A blog post this morning by Walter McKenzie got me thinking about career behavior--more specifically do we approach people with a "what's in it for me?" mentality or do we look beyond transactions? Here's Walter's take on an experience he had recently:

In terminal one at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago, right across from Chili’s, is a Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory shop, where they have a standing offer that you can buy three caramel apples and get a fourth one free. The apples are fresh and dipped daily and are a tempting treat, but for many solo travelers it’s not possible to grab four caramel apples and run easily.

One traveler  ahead of me in line bought one caramel apple and ran off to his gate to catch his flight.

Another bought the four caramel apples and offered three to the next three of us in line she didn’t even know, just so she could get hers free.

We gladly took her up on her offer, and as she went on her way with our “thank yous” hanging in the air the traveler who had been standing right behind me commented what silliness it was for her to pay triple the price for the one apple she received.

I walked off processing his cynical comment. Mathematically he was right, of course. As transactions go, she had paid for three but she was only enjoying one.

In her mind, though, she had gotten a free caramel apple and showed a kindness to three fellow travelers in the process.

I guess if you really wanted to be mathematically faithful to the buy-three-get-one-free offer, you could have sold the three extra apples to recoup your purchase price. But who has time in a busy airport to try selling freshly made snacks in the middle of the terminal? No, you are most likely going to buy one or buy four for the price of three and not worry about the cost whether you plan on keeping them all for yourself or giving some away.

But the distinction is an important one. If you were a player in this scene, would you be stuck on the transaction, or would you be comfortable thinking beyond the transaction and sharing an unexpected kindness with three strangers? Your answer has implications beyond your pocketbook.

As someone who works for herself, I have to ask every day "Is this activity bringing value?" If it's not, then I need to re-think it because I can't afford to engage in a lot of useless work. But the question becomes, "what is a valuable activity?" Is it something that I receive payment for or some other direct benefit? That's a transactional approach--I will do something because I see an immediate benefit or direct payoff. A lot of people operate that way, but I can't. 

I believe in paying things forward and in sharing as much as I can.That's why if I have work that I think would benefit a larger audience, I put it online here or on my portfolio. It's why I'm active in LinkedIn groups and other places because I like keeping the information and resources flowing. 

 I've had people ask me in workshops if I worry about people "stealing" my work. Not at all. I believe that creativity is something that we should share with other people--it's energy that needs to keep moving and if we try to hold it to ourselves, then we will stifle our own ability to keep creating. I also believe that we each have gifts to give and that one of our goals as humans should be to find and share those gifts with other people. Whether I get something in return is immaterial. The nature of a gift is that there are no strings attached. 

A few months ago, I wrote about the economic monoculture we are currently living in and how it pushes us to see human interactions through an economic, transactional prism. Everything we do is evaluated based on its "economic rationality," including it's ability to give us some direct benefit. I find this to be a soulless, sad way to live. Not that I can't get caught up in this thinking, but when I do, it's a quick trip into cynicism and unhappiness. 

For me, what I do can't be about transactions. It's more about who and how I want to be in the world. Do I want to embody an ethos of "what's in it for me"?  Or do I want to be someone more generous and relational, someone who values other people simply for who they are not for what they can do for me? 

I'm not sure where this post is taking me. Consider it a sort of meditation on the way I want to live my life. I aspire to be someone who goes beyond transactions, especially in my work.  I want to be the sort of person who gladly buys four caramel apples and gives three away in line to strangers in an airport, happy in the knowledge that I have put a gift out into the world and kept that spirit of generosity and creativity moving.