Beyond helping people

The unexpected formula for finding fulfilling work

As a career and leadership coach, I spend a lot of time with clients defining their next product roles. They’re burnt out of doing work that doesn’t feel connected to a broader purpose. So, when I ask them what they’re looking for next, they confidently tell me. “Impact.” 

But what does that mean? 

The most common definition: helping people. 

Hot take: “helping people” is a vague, unhelpful definition of impact. It makes us think that if we just switch jobs into a different industry to help the “right” people, then suddenly we will feel fulfilled. But that ignores the fact that impact is determined by so many things other than the industry. The only way to actually find an impactful job is to define what it means to you, which requires having an understanding of all the things we mean when we say “impact.” 

Breaking down impact

Impact is a combination of doing work at sufficient scale that feels rooted in purpose with enough ownership and validation that you’re doing enough to unlock said purpose. 

That’s a mouthful. Let’s break it down: 

• Purpose: this is a connection to some broader goal/cause, whether it’s reflected by the industry, specific problem, and/or target customer. It’s your way of laddering your work to some cause that’s bigger than yourself or company. For many, the cause is something deeply personal, with strong roots to their story and identity.

• Validation: this means feeling good about your day-to-day work and that it ladders up to your purpose. It’s about knowing that if you do good work, you’ll be recognized. This is mostly determined by the people/culture, which define when, what, and how you’ll receive validation. 

• Ownership: this translates to having enough responsibility to feel that your contributions are contributing to the higher level purpose/mission. This is usually a combination of the level of ownership/autonomy over your work, as well as the overall scope of responsibilities of your role. 

• Scale: this is the quantity of impact. There’s a way to visualize this on a depth vs breadth spectrum, where some people prioritize breadth of impact, even if it comes at a tradeoff of depth. Similarly, others prioritize depth, knowing that it means there won’t be much breadth. Others want to be somewhere in the middle. There’s no right or wrong. 

For some people, their “personal” definition of impact might include all four of these ingredients, whereas for others, it might involve one or two variables. It’s also possible that this definition changes with time, as priorities shift over time. All of this is normal, and very much reflects our current internal state. 

Searching for impact in the beyond

Case study: my evolution of impact

My impact journey has been a series of failed experiments. Initially, I cared a lot about scale (specifically, breadth over depth) and ownership (having as big of a scope as possible). I figured that would set me up to do something more purpose oriented in the future, like starting a social enterprise organization. That’s what led me to the APM program at Google, where I had access to incredible scale but struggled with ownership, and Thumbtack, where I had lots of ownership but little purpose. When I switched to startups, I found deep purpose, but lost validation and ownership in the process. 

At Match, I thought I had found the right balance of purpose, validation, and ownership. And I had, in some ways. The mission of belonging and connection really struck a deep chord. I built good relationships with my managers, peers, and reports, resulting in positive validation over my work. I had meaningful ownership over the work, promoted into a management role a few months into my role. But despite the success, I couldn’t help but feel that something was missing. Almost like it was ideal for an older version of me, but not current me. 

The sabbatical made me realize that my time at Match got many things right. The validation and ownership was really rewarding. The mission of belonging is still personal for me, especially as an immigrant kid who moved around a lot and struggled to feel seen/belong. But instead of building a tool that prioritizes breadth over depth, I wanted to do the opposite. I wanted to, as the Daniels talked about in their SXSW keynote, create things that made people feel so deeply that it “knocked them off their current trajectories.” This is what appeals to me about storytelling and coaching: the ability to help people reframe their own mental models about themselves, their peers, and the world. Plus, a lot of that work then ends up having a butterfly impact, touching other people’s lives in a deep, transformative way, which over time, results in breadth. 

Today, my coaching and creative projects have given me a deeper sense of purpose, depth, and ownership, but validation is by far the biggest lack. I’m an early career writer and coach with very little mentorship and community, which makes it hard to get positive and constructive feedback. I’m actively working on fixing it this year. 

Offering: defining your impact. 

You might be wondering: this is great, but how do I figure out what impact means for me? I have an exercise that might help. 

Brainstorm for ten minutes all the moments in your life where you felt like you had “impact” on something bigger than yourself. This could be from your childhood, time in childhood, college, at your job, or outside of your job. Go for quantity, not quality. 

Brainstorm for ten minutes people or companies that you admire because of the impact they’re having on their communities/problems/world. This could be people in your immediate network or celebrities/influencers you’ve heard of. Go for quantity, not quality. 

Examine the output to see if there’s commonalities in the moments of impact, people, and companies. Look for hints of purpose, themes around the kind of validation that makes you feel fulfilled, or if there’s a thesis on scale. That will give you better hints about what impact means to you, so you can find the role and career that best fits what you’re looking for next. 

If you tried the above exercise, I’d love to hear how it goes for you in the comments. Or, if in doing this exercise you need support in articulating your definition of impact or how to translate it into a fulfilling career (inside and/or outside of product), then I’d love to help. Feel free to book a free consultation with me to chat more :)  

Note: this is the first in a series of articles on breaking down common career values: unpacking assumptions, real-life case studies, and free exercises that I use with my coaching clients. Next up: culture! Subscribe below if you want to receive updates directly to your mailbox. 

Thing of Note

Recap: This section is my way of bringing attention to a thing, person, or idea that’s meaningful/related to the mission of this newsletter. This week, I want to highlight The Moat of Low Status by Sasha Chapin. 

One of the most challenging parts about making this pivot is figuring out how to navigate starting over from scratch, especially after working super hard to climb the ladder of a challenging career. I struggled for so long to articulate the feeling, and Sasha’s latest essay captures it extremely well. I’ve become low status. It sounds crass, but it feels really honest. It’s helped me understand why I feel so drained after introducing myself to new people at parties. It’s because I’m used to being perceived as someone with higher status, but given my career transition, I’m low status again. I love how Sasha has reframed his feelings around low status to a more empowering form. Definitely check it out if you haven’t! 

Thanks for Reading! 

I’m on a journey to create a blended career across the creative arts, tech, and business. This newsletter is my way of sharing my reflections, thoughts, and advice along the way. Here are some ways to support or further collaborate together! 

• I would love feedback on this post. 

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  • Hearing from readers also gives me a ton of energy. Drop a comment about how you define impact, or any reflections from trying out the impact exercise yourself. 

If you’re figuring out your own career transition or looking for more support in your product career, consider working with me as a coach. Here’s my calendly if you want to get the ball rolling.