In my recent reading, I came across a character who pondered whether or not she had lived a worthwhile life.
I began to wonder that myself. I decided to consider only my business life for this blog, and began. I wondered if it had to do with the good things I had done as opposed errors I had made; big accomplishments as opposed to mistakes; ways I had lifted people up as opposed to ways I had put them down. I realized I had to define "worthwhile" in the context of my career.
After some thought, I decided it wasn't about defining a balance—so much good as opposed to so much not so good. I decided that "worthwhile" was not about winning awards, getting published, and serving on juries, all of which I had done; it was was about helping as opposed to hurting others.
Some years ago, in an effort to reduce the friction between technical folks and myself, to help them understand what I actually did, I used the following analogy to explain my job.
"You are a civil engineer. You design streets, pipelines, drainage systems, and other related facilities. You use specialized computer-aided design (CAD) software to help you perform studies and create precise and accurate drawings. But you are not a CAD technician. CAD is just one of many tools you use to do your job—which is civil engineering design.
"I am a marketer in a civil engineering firm. I use my knowledge and skills, specialized hardware and software, to help position the firm for work, find new opportunities, write proposals, develop presentations, and help with a variety of related activities after a project is won. But all these marketing tasks I perform to win new work are not really my job. They are the tools and methods I use to do my job.
"My job is to keep the company busy and profitable, and if I am successful at that, to keep you employed so you can keep your family fed, clothed, housed, and healthy."
Admittedly, I developed this viewpoint in self-defense. I had gotten tired of the adversarial relationship that often exists between marketing and technical staff who are constantly being pushed to maximize their billable hours. They were always angry when I interrupted their "real" (billable) work for something unimportant (i.e. something not billable). So when I needed 30 minutes of their time, they wanted to finish all the billable work on their desks first.
Shifting the viewpoint to "I'm here to help you to provide for your family" put both of us on the same team, and helped each of us understand and respect the work and the forces driving the other.
Now, when I look back over a 40+ year career in A/E marketing, total the number of successful proposals I have written and/or managed (winning more than 40%) over those years, I consider that I have helped many firms and, therefore, a huge number of both technical and support staff provide for themselves and their families.
So when I look back on all those successful pursuits, even the ones that made me want to tear out whatever hair I still had at the time, I have to say that I am pleased to have enjoyed a career way more worthwhile than not.