What Matters More: Wages or Purpose? Reflections on a David Goleman Article
By Michael J Griffin
Recently, I read an article by David Goleman called “What Matters More: Wages or Purpose?” It made me reflect on what has happened in my company in Asia over the past 30 years and how both purpose, values and salaries have been a factor for success in my company Equipping Leaders for Asia (ELAvate).
My company purpose and my personal mission as shareholder are the same: “To equip and inspire young people to be the transformational leader they have potential to be as multipliers of healthy relationships across the world.” This mission aligns with our work as a company that has trained leaders across 21 nations. The lesson here is when the shareholders demonstrate their mission in their daily lives, this attract others to join.
In USA, there is a lot of talk about the “Great Resignation.” This movement of employees has been a fact of life in the developing nations of Asia for over 30 years. With a shortage of well trained, experienced leader/managers in Asia to grow corporate business, employees jump more out of opportunity to advance their career and prospects to reach the top, rather than mediocre supervision. If you are really good as a strong ethical leader in Asia, you can have your cake and eat it too. The lesson in Asia is you have and will continue to train up and groom young leaders who stay and leave for bigger opportunities. After all, it is the Asian century.
I have found my longest serving employees and contractors have similar purpose and values. When I interview people, I will always do a DISC Behavioral style profile, and a TTISI Motivator/Values profile of promising candidates. This gave me a rich data source to go back over the past 25 years and see who stayed with ELAvate and who left. Here’s what I found. The big ah-ha was corporate purpose and personal values/motivators do matter. All long serving employees believed in our mission and their motivator values profile confirmed it. I have a strong altruistic motivator and it is reflected in my corporate mission. When I poured over the profiles of past employees, I found those who stayed and were loyal also had a strong altruistic motivator. It was obvious that motivators and values overrode personality, behavioral differences and even pay. Here’s the proof of the altruistic people and their career length with Elavate:
On the negative side, I found past employees who had a high individualistic value usually would stay 2 -3 years. The hardest people I found to keep were B2B salespeople who could consult and train regardless of the values/motivator match. They would usually leave because of much higher pay and position than I could offer in the developing nations where we do business.
Like Citibank in Asia, I always expect high performing consultants (or bankers in Citibank’s case) to leave and encouraged them to move on when they received a significantly bigger opportunity. These employees were excellent, were ethical and many have remained my good friends and clients. Let me name a few: Felicity, Avesh, Shekhar, Shruti, Abhi, Sharon, Yenni, Kevin, and Fatma to name a few.
From my business experience , any potential candidate who said they wanted to be an author and write a book as ripped off ELA material. So, I shy away from hiring authors!
Key Lessons:
If you are the CEO, director, or shareholder, walk the purpose and values talk to attract and retain your best people.
Pay special attention and coaching care to your high performing B2B salespeople.
Use profiling to help dig beyond the “interview mask” to uncover the heart of the people you interview. Values and motivators can predict long term loyalty.
Don’t burn your bridges if a good ethical employee leaves for a great growth opportunity. They may become a client or a good friend!
Have a great week living your mission and demonstrating your life values to your team!
Michael J Griffin
ELAvate Founder
6E Coach
John Maxwell Team Founder