first semester
and I convinced two young ladies that I
was an underwater firefighting major let
that sink in for a second
underwater firefighting major the guy
who’s now one of my best friends had to
duck his head under the table because he
was laughing so hard his body was
violently shaking and they said well
what do you do the first thing that came
to mind was that scene from Finding Nemo
remember the cartoon Soviet from number
of years ago where the sharks throw
something on the landmines and it
ignites this chain reaction of
explosions underwater and I said that
scene and I said what you do realize
that still happens right really who’s
gonna put that fire out I never thought
of that right I did that because I had
gotten bored with a series of questions
you get the first semester of every year
in college who are you where are you
from what dorm are you living in what’s
your major right there’s four or five
questions we always ask at the beginning
of every school year in college when you
graduate it becomes who are you where do
you live and where do you work
networking events and it parties and it
your new child people want to know more
about you
but in many ways when you graduate
college and move into quote the real
world at work we some for some reason
assign our jobs as part of our identity
right we decide that where we work is
part of who we are and we decide that
also on other people which is why we ask
questions like where do you work what do
you do work in our culture and in our
lives is vital to life right and we
talked a lot about do what you love if I
hear one more person say that I want to
lose my mind and as the father of two
preschool boys do the most serious thing
I can think of and send that person to
time out for a few minutes to think
about what they did because that is
really unhelpful advice for young people
because it’s incomplete advice do what
you love is great okay step one step two
ought to say where do you do it there’s
this myth out there for Millennials
particularly and people are xx is that
the
REME is to be your own boss right you
read articles of people who’s claimed to
work 17 minutes a day make 800,000
dollars a month from a beach at Fiji and
oh they’ve got a plan that you can
invest in to be just like they are
that’s not reality what is reality is
that the vast majority of us are gonna
wake up every morning and go work
somewhere but the question is how do we
know where to work it every facet of our
lives now we are overwhelmed with data
like many of you I have an Apple watch
it tells me all sorts of things about me
I didn’t know and I don’t really know
what to do with it as with most data we
just simply don’t know what to do with
it and when we have so much information
available to us now about where we can
work how do we decide where to work as
I’ve written for for so over a year now
on forbes.com
I talk about Millennials in the
workplace and I’ve gotten to interview a
lot of really interesting people and in
that time I’ve seen this thread that
kind of weaves together the fabric of
the modern workplace a picture of where
our cultures are in companies and where
they’re going it’s the it’s the thing
that represents the companies on the top
100 best places to work list it’s the
thing that when you look at the top
rated CEOs on Glassdoor that is true
about every one of their companies and
that is those companies all look and
feel like religious groups I
intentionally pause because when you say
the r-word it gets really quiet when you
start talking about religion they look
like religious groups 50 60 years ago we
talked about management in companies
they’ve got a lot better at that in the
last 30 years they’re talking about
leadership and we got really good at
that
now we’re talking about culture and
companies are spending millions if not
billions of dollars every year to invest
in workplace culture as Millennials have
gotten in the workplace we’re paid 20%
less than our previous generations at
the same age so instead companies are
making your office your company a better
environment that you enjoy being in so
as you’re looking for your next great
job as you’re trying to navigate a
doated where do you work because our
jobs our work determines so much about
our lives right
term is where we live for the most part
it determines how much money we make it
determines who our spouse or significant
other could be because we could meet
them in our next job it determines who
our friends are which in the future
could determine where we work down the
road
the average American works 40 claims to
work 47 hours a week claims now let’s
say you work on average 48 48 weeks a
year that’s two thousand two hundred and
fifty six hours a year and yes I had to
memorize that number because I graduated
from a public high school in South
Alabama and I could never have done that
math on the fly but think about that’s
94 complete days a year at your job and
nobody’s talking about where you need to
work you need to work it somewhere that
looks religious but what does that look
like it looks like a company a place
filled with people who love what they do
which is different than doing what you
love because doing what you love your
profession follows your passion and our
passion can be shifty but the other way
around you go to company and there are
people here who love what they do their
passion follows their profession I have
a good buddy in my name a college friend
my name’s Jay and Jay works at Walt
Disney World in Orlando Florida the
happiest place on earth he was there in
college and he went back and was able to
get a full-time job because he loves
that place now I know what his first few
jobs were because he told me and they
were not jobs that anybody wants
long-term but he loved what he did in
that time because he loved where he did
it people in religious groups love what
they do right most of them are
volunteers they commit their time and
resources to that religious group to
that church or whatever it is because
they love what they’re doing in that
place great companies have the same
thing people simply love what they do
because it’s so much easier to have a
mediocre job at a great company than it
is to have a great job at a mediocre
company people leave companies they
don’t leave jobs they leave cultures
they leave environments they don’t leave
positions
overwhelmingly true so you love what you
do the next thing is you need to do it
for something greater than yourself a
higher purpose this is what compels
people into religious groups they talk
about a higher purpose or a higher
calling or a higher being or whatever it
is something greater than the
individuals or even the collective which
pushes us forward
that’s what unites people around
political campaigns to volunteer that’s
what unites people around charities
that’s what unites people around
religious groups that’s what unites
people in the workplace
Hylton a company that owns a number of
hotel chains they have 350,000 employees
worldwide their chief HR officer told me
last year in an interview for a Forbes
article that their mission is to be the
most ass pitiable company in the world
not to crush their competition in the
hotel chain business not to make more
money than every other two not to have
the best hotel chain but to do something
greater than that which is to show
hospitality and be more hospitable than
any other company on the planet they
have a purpose that’s greater than
bottom-line revenue they have a purpose
that’s greater than beating competition
they have a purpose that’s higher that
people are drawn to when you look at
great workplaces what is their
overarching vision Facebook is not
setting out to be the biggest baddest
tech company on the planet even though
they are the biggest tech they have 1.2
billion monthly users around the world
but when you listen to mark zuckerberg
speak what’s he saying we’re trying to
build a community of people right we’re
trying to build a place where people can
gather and connect with each other
that’s the purpose that Facebook is
pursuing not to build better filters for
your selfies right not to build a better
mobile app not to build a better website
their ultimate vision is to build
something that’s greater than any one
person or any one company and that is a
place where community can happen I
talked to another guy who lives in
Atlanta Georgia not far where I live not
far from where I live and he’d left
working at Google and Facebook to go
back to work at a fast food a quick
service restaurant chain called
chick-fil-a because he loved the culture
when he was at Facebook he was working
with brands like Nike and coca-cola and
some of the biggest companies on the
plan
but he left that to go develop a new
mobile app at a restaurant chain that
sells chicken sandwiches and chicken
nuggets because he loves the culture and
loves the people and loves the vision of
what they’re trying to be I don’t trying
to sell more chicken sandwich making
chicken sandwiches they’ve got a vision
for people over profits and it works
because they’re they outperform every
other fast-food chain by triple per
store so you find a place for people of
what they do for something greater than
themselves with other people committed
to the cause and this is where it really
starts to feel like a religious group
it’s almost like some companies put the
cult and culture all right they do
because it’s like people got to work and
they get all jazzed about it they get
all excited they’re thrilled to be there
you sometimes will see pep rallies and
yeah it’s what it feels like and people
are tuned each other on and they’re
high-fiving and sales reps are like
dinging bells when they meet goals and
they’re giving away prizes and doing all
these other things because everybody is
committed to the vision and committed to
what’s going on and they so love what
they do that it’s infectious and it
radiates throughout everything they do
in the company
it’s about people we are a communal
species we were a tribal people
thousands of years ago we gathered in
villages assigned everybody different
roles for self preservation some people
went and some people were hunters some
people were gatherers some people took
care of what was going on
some people were the Warriors everybody
had a role we were all committed to
protecting the community thousands of
years ago we were in villages now we’re
in Facebook groups now we’re in slack
groups now we’re in other groups in
eternally in our companies or outside on
our own that helped us come together
with other people they give us a chance
to unite with other people and that’s
what really drives us that’s what really
motivates us I remember working at a
company where the most of us didn’t like
the work we did we didn’t like the
culture except in our department so it
was like our weekly staff meetings it
was like we had a cone of silence around
the meeting and so anything that was set
in there stayed in there but it was a
place where we could vent we would
we would in a sense argue with each
other we would disagree we would fight
towards a better future but when we came
out of there we were stronger and most
of us were ready to go but we stayed
because of the team we got to work with
every of the people that we got to share
value with every single day if you want
to win in life if you want to win and
you’re 35 40 45 50 year career you need
to find a better place to work you don’t
need to look for places that have juice
bars and higher
they have full time baristas on staff
which does sound awesome to have a
full-time barista on staff you don’t
need to have places that have 15,000
dollar espresso machines you don’t need
to have places that send you there’s
only on a bucket list trip you need to
find a place that allows you to love
what you do for something greater than
yourself with other people committed to
the cause when you find that what you’ll
experience and what you will sense is
this deep almost spiritual religious
experience every day when you pull up to
work you’ll experience something that
will literally change your life every
day for the next 20 30 40 50 years
because you’re a part of bringing your
passion to your job doing something much
bigger than yourself
with other people who are committed to
that calling if you do that if you find
those places and they’re out there if
you find those places I promise you you
will win at this thing called adulthood
and you’ll be far far ahead of everybody
else thank you
[Applause]
you
and I convinced two young ladies that I
was an underwater firefighting major let
that sink in for a second
underwater firefighting major the guy
who’s now one of my best friends had to
duck his head under the table because he
was laughing so hard his body was
violently shaking and they said well
what do you do the first thing that came
to mind was that scene from Finding Nemo
remember the cartoon Soviet from number
of years ago where the sharks throw
something on the landmines and it
ignites this chain reaction of
explosions underwater and I said that
scene and I said what you do realize
that still happens right really who’s
gonna put that fire out I never thought
of that right I did that because I had
gotten bored with a series of questions
you get the first semester of every year
in college who are you where are you
from what dorm are you living in what’s
your major right there’s four or five
questions we always ask at the beginning
of every school year in college when you
graduate it becomes who are you where do
you live and where do you work
networking events and it parties and it
your new child people want to know more
about you
but in many ways when you graduate
college and move into quote the real
world at work we some for some reason
assign our jobs as part of our identity
right we decide that where we work is
part of who we are and we decide that
also on other people which is why we ask
questions like where do you work what do
you do work in our culture and in our
lives is vital to life right and we
talked a lot about do what you love if I
hear one more person say that I want to
lose my mind and as the father of two
preschool boys do the most serious thing
I can think of and send that person to
time out for a few minutes to think
about what they did because that is
really unhelpful advice for young people
because it’s incomplete advice do what
you love is great okay step one step two
ought to say where do you do it there’s
this myth out there for Millennials
particularly and people are xx is that
the
REME is to be your own boss right you
read articles of people who’s claimed to
work 17 minutes a day make 800,000
dollars a month from a beach at Fiji and
oh they’ve got a plan that you can
invest in to be just like they are
that’s not reality what is reality is
that the vast majority of us are gonna
wake up every morning and go work
somewhere but the question is how do we
know where to work it every facet of our
lives now we are overwhelmed with data
like many of you I have an Apple watch
it tells me all sorts of things about me
I didn’t know and I don’t really know
what to do with it as with most data we
just simply don’t know what to do with
it and when we have so much information
available to us now about where we can
work how do we decide where to work as
I’ve written for for so over a year now
on forbes.com
I talk about Millennials in the
workplace and I’ve gotten to interview a
lot of really interesting people and in
that time I’ve seen this thread that
kind of weaves together the fabric of
the modern workplace a picture of where
our cultures are in companies and where
they’re going it’s the it’s the thing
that represents the companies on the top
100 best places to work list it’s the
thing that when you look at the top
rated CEOs on Glassdoor that is true
about every one of their companies and
that is those companies all look and
feel like religious groups I
intentionally pause because when you say
the r-word it gets really quiet when you
start talking about religion they look
like religious groups 50 60 years ago we
talked about management in companies
they’ve got a lot better at that in the
last 30 years they’re talking about
leadership and we got really good at
that
now we’re talking about culture and
companies are spending millions if not
billions of dollars every year to invest
in workplace culture as Millennials have
gotten in the workplace we’re paid 20%
less than our previous generations at
the same age so instead companies are
making your office your company a better
environment that you enjoy being in so
as you’re looking for your next great
job as you’re trying to navigate a
doated where do you work because our
jobs our work determines so much about
our lives right
term is where we live for the most part
it determines how much money we make it
determines who our spouse or significant
other could be because we could meet
them in our next job it determines who
our friends are which in the future
could determine where we work down the
road
the average American works 40 claims to
work 47 hours a week claims now let’s
say you work on average 48 48 weeks a
year that’s two thousand two hundred and
fifty six hours a year and yes I had to
memorize that number because I graduated
from a public high school in South
Alabama and I could never have done that
math on the fly but think about that’s
94 complete days a year at your job and
nobody’s talking about where you need to
work you need to work it somewhere that
looks religious but what does that look
like it looks like a company a place
filled with people who love what they do
which is different than doing what you
love because doing what you love your
profession follows your passion and our
passion can be shifty but the other way
around you go to company and there are
people here who love what they do their
passion follows their profession I have
a good buddy in my name a college friend
my name’s Jay and Jay works at Walt
Disney World in Orlando Florida the
happiest place on earth he was there in
college and he went back and was able to
get a full-time job because he loves
that place now I know what his first few
jobs were because he told me and they
were not jobs that anybody wants
long-term but he loved what he did in
that time because he loved where he did
it people in religious groups love what
they do right most of them are
volunteers they commit their time and
resources to that religious group to
that church or whatever it is because
they love what they’re doing in that
place great companies have the same
thing people simply love what they do
because it’s so much easier to have a
mediocre job at a great company than it
is to have a great job at a mediocre
company people leave companies they
don’t leave jobs they leave cultures
they leave environments they don’t leave
positions
overwhelmingly true so you love what you
do the next thing is you need to do it
for something greater than yourself a
higher purpose this is what compels
people into religious groups they talk
about a higher purpose or a higher
calling or a higher being or whatever it
is something greater than the
individuals or even the collective which
pushes us forward
that’s what unites people around
political campaigns to volunteer that’s
what unites people around charities
that’s what unites people around
religious groups that’s what unites
people in the workplace
Hylton a company that owns a number of
hotel chains they have 350,000 employees
worldwide their chief HR officer told me
last year in an interview for a Forbes
article that their mission is to be the
most ass pitiable company in the world
not to crush their competition in the
hotel chain business not to make more
money than every other two not to have
the best hotel chain but to do something
greater than that which is to show
hospitality and be more hospitable than
any other company on the planet they
have a purpose that’s greater than
bottom-line revenue they have a purpose
that’s greater than beating competition
they have a purpose that’s higher that
people are drawn to when you look at
great workplaces what is their
overarching vision Facebook is not
setting out to be the biggest baddest
tech company on the planet even though
they are the biggest tech they have 1.2
billion monthly users around the world
but when you listen to mark zuckerberg
speak what’s he saying we’re trying to
build a community of people right we’re
trying to build a place where people can
gather and connect with each other
that’s the purpose that Facebook is
pursuing not to build better filters for
your selfies right not to build a better
mobile app not to build a better website
their ultimate vision is to build
something that’s greater than any one
person or any one company and that is a
place where community can happen I
talked to another guy who lives in
Atlanta Georgia not far where I live not
far from where I live and he’d left
working at Google and Facebook to go
back to work at a fast food a quick
service restaurant chain called
chick-fil-a because he loved the culture
when he was at Facebook he was working
with brands like Nike and coca-cola and
some of the biggest companies on the
plan
but he left that to go develop a new
mobile app at a restaurant chain that
sells chicken sandwiches and chicken
nuggets because he loves the culture and
loves the people and loves the vision of
what they’re trying to be I don’t trying
to sell more chicken sandwich making
chicken sandwiches they’ve got a vision
for people over profits and it works
because they’re they outperform every
other fast-food chain by triple per
store so you find a place for people of
what they do for something greater than
themselves with other people committed
to the cause and this is where it really
starts to feel like a religious group
it’s almost like some companies put the
cult and culture all right they do
because it’s like people got to work and
they get all jazzed about it they get
all excited they’re thrilled to be there
you sometimes will see pep rallies and
yeah it’s what it feels like and people
are tuned each other on and they’re
high-fiving and sales reps are like
dinging bells when they meet goals and
they’re giving away prizes and doing all
these other things because everybody is
committed to the vision and committed to
what’s going on and they so love what
they do that it’s infectious and it
radiates throughout everything they do
in the company
it’s about people we are a communal
species we were a tribal people
thousands of years ago we gathered in
villages assigned everybody different
roles for self preservation some people
went and some people were hunters some
people were gatherers some people took
care of what was going on
some people were the Warriors everybody
had a role we were all committed to
protecting the community thousands of
years ago we were in villages now we’re
in Facebook groups now we’re in slack
groups now we’re in other groups in
eternally in our companies or outside on
our own that helped us come together
with other people they give us a chance
to unite with other people and that’s
what really drives us that’s what really
motivates us I remember working at a
company where the most of us didn’t like
the work we did we didn’t like the
culture except in our department so it
was like our weekly staff meetings it
was like we had a cone of silence around
the meeting and so anything that was set
in there stayed in there but it was a
place where we could vent we would
we would in a sense argue with each
other we would disagree we would fight
towards a better future but when we came
out of there we were stronger and most
of us were ready to go but we stayed
because of the team we got to work with
every of the people that we got to share
value with every single day if you want
to win in life if you want to win and
you’re 35 40 45 50 year career you need
to find a better place to work you don’t
need to look for places that have juice
bars and higher
they have full time baristas on staff
which does sound awesome to have a
full-time barista on staff you don’t
need to have places that have 15,000
dollar espresso machines you don’t need
to have places that send you there’s
only on a bucket list trip you need to
find a place that allows you to love
what you do for something greater than
yourself with other people committed to
the cause when you find that what you’ll
experience and what you will sense is
this deep almost spiritual religious
experience every day when you pull up to
work you’ll experience something that
will literally change your life every
day for the next 20 30 40 50 years
because you’re a part of bringing your
passion to your job doing something much
bigger than yourself
with other people who are committed to
that calling if you do that if you find
those places and they’re out there if
you find those places I promise you you
will win at this thing called adulthood
and you’ll be far far ahead of everybody
else thank you
[Applause]
you
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