Work Changes You
Permanent Equity was fortunate to have Steve Cockram zoom into one of our recent Lunch ‘n Learns to talk about his 5 Voices framework and new book The Communication Code. As an aside, and lest you think we are inhospitable, he was supposed to be here in-person, but the Lunch ‘n Learn ended up being planned for one of those weeks in winter when Columbia, Missouri, briefly turned into the East Antarctic Plateau (variance!). I digress…
I wrote about Steve previously in this space in the context of using words wisely, but Steve’s expertise goes so much deeper than that. So read the books. Both the Voices and the Codes will help you become a better communicator in both your professional and personal lives.
This, though, is about something slightly different. See, Steve and I have gotten to know each other a little bit and during the course of his talk, I asked a question. In the course of his answer, because he knew me a little bit, he referred to me as a Pioneer/Creative, which was interesting to me because I had recently taken the 5 Voices assessment and measured out as a Guardian. So as a follow-up question, and because all Lunch ‘n Learns should be about me, I asked how he had pegged me as a Pioneer/Creative and if I was that, why would I have tested as a Guardian?
His answer was that he thought I had told him previously that I was a Myers Briggs INTJ, which would correlate with being a Pioneer/Creative. When I clarified I was an ENTJ, he said that that would mostly make me a Pioneer/Guardian. But as for why I was testing as a Guardian, well, that was a different story.
The reason that might be, Steve said, is because in my previous role as CFO and now as CIO, I had a lot of responsibility for making data-driven decisions, watching the numbers, and doing due diligence. As a result, I likely changed as a person because of my onus of work.
That blew my mind. It sounded ridiculous, but was also probably true.
The reason this is so is because it’s not just nature that determines who we are and become, but also nurture, i.e., how we modulate ourselves based on our experiences and choice, i.e., what we choose to emphasize based on feedback we receive and perceive. In other words, I may have changed my persona based on what was expected of me, what voids I felt I needed to fill, and what I thought might earn me praise or blame.
As I wrestled with that, I realized that if what someone does for work changes him or her as a person, then it’s critical that ultimately what that someone does makes him or her (1) happy and (2) a better person.
Of course, it’s not realistic to think that can be the case all of the time. But if you find yourself in a situation where it isn’t, you might spend time thinking and talking with others about what you can do and what it might look like to work towards a situation where it is.
-Tim
