Creative Age? Yep, I'm A Soulitarian

P-L-A-Y - it's another four-letter word in business. (Note play is one of the six attributes for the Conceptual Age.)

Curt Rosengren at Occupational Adventure points us to the new book, Play Ethic (U.K. only right now) by Pat Kane.

He [author Kane] identifies a new type of worker - the "soulitarians", who, if and when they work, shun high salaries in favour of "meaningful" work, are keen to experiment with technology and happily flit between start-up and corporation, self-employment and job-sharing. They are capable of hard work in the right endeavour and their creativity and technological skills make them increasingly sought-after. But they are militant about putting work in its place so they can have time for travel, personal growth and new experiences. - Financial Times article (via Occupational Adventure)

Soulitarian fits me to a T - especially if and when - except I'm working on shunning that "shunning high salary" part. Why assume there's got to be a trade-off? Sounds like mental map stuff to me (btw, been read more of The Power of Impossible Thinking at B&N cafe yesterday - great stuff.) Anyway, only thing that I'd like to clarify is that for me I try to bring meaning to work, I'm not seeking it from work.

So does this mean we should just muck about at work? Nope. Play is more than that. Kane takes his cue from the root-word dlegh (in Celtic, Germanic and Slavic), meaning 'to engage oneself'. - Management Today

'Soul engagement' is not just for brands but for all of us - in and out of the workplace. Toss out the guilt-ridden, work-is-supposed-to-be-soul-draining ethic.

As I mull over this, I had this feeling of gratitude wash over me. It's been a really good time. I've been a Soulitarian (snappier term needed) since June 1996. That was probably the first time I heard my wee voice (you're right Hugh, it's snappier than authentic voice) regarding work and I didn't second-guess it. Nope, I didn't muffle it for once. And I didn't listen to 'sane advice' from others.

I once read that humans are the only animals that second-guess their instincts.

I'd very much like to know if this Soulitarian thing is actually a trend...please comment if this resonates with your life or where you see yourself headed...and I'll write more about June 1996 in a follow-up post.

Comments

[hugh macleod]

Hop off The Cluetrain, get on The Soultrain, Baby!

Yeah, I would agree with you, mostly. Companies know longer have enough technological edge over their competitors... nor do companies offer their people enough stability to keep their best minds from leaving to go work for the competition.

So "Purpose/Belief" becomes ever more important. The latter is basically spiritual, even if the adjective makes us squeamish.