W EEKLY EDITION JULY 19, 2017
Great Leaders Help People Find Passion for Their Work…
Even when the job is "unappealing"
Based on Lead with a Story by Paul Smith
Have you ever heard the advice, "You really need to love your
job"? It's usually offered unsolicited by an overconfident boss
who thinks the rank and file will find it inspiring, or somehow turn
their drudgery into a rewarding experience.
Does it work? Of course not. You can't order pe ople to love their
job. That just gives them inspiration to quit and go somewhere
with more exciting work. Far better to help them find the passion
for their work.
In spring 2009 Paul Smith needed to find that passion. He'd just
been asked to take a new p osition as director of consumer
research for Procter & Gamble's paper business. That meant he was going to be in charge of consumer
research for, among other things, Puffs facial tissue and Charmin bath tissue. Like a lot of people entering the
portable sa nitation industry, Paul thought about attending a party and wondering what he'd say that wouldn't
be embarrassing or otherwise negative. He imagined having to tell people he was "literally in charge of doing
research on how people blow their noses and wipe their butts."
He knew that didn't sound very glamorous, or even interesting. Again, like a lot of people just entering portable
sanitation, he formed a lot of prejudicial notions about what it would be like to work in the toilet paper business.
He couldn 't think of a less important product in terms of impacting people's lives. Paul also thought there
couldn't be many unexplored ways you could talk about how soft and absorbent a piece of paper was.
As it turned out, Paul's first stop with the news of his new job was to visit his good friend Jeff Brooks. Today he's
a consultant and professor at the Jack Welch Management Institute. But at the time, he was a fellow P&Ger.
After suffering through the obligatory potty humor, Jeff ended up telling the following story that helped Paul
appreciate my new role in a way neither guy expected at the time.
At the end of a weeklong business trip to Budapest, Hungary, Jeff had a short train ride to the airport for
his return home. He sat next to a fellow American, now l iving in Budapest, so they struck up a
conversation. When she found out it was his first trip to Hungary, she asked him what he thought of it. In
a very cordial manner, he replied that he liked it very much, and that there was much to do in Budapest.
Af ter finishing the socially graceful answer, however, he began to tell her a little more about what he
really thought.
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