Sorry, That’s Not My Job

The difference between task drive and purpose driven employees.

Pic by Cristian Newman

I’ve always hated job descriptions. I believe that our role as leaders is to inspire people to be purpose-driven, rather than to provide a list of tasks they need to complete. Unfortunately, many organizations continue this (useless) tradition of writing job descriptions for their employees. What they fail to realize is, that in their pursuit of clarity, most of the times they end up limiting people. Take, for example, these two very different experiences I had.

I spent ten weeks at Stanford, attending an innovation program. On my last day, I headed to the place that meant the most to me: Coupa, the best coffee shop on campus. At first, I thought I was craving a last sip of espresso. As I got closer, I realized I was looking for something else. I wanted to express my gratitude to one of their staff members. This woman, a low-ranking employee there, is a great example of what working with purpose is. Every time I visited Coupa, whether for lunch or an espresso, she…