David Zinger - Employee Engagement Speaker

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Career Zingers #26: What’s Your Currency?

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Money often costs too much. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

It is Only Paper (David Zinger, 2018)

What’s your currency at work? Currency is a medium of exchange. We narrowly think of currency as being money. I am not saying money is unimportant, just that it is not as important as we think. Countless studies have demonstrated that on the list of important motivators and contributors to employee engagement money is lower on the list.

Pause right now, consider what do you truly exchange your time, effort, and self for at work?

Over the years, I have learned my personal currencies for work are:

  • curiosity,
  • connection,
  • creativity,
  • playfulness,
  • stories,
  • learning,
  • expression, and
  • contribution.

When work offers me these currencies I am engaged and motivated. I have said numerous times, “I can’t believe I get paid to do this work.” I forget I am getting paid in the currencies listed above. When you exchange your work for the right currencies, work will make you well.

Career Zingers # 24: Beauty Is Not About How We Look, It Is About How We See

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To find beauty, see with fresh eyes

Susan, my wife, received some lovely roses. After a number of days I was ready to throw them out as they were withering. Susan stopped me, she cut the stems and put the roses in a new vase. The next morning while I was eating yogurt and granola for breakfast, I found myself staring at the roses. They were not new, they were not fresh, but they were beautiful. After reading this post, I encourage you to find beauty in yourself or in others even as you and others age and wither. Beauty is not about how we look, it is about how we see.

Career Zingers #23: Build a Nuanced Career

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Nuance Matters

The dictionary defines nuance as the ability to express delicate shadings (as of meaning, feeling, or value).

Own your subtle differences in meaning, feeling, and value. When you encounter career advice don’t trust it, test it. Does the advice fit for you? Is it helpful? How might you tweak or alter the suggestion or advice to make it your own.

You build a career not by assembling it like the 68 steps to assemble a piece of Ikea furniture — you assemble it by making up your own direction. You are not a beach – you are a grain of sand.

Career Zingers #22: “I want that you must be happy.”

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How are you contributing to other people’s happiness?

Monika Hilm, the regional director of Vienna House, and I were walking through Istanbul to see some of the popular tourist spots. We were at the bottom of the Galata Tower and wanted to make our way up to Taksim Square. It was a bit confusing as there was a sign pointing one way but my memory led me to believe it was in the opposite direction. As we were standing there frozen in our directional dilemma, an elderly gentleman approached asking if we wanted to buy a selfie stick. “No thank you,” I said.

Galata Tower Creative Commons, https///www.flickr.com/photos/diegoalbero/20294997025/

He then asked, “do you need some help?” I told him about our lack of direction and he gave us detailed and correct directions to Taksim Square. I felt grateful and voiced much thanks but he replied, “no need to thank me, I want that you must be happy.” Immediately upon hearing those words both Monika and I were moved. Moved to where we wanted to go but even more moved that he genuinely cared so much for our happiness.

I believe we can all learn about putting other people’s happiness first from the selfie-stick salesman. This week, focus on putting others happiness first without expecting a thank you. Be willing to say – or at least think to yourself – as you help others, “I want that you must be happy!”

Career Zingers #20: Tilt and Flip

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In the game called your career, what puts you on tilt and how do you flip out of being tilted?

To play pinball well we must know just how much we can shake the machine to alter the ball’s path in our favour without tilting the machine and ending the game, and we also want to keep flipping the ball back into the game area where we can score points. If you imagine your career as a game of pinball, what puts you on tilt and how do you flip out of it?

Tilt. Do you know who or what puts you on tilt, shutting you down, and leaving you feeling “out of the game.” Do you have common triggers and habitual ways of responding to being tilted? Once tilted, how long, in minutes, hours, or days, does your emotional and mental tilt leave you shut down.

Flip. After you have been tilted how do you flip your career ending tilt around? Do you have a specific routine, person, or mental perspective that renews or rejuvenates your career quest?