The Myth of Meaningful Work | Ryan T. Hartwig | TEDxAzusaPacificUniversity

Finding meaningful work is all the rage these days, especially among the millennial generation. Of course, this supposes that some work is inherently more meaningful than other work, and doing something that matters is essential to joy, happiness, and fulfillment.

But, is meaning something found in work or is it something we bring to our work?

Ryan T. Hartwig, PhD, is associate dean of the college of liberal arts and sciences and associate professor of communication at Azusa Pacific University in Greater Los Angeles. His first book, Teams That Thrive: Five Disciplines of Collaborative Church Leadership (with Warren Bird) was recently published by Intervarsity Press.

Ryan earned a PhD in communication from the University of Colorado Boulder. His scholarship has been published in the Journal of Applied Communication Research and Group Facilitation, and recognized with several awards from the National Communication Association. Ryan has taught classes in group, organizational and leadership communication for more than ten years, and he has led, trained and developed teams for more fifteen years in universities and churches.

[wonttellyoumyname]

Great message. Similarly, instead of finding the meaning of life, we should just bring meaning to our lives.

[chrono]

This guy’s argument is completely illogical. He spends the majority of his talk explaining how modern management theory changed work, which was inherently meaningful, into labor, which turns people into cogs in a system and is not meaningful. Then he ends his speech by saying to stop chasing the myth of meaningful work. Wouldn’t meaningful work be work in which you’re not treated as replaceable labor?

[bravemoon]

Yeah, a lot of us are demeaning ourselves, we should be grateful for being us and doing such a good job. We should work on our inside, not on our outside.

[pvsk]

I understand this message but if I was a doctor or a nurse or a massage therapist or a dental assistant, etc. I would never be wondering if what I am doing is meaningful because the work inherently has meaning.

[valclub]

Poetry. Absolutely the best analogy ever. Absolutely brilliant

[billjosh]

Im fed with being a corporate slave. Im fed up with this disgusting modern "society".

[StephenDruesedow]

It's a good point you make I think. We have only recently created this division between meaningful and non meaningful work and I don't know how helpful that is.

[prernadubey]

Very powerful, I almost teared up thinking about what this guy was saying, Man's search for meaning and fountainhead are good books for PPL looking for meaning.

[sandramarquez]

Spend less time finding meaningful work and more time making work meaningful. Thank you Brooke youre right just what I needed lol

[janicezhang]

Amazing talk, this is exactly what I need to hear and I 100% agree with everything he said. Mind blowing, such an inspiration!

[lancek]

A lot to like about this analysis, simple and insightful. No surprise though that meaning often comes back to our inter-connectivity with each other. Psychological study has repeatedly shown the benefits of inter-connectivity, of which industrialization historically has failed to provide

[Chartoise]

I dont know if its because I just got out of bed... But this guy is way to active for me now.

[antoniodevera]

thanks Ryan! work IS a meaningful endeavor. sacrifice can be sanctified and meaning discovered in work life

[shenqiangshou]

Fantastic video. Thank you for the life lesson.

[christinas.]

This talk was uploaded 2 years ago and has less than 14, 000 views, because nobody wants to hear the truth. Everybody wants to hear about how they are too deep and creative to do something useful.

[bektasozuturk]

unfortunately, he is real American man moreover he is taking fastly I'm learning English to improve my academic skills it will be kindness for me

[rave]

I dont see how selling soft drinks and giving people diabetes is meaningful.. Unless your goal is to make people suffer

[jabel]

Persuasive propaganda from the employer class. Don't be fooled.
Meaning is in "work" that you feely chose to do; whether you get paid or not.

[pts]

But, is meaning something found in work or is it something we bring to our work? think its a bit of both actually.

[redlightclinicdrummer]

"Meaningful work doesn't exist"
Tells how it use to exist and how his and previous generations took it away from us and wasted all of it.