Achieving high goals requires passion, I often hear.

Eg. “Dig a big well in africa”, if you are fond of building wells.
Eg. “Develop a precise, highly robust digital sensor”, if you are a sensor expert.

Yes, passion is important. But it is by far not sufficient.

Go try “meaning“.

The goal you achieve must have a higher meaning for others: For mankind, for your customers, for your company – naming just a few.

Do something for other people. Make other people happy.

“Digging a well in Africa” will provide vital, clean water for dozens of people.

“Developing a precise and highly robust sensor” could

• Allow companies constructing plants to require less cabeling, invest less effort in housing and cooling, as well as predict technical failures time ahead
• Enable your company to make more profit because the sensor is easier (=cheaper) to produce and has more value to costomers (=can be sold for a higher price).

Other examples:

• Provide martial arts lessons because you love doing martial art youself ? -> Safety, fitness and streangth for your students
• Sell books because you yourself love reading books ? -> Give childrean and adults a senseful alternative to watching TV and playing online games

We all know: Money does not really motivate. Especially for intellectual work (engineers, managers, ..) financial incentives can be even counter intuitive.
But what can a company then offer instead ?

1. Autonomy
2. Mastery
3. Purpose.

Listen to Dan Pink in the video: “Autonomy: the urge to direct our own lives. Mastery: the desire to get better and better at something that matters. Purpose: the yearning to do what we do in the service of something larger than ourselves.”

[ted id=618 lang=de]

1. Why
2. How
3. What

How great leaders inspire action: The golden Circle