An essay on my experience with respect, fulfillment, and belonging
Last night, I watched the recent interview Tim Ferriss did with Seth Godin, where they talked about climate change, corporate hustle culture, and meaning, among other topics.
Seth interviewed more than 10,000 professionals, and he found out that there are three main things a company needs to provide employees so they feel they belong and find meaning in their jobs.
The foundation layer is to provide the right environment for people to thrive, with three pillars being 1) a place where they feel they are respected, 2) a job they are fulfilled and are proud of, 3) a job that they feel they did more than what they thought they were capable of.
These points made me reflect on my recent decision to leave corporate.
When I reflect on my experience, I want to share how I felt about the three points above.
For point number 1, I certainly felt respected. I felt respected by my customers, my leadership, and by (most) of the people I worked with. I’d rate this feeling as 8 out of 10.
For point number 2, it was a few months since I wasn't feeling fulfilled by my work. As I shared in this article, I stepped down from many of the extracurricular activities for the social impact I used to do, along with the Employee Resources Groups I used to participate in.
Everything was draining me, and the (wrong) solution I thought at the time was to step down from all the “extra work” (without realizing that the “extra work” was what was keeping me fulfilled). I’d rate this feeling as 5 out of 10.
For point number 3, I didn't feel I was learning as much as in the beginning. I had taken two certifications in the past year, and I had no more desire to study something all over again, just on another platform. (I took GCP and Azure cloud certifications, and studying for AWS seemed pointless since I had no interest in learning about the environment). I didn't have any internal or external motivation to do my job better than I was doing it. I wasn't meeting my customers in person, my team was completely remote, and I had no social interaction at work (something that I deeply missed since I moved to another team). The only time I went to the office in 2022, I had to hear from one of the people in leadership that “we don't hire based on gender, color of skin, or background, we hire on competence”………
“This story, again?” I thought to myself. At that moment, I knew my work in the company to try to change anything in diversity wasn't going to go anywhere. I didn't feel that my work mattered. I’d rate this feeling as 3 out of 10.
I am, by no means, trying to find the perfect job. Perfect is inexistent. The perfect balance (I talked more about that here). I am, by no means, trying to find a job that will fulfill all my needs. Neither trying to create the perfect career.
But I am, indeed, creating a path that I feel proud of the work I do, that I can develop myself as a better human being every day. A path that I can be helpful to others and enable others to thrive. A path that I can create better paths for other women so they don't need to lack the same resources I lacked when I started in technology. A path that I respect others and earn the same respect in return. I’d rate this feeling as 9.5 out of 10.
After I reflected on my experience, I invite you to reflect on your own current and past experiences:
Do you feel respected at work? Do you feel proud of the work you do? Do you feel you are doing more than you thought you were capable of? Are you learning? Are you growing? Are you having fun?
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