What are You Doing?

A story about Christopher Wren, the arhitect responsible for rebuilding the St. Paul’s Cathedral after the Great Fire of London … asked three bricklayers what they were doing. The first bricklayer responded, “I’m working.” The second said , “I’m building a wall.” The third paused, looked up, and then said, “I’m building a cathedral to the Almighty.”¹

Kim Scott goes on to explain that it’s not Wren’s job to provide purpose because someone’s purpose is subjective. Wren’s job is to understand how each bricklayer thought about the work they’re doing and then use that to “create working conditions that allowed everybody to find meaning in their own way.”