EASY TO SAY, EASY TO DO.

"What I want to do with my life is to make a difference." Ever hear anyone say that? Ever heard yourself say that?

My philosophy of life is simple: You're born, you die and in between you do something. That "something" can be butcher, baker, candlestick maker, doctor, lawyer, Native American Head Administrator, prince, pauper, pawn or a king. You will occupy your time on earth doing something. There are only a few of us who will be remembered by the rest of us for that something we do, good or bad. Most of us must be content to be the "rest of us," and that's just fine.

You may not make a difference to the multitudes, but at your death, I believe, you will have made a difference to somebody, and so, many of us seek to make that difference through work. Mistake.

An employee can attempt to make a difference through work, but that's a tough road, because an employee is only one half of the equation. His or her organization is the other half. Do you really believe when the founders of companies had a business idea, garnered capital, adhered to all government rules and regulations, hired a bunch of strangers, negotiated for real-estate, and experienced many sleepless nights, they did it all for the purpose of providing you an opportunity to "make a difference?"

Did the founders bring their burning desires and passions to life to provide you and me an extended family, a home away from home, a place to go each day for fulfillment, challenge, an enhanced quality of life, The American Dream, and a home base from which to make a difference? Of course not, but somehow workers were willingly, happily, unconsciously, and voluntarily led down that yellow brick road to the loving, caring and all-benevolent organization.

Today's employees were influenced by previous generations to believe an organization should care about their hopes, dreams and aspirations and on the job they would be doing something worth doing, something that made a difference. So people tried to combine the "making a difference" at work concept with the "making a salary" concept and found themselves ordering Maalox by the case.

Those who are living their lives with the pressure relief valve open are those who have realized their passion to make a difference transcends the workplace. They don't have to be employed to make a difference. They vow to make a difference wherever they are and in whatever they are doing. This is an important lesson because the framework in which you live your life is continually changing, and if you tie your life's purpose to something transitory like your job, there is trouble in River City.

The young and naive tend to give their organization more responsibility for their whole person than it wanted or should have had. As workers mature they came to realize their organizations used them as much as they used their organizations -- both for selfish reasons. Employees are to their organizations, like it or not, interchangeable pieces.

Work is just one element of your life, one way to express yourself, and one of many way to make a difference. Your being on this earth does not have to be justified through your work, volunteerism, parenting or all the other "somethings " you do. Just being here you have made a difference.

Lesson: Different people have different ways to make a difference.