How Important are Mission and Meaning to You at Work?

When you think about being mission-driven, you may imagine ‘making the world a better place’ or ‘helping people’ by working for a non-profit. That’s an idea that many of the people I coach have when I first meet them.

The truth is, you don’t have to work at a non-profit to be mission-driven. You can still support a mission, even a personal one, working in a for-profit business.  

I’ve coached more than a thousand people since I founded Career Narratives. Some of those people are pursuing careers in non-profits, but the vast majority of people I coach are trying to advance careers in for-profit companies. And the majority of those people are working in support of some sort of mission. It’s often the case that it’s a personal mission that comes to light through the coaching process if it’s not already apparent. Here are a few examples that come to mind.

• Ensuring the world is a healthier, greener place by working at a for-profit startup that processes hard-to-recycle materials (from a working mom who is thinking about her kids’ futures)
• Making housing for disadvantaged populations more affordable and accessible through community investing at an investment bank (from an MBA who wants to give back to a community like the one she grew up in)
• Helping small business owners compete by making online retail affordable and accessible at an online marketplace (from the daughter of immigrant parents who were successful because they were able to start their own business)

My own business Career Narratives is obviously for profit, but I still consider my coaching work to be mission-driven. I created Career Narratives to help MBAs and other career-minded professionals find meaning and satisfaction at work. Some of my motivation to become a coach came from seeing quite a few colleagues — many of them fellow MBAs —  struggle to find meaning and satisfaction in work in settings where decision-making and business practices might not have aligned with their values.

When it comes to understanding a personal sense of mission, perhaps the most enlightening experience I’ve had was working as an executive recruiter for Isaacson, Miller. This top 20 executive search firm specializes in placing senior leaders in mission-driven organizations. As a recruiter there, I was sometimes approached by mid-career and senior professionals in the for-profit world who had developed a nagging sense that their work, regardless of industry or role, wasn’t fulfilling a need to be doing something that was helping people. And they would make a case that their particular skills and experience could be put to better use at one of the firm’s non-profit clients. 

The truth is, you don’t have to work at a non-profit to be mission-driven. You can still support a mission, even a personal one, working in a for-profit business. 

In short, the people who were contacting me wanted to do mission-driven work, and they thought that the only possible way to do that would be at a non-profit organization.

After quite a few of these conversations, I came to the conclusion that their concept of mission-driven work was too limited, and I also noticed that their relationships to mission varied.

Four types of relationship to mission at work

As I pointed out in the examples above, you can find people doing some form of mission-driven work in all kinds of for-profit settings, from startup recycling businesses to financial institutions to online retail service providers.

Regardless of industry and role, I’ve found that people’s relationship to mission generally falls into four categories.

Mission-First

I would describe people working in the non-profit world as being primarily Mission-First. They typically prioritize mission over money and may also prioritize it over other things like prestige and career progression. They still need to make a living, and it may be important to them that their work is recognized, but their overriding concern is that their work advances a mission that's deeply meaningful to them. And that focus on mission tends to be quite specific. Examples could be fighting the causes of malaria in lesser developed countries, enabling symphony orchestras to survive and flourish in contemporary society, raising funds to cure a rare disease, or facilitating the care and support of cancer patients and their families. The causes are quite specific, and it’s often the case that the person who supports the cause has a personal connection to the mission, either through direct personal experience or the experience of friends and family.

Mission-Driven

People I would classify as Mission-Driven prioritize work in support of a mission, but they may have a broader view of what that mission could be. They might be willing to make trade-offs to achieve specific financial goals or career advancement. As an example, I’ve worked with a few MBAs who are committed to a broader mission of “access to education” or “improving the healthcare system.” While those missions definitely have a degree focus and are more specific than simply ‘helping people,’ they are less precise than the missions of those who might fall into the Mission-First category. I’ve found that the people I would classify as Mission-Driven will typically entertain a relatively wide range of career options in support of their mission, or even adjacent missions, which I would consider to be ones that benefit a similar population of people.

Mission-Preferred

I would categorize a portion of the people I’ve coached as Mission-Preferred if they are conscious of mission in their work and generally prefer work that benefits people and society — or is at least neutral in terms of its effect on people and society. However, they prioritize personal and professional goals like career advancement, financial gain, and prestige. A classic example would be a marketer who works on a relatively unhealthy snack food that genuinely brings people joy. The marketer is comfortable with the trade-off between health and joy because the career path at the snack food company provides excellent training, prestige, and competitive compensation.

Mission-Last

People who are either not conscious of mission at work or actively disregard it in favor of financial gain, status, or security might be classified as Mission-Last. For some, they may have consciously chosen to consider mission last because of some necessity, whether that be paying off large amounts of debt or supporting an extended family. It could also be due to the personal preferences and values of the individual. One clear example of the latter comes to mind. I once met with a first-year MBA student who, when asked about his goals in life, promptly responded, “I have one. I’m going to make $100 million.” He was going to pursue whatever career path offered the greatest chance of achieving that goal regardless of whether it supported a mission he believed in or not.

Can your relationship to mission at work change over time?

I think the answer is yes. Your relationship to mission at work may change over the course of your life. I’ve often seen that people I might classify as Mission-First or Mission-Driven transition to Mission-Preferred for a portion of their career as they encounter pressing life commitments, like raising a family with all of the expense that involves. Practical considerations like needing to refashion a career after making a geographic move as a trailing spouse may also prompt the change.

Related to that, younger people who are highly conscious of mission and not yet weighed down by life’s practical and financial necessities may feel free to pursue jobs and careers that would fit the Mission-First model. And at the other end of a career, people in well-paying industries who are approaching retirement with ample savings may also feel it’s possible to pursue jobs and volunteer work that is entirely driven by a commitment to mission.

What is your relationship to mission?

Which category do you think best describes your relationship to mission? Are you Mission-First, Mission-Last, or somewhere in between?

If you’re currently working in a for-profit business, have you ever thought of making a transition to the non-profit sector or founding a non-profit yourself? Or are you just looking for more meaning in your work?

If you’re currently working in the non-profit world, have you ever felt that you’re not as engaged as you used to be? Do you think you could potentially be transitioning to a Mission-Driven or Mission-Preferred mode? Or perhaps you need an entirely new mission to support?

If you think you might be at a transition point related to mission at work and you’re seeking more clarity, then let’s talk. The approach to self-assessment that I offer to Career Narratives clients emphasizes the role of mission at work and its relationship to identifying and pursuing a career path that is meaningful and fulfilling over the long term.