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我一直对候选人说，在职业目标选择上没有对错，也不分好坏，但我特别支持大家去做自己认为有意义的事。有些人可能认为，让这个世界的某个地方变得更健康、更干净、更安全、更美好就是有意义的事。绝大多数在职业发展中追求意义的人，不仅更有动力工作，活得更开心，也往往比别人更成功。

 天下大事作于细

我在写第一本职业发展书籍时，曾经采访过一位公司经理，她之所以给我留下深刻印象，是因为她对自己的事业充满激情，十分笃定。我刚认识她时，她在一家生产医院和路标使用的安全材料反光粘合剂的公司担任经理。这是她第一份工作，而当时她已经在这家公司工作八年了。

“我刚在这里工作的时候，公司都不知道他们要我做的产品在中国有没有市场，”她回忆说，“他们没多少信心，所以只和我签了六个月的合同。我要负责调研和评估这一产品的市场潜力，撰写最初的产品经营计划。”

做什么都要更用心

她很幸运，六个月之后，她发现中国存在巨大的安全用品市场潜力，但需要时间教育和培养客户，她的工作成果也说服了管理层。为了实现业务发展，公司又聘用她担任客户主任。在接下来的八年时间里，她逐渐接触到了大客户销售、销售和市场管理、内外市场培训和领导力与管理等工作。

为了让她和她的产品都更上一层楼，公司派她远赴海外，到更成熟的市场，看看这些产品在中国会有怎样的未来，从而为接下来的发展做出战略计划。她的职责慢慢变成开发公司对她管理的产品进行本地生产的能力。她曾接受过全方位的业务培训，在管理产品方面又表现突出，很多机会自然也就找上门来。但她还是选择不跳槽，不仅是因为这家公司给了她很多机会，让她承担了重要职责。她最终的目标是为中国做些有意义的事，这也是她在工作和处理产品时一直追求的理念。

 影响别人，乐在其中

她告诉我，中国的石棉肺状况是世界最糟糕的。目前，中国大陆有逾50万名患者，其中绝大多数是工厂工人，而这一数字比世界上其他地方病例的总和还要多。绝大多数工人都不了解这个问题，所以她想要帮助他们认识这种疾病。

由于她教育工人的努力，这家公司得到了政府批准，起草该行业工作场所石棉粉尘浓度标准，这让她离降低中国严重健康问题的发病率又近了一步，也让她看到了自己的努力起了效果。虽然不是每个人都觉得做有意义的事十分重要，但带着目的做事，做自己认为重要的事，往往可以让你在取得事业成功的同时，过最让自己满意的生活。

Pursue Things That Are Meaningful To You

While I always tell candidates that there are no right or wrong, or good or bad career objectives, I’m a particularly big supporter of anyone who does things that are highly meaningful to them.  For some people, it may be trying to make some part of the world healthier, cleaner, safer, or better.  In most cases, the people I meet who pursue meaningful things in their career are not only more motivated and happier in what they do, but are usually more successful as well.

Most Big Things Start From Humble Beginnings

I remember interviewing one person for my first career development book who stood out to me because of how energetic and committed she was towards what she’s doing with her life.  When I met her, she was a manager in a company that manufactures safety reflective adhesives used in hospitals and road signs.  She’d been with her company for eight years, beginning her career there.

“When I began, the company wasn’t even sure if there was a market in China for the product they wanted me to work on,” she recalls. “They were so uncertain they only hired me on a six-month contract.  It was up to me to research and assess the product’s market potential and develop an initial business plan for it.”

Caring More About Everything You Do

Fortunately, her findings after six months convinced management there was huge market potential here for safety products, but it would take time to educate and develop customers.  To perform such a business development role, the company then hired her as an account executive.  In the next eight years, she progressively took on roles that focused on key account sales, sales and marketing supervision, internal and external marketing training, and leadership and management.

To help her and her product line reach the next level, she was sent overseas to more mature markets so she could see the future for China for the product line and come up with the next stages of her strategic plan.  Her responsibilities evolved into developing the company’s local manufacturing capabilities for the products she supervises.  With her well-rounded business training and success in managing product lines, many options in the market became available to her.  Her reasons for staying on her current company, however, go beyond just the opportunities and responsibilities her company gave her.  Her ultimate goal was to do something meaningful for China, a vision she could pursue in the work and products she was involved in.

Feeling Good About Having An Impact On Others

Abestos in the lungs is worse in China than anywhere in the world, she told me.  At the time, over 500,000 mainlanders, mostly factory workers suffered from this, more cases than the rest of the world combined.  Most workers weren’t even aware of the problem, so educating them was something she wanted to help do.

Through her education efforts, her company received the government’s permission to draft the standards for the industry on asbestos dust levels in the workplace, which brought her a step closer to significantly reducing this serious health problem in China and seeing the impact of her efforts.  While not everyone may find it so important to pursue something that is meaningful, pursuing things with purpose and that are important to you often leads to the type of success for your career that can also be the most satisfying for your life.

（责任编辑：职场达人）