A friend sent me this article on Obliquity, a new book by John Kay of the Oxford Business School. The article suggests that having a focus other than happiness actually gives us much more access to happiness. It also suggests that taking good care of your customers, rather than focusing on profits, is a much more effective path to success. What a novel idea for the salespeople who have been taught to set goals and focus, focus, focus on reaching them. Imagine, actually doing the right thing as a path to success!
I call this idea is Soft Focus. When we have well-defined long terms goals, that are based on our values, our efforts have a way of aligning themselves toward accomplishing those goals. And we don’t even really have to think about them. What is more, for most of us purpose and giving back are present somewhere in our value system. So, do the right thing, know where you are going, and your career will make itself. Again, seems novel right?