One of my favorite authors, Jon Gordon (The Carpenter, The Seed) included what I thought was a very insightful statement in one of his blog posts, and it is something that I think we all need to practice – “Don’t seek happiness. Decide to work with passion and purpose and happiness will find you.”
There is so much talk, and articles written, around being “happy” at work. Clearly we all know that being happy is a feeling, and only we can control our own feelings.
I consider myself truly lucky when I say that I really love what I do. I have been doing it for almost 30 years and I still jump out of bed every morning (OK – I don’t jump out quite as fast as I did 30 years ago) and look forward to starting my day.
I have been told by many people that I have a real passion for what I do. When someone asks me what I do and is truly interested, I feel my energy jump and find myself getting carried away explaining how much I enjoy working with the great team here at AH and ensuring that we are supporting our client partners in achieving their goals.
Gordon suggests that everyone should have “purpose driven goals.” As he points out, if you speak to your competitors and colleagues, everyone has the same goals. The true differentiator is your commitment to the process, your growth, and your purpose that drives you to reach those goals.
An interesting point that Gordon makes is that research shows that true motivation is driven by meaning and purpose rather than extrinsic rewards, numbers, and goals.
I have said many times over the years, when asked, why AH has been so successful, and my answer is always the same: Our team is truly passionate about what they are doing, they view what they do more than just “a job” and that passion comes through to every project and every person they encounter.
We are the recipient of Best Places to Work by the Philadelphia Business Journal seven times in the past eight years, most recently in 2015, and we’ve received our Gold Certification by the Customer Service Institute of America (CSIA) – giving AH the distinction of being the only AMC worldwide to achieve this designation.
These are not guarantees that everyone here at AH is happy, but it shows that our team has a real passion for providing outstanding service both internally to each other, as well as to the organizations we service.
