There are a lot of ways we can create impact.
Some are obvious, like our actions towards other humans.
Some are far less so and take years to realize, like our reliance on plastic that’s now resulted in a massive environmental crisis.
Then there are those we disassociate from because it’s not within our control, like what our companies do vs. what our job is.
But for those of us who want purpose and fulfillment in our work, are we ok disconnecting ourselves from the broader impact our companies have? No wrong answer, but that’s assuming we’ve asked the question.
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Everyday, we come across various snippets of inspiring stories on social media about people doing a lotta good with a little…
Azel Prather is a pre-K/Kindergarten teacher in DC, who hosted a “Spa Day” for his kids, many of whom can’t afford simple luxuries like a haircut. He paid for it himself using money he needed to repair his car. The impact Azel wants to create is clear… valuing his kids’ stories and meeting the needs he sees in their lives.
If you look good, you feel good. If you feel good, you do good. In action.
We also hear about wildly successful businesses that are thoughtful about how they operate and grow…
Cocomelon is a Youtube channel with 2.5 BILLION views/month. It’s the second most-watched YouTube channel with animated cartoons, and original kids songs. The Bath Song alone has 2,323,690,015 views.
It was started by a wife-husband team with children’s books and film backgrounds, who wanted to entertain their kids. They now have a team of ~20 animators and songwriters, etc., but want to stay as anonymous as possible.
What they want to create is also clear… “I never look up the reason why something is popular or how I can please the YouTube algorithm. I know what matters. Stories matter. I don’t want more viewership. I’m fine.”
And there are businesses that are exploring new frontiers to see where we could go someday…
Clearview.ai is billed as a research tool leveraging image search tech to solve crime… for now. But they started with looking for any use case that would pay for the tech and found product-market fit with law enforcement, not to mention stopping pedophiles is a compelling story.
It’s essentially a very powerful facial recognition tool that seems to be incredibly accurate (99%) pulling from a database of 3B+ images that sat in the public domain at one point or another. The tech would not be possible without Google, Facebook, Instagram, etc.
The founder, Hoan Ton-That, wants “ to build a ‘great American company’ with ‘the best of intentions’ and wouldn’t sell his product to Iran, Russia or China.” Which echoes the similarly idealistic sentiments of Google and FB when they started. But its investors are already pushing for other sectors (retail, hospitality) and consumer usage.
At its core, it’s not clear what impact Hoan and Clearview want to create besides profit.
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In pursuit of metrics and profits, technology and the world at large is developing in a way that makes the ultimate impact of all these exploratory pursuits utterly unpredictable. Part of that has to do with the fact that we’re not intentionally creating with a target impact in mind, resulting in both incredible and catastrophic results.
Even companies that have clearly defined the impact they want to create have gotten so big that we’re left with a lot of complex contradictions to reconcile.
Maybe saving the planet is your impact goal and you can see yourself working at Amazon not just for the money, but because there’s alignment with the $10B Bezos Earth Fund. But Amazon is also massively reliant on oil and gas to operate the business so, what trumps what?
These aren’t easy things to sift through, but if you want a fulfilling career or a company that aligns with your values, figuring that out requires sorting through this kind of muck.
Progress has been an unwavering goal of humankind and the shape of our world is often left to trusting the moral compass and “good” intentions of corporations and people who have power and influence. But we also know this is not a reliable strategy.
Companies need to make money to survive. It’s absolutely a business first. But the question doesn’t have to be profit OR responsibility? It can be profit AND what impact do we want to create?
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The world has a lot of problems that need able, driven people to help solve.
The world also has a lot of beautiful things that need good, caring people to help grow and spread.
On the one hand, it may feel like our efforts are a drop in the ocean. But on the other, the ONLY thing any human has to contribute is time and effort. Everything that’s ever been created and destroyed in our existence is due to our individual drops in the collective ocean.
We can each be an Azel, or create a Cocomelon, or develop a Clearview, or join an Amazon. And each of those actions add up to what happens to our world.
If you’re considering what the next step in your life is and you want meaningful work, don’t forget to define what impact you want to create. It matters no matter how many steps removed you think you are from the end result.
🙏,
Pam
Originally published at https://www.pamyang.nyc on February 20, 2020.
