What value does your work bring to the world?

"What was your most meaningless job?"

For the last 10 years, I've asked this question to many new hires who just entered into the office technology industry. As you can imagine I've heard many different answers including ice cream server at Dairy Queen, assembly line worker at a toy manufacturer and gas station attendant.

My follow up question is "what do you consider some of the most meaningful jobs in the world?" The answers I typically get are Doctor, Lawyer, Teacher, and Scientist. So what job is more meaningful, a doctor or a dish washer? Doctors save lives and that’s pretty meaningful. Dish washers clean dishes. I probably would not win this debate, but Ken Blanchard in his book "Gung Ho" insists that a dish washer's job is more meaningful than we think.

The example he uses is a college cafeteria kitchen where a young man in charge of washing dishes, allows dishes to pile up and while rushing to get them done, could potentially aid in students contracting bacteria and becoming ill from the unclean dishes. What if one of the students dies? What if the same student could have been a future Nobel Prize winner for discovering a cure for cancer? To some, this is a farfetched notion yet it does not diminish the value of clean dishes and the value of the work. So far I've been able to bring true value to every "meaningless" job a new hire has mentioned. 

In some cases, I have seen the value first hand. I have three kids and I see the joy every time they receive a toy on Christmas or a birthday. If I could only bottle the excitement during a trip to Dairy Queen or an Ice Cream parlor. The mornings when I'm running late and need to fill up with gas, I am grateful for the gas station attendant who showed up on time to open the station for the day.

Over the past 22 years, in numerous capacities, I have sold or helped in selling business equipment to thousands of customers. Until recently, even I have taken what I do for the world for granted. I don't save lives, produce cures, or teach future Nobel Prize winners. Or do I?  Xerography evolved from what many consider the greatest invention of all time, the printing press. Producing, managing and sharing documents has been at the core of human interaction since we were able to put ink on paper. With the invention of the printing press we have been able to impact the world by getting the information to the masses more effectively and efficiently than ever before. So what would the world be like without the printed word?

Could we introduce latest life-saving drug without the ability to review and sign the thousands of documents necessary for FDA approvals? Could our children learn in school without books, course packs and exams? What would you do at your job if you could not print or receive the necessary documents you use to run your business? (A Note to those who strive for a paperless world. Maybe our grandchildren will have a paperless answer. So far, I have seen more paper documents than ever before.) Needless to say, my industry has had a big impact on the world and I'm honored to be part of it. Regardless the line of work, everyone needs to realize that every job has a significant impact on something or someone!

Eight years ago, while at my previous employer, I called on a present account with a local sales representative. It was a major Toy Manufacturer with a centralized copy center. We had provided and serviced their production copier which was used to produce training material and other mission critical documents for the company. We were called in by the end user and copy center supervisor to discuss a problem she was having. As we walked in we noticed she was visibly upset with tears in her eyes. The documents which Jan produced for the board meeting had major omissions on the financial pages caused by debris on the transfer belt of their OCE High Speed Copier. The company printed onto three part forms and after every print run some glue from the preprinted forms would inevitably rub off on the belt. Our technician would be called into clean off the belt after every three-part form run. This time he must have missed a section which left a blank spot a different portion of every page. The company could not finish the financial section of the board meeting which frustrated the board members who flew in from different parts of the country. She then proceeded to tell us that she may lose her job over this issue. "I'm 55 years old, battling cancer, who will hire me?" she exclaimed while crying. There was little we could say. I'm not sure if she actually lost her job, but the impact of poor service on the individual and the organization was significant. After the incident, I made sure every technician understood the impact their service quality has on a person or business.


What value does your work bring to the world?


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