Work sucks for SO many people.
I’m lucky to have, on the whole, enjoyed my work. But SO many people are not able to deliver anywhere near their full potential, or thrive, in today’s working world.
Who am I thinking of?
- The energised event manager whose outrageous boss has squashed her spirit
- The senior strategist whom the market considers ‘past it’
- The NHS nurse whose practice partners took for granted, and who quit
- The talented carpenter who falls into generic building work like everyone else
- The artist who’s always had to find work that pays
- Every teacher ever, because… well, you know why
…to name but a few conversations I’ve had recently.
There are people cutting short parental leave to go back to the grind, people burning out from stress, people hiding their identities to fit in, people cramming in studies for a chance to escape, people letting their dreams ebb away.
And what good is it doing? The UK’s productivity rate sucks. We’re facing economic hardship, the cost of living crisis and all that. Since 2008 we’ve far underperformed comparable countries on a whole bunch of economic indicators.
Oh, and by the way AI is coming to take our jobs.
OK, so, what can be done?
Radical new policies would, in my opinion, be awesome. A redrawing of finances that pulls away from big big business and towards encouraging those with energy and dynamism. That kind of thing.
But that’s not really my fight (besides casting a vote and maybe campaigning a bit.)
What, then, can MARKETING do? Something more within my control.
Simple, I think.
Good marketing allows both businesses and individuals to understand their value and how to earn what they deserve for it.
How would this make a difference?
Partly, better marketing could boost sales etc. Clearly that would be great for the economy, but also make for healthier and calmer workplaces that aren’t grafting to hit their numbers every month.
But also, understanding your market value (and, ‘positioning’) gives a sense of pride, purpose and confidence that’s massively important for our sense of individual and collective well-being.
I’m not saying marketing alone can fix everything (see radical policy note above), but I do think that its toolkit has enormous potential to empower a ground-swell of change from workers, and make the working world better.
I really believe there’s huge potential to build a better working world, and that marketing has a key role to play.
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Looking forward to discussing this with you on LinkedIn – drop me a comment / message: linkedin.com/in/willsawney
