outdoor plastic storage cabinets, but in reality, I took the excess plastic from the edge of the mold, called flashing, and scraped it off. I could have also said I work in a factory and left the asker to come up with their own conclusion on what that might mean. Right now I could define my role as an executive for a multi-million dollar business, the CFO in the office supply industry, or an administrator for a small business. All of these answers are true, but each gives a different impression. Normally when asked this question, I respond by saying I run the accounting team at R&R. It’s how I define my job, as a team lead instead of a stuffy CFO or executive. This approach works for me, but your mileage may vary.

Try to come up with different ways to describe your role within your company, and then try to adopt that

mentality into how you define your job. You may be surprised how a little change in perspective affects your work and how happy you may be.