This article is part of a seven-part series inspired by What Color Is Your Parachute?, Richard Bolles’ classic guide to finding work that fits who you are. In his “Flower Exercise”, each petal represents one element of a fulfilling career: the skills you love using, the people you work best with, the environment that helps you thrive, your values, interests, geography and preferred level of responsibility. You can start anywhere or follow the series as each article stands alone, but together they form a single flower.
The fourth petal of the Flower Exercise asks a deeper question: why do you work? It is a question of values and purpose. Not the values listed on websites or policies, but the ones that guide our choices when no one is watching.
Values shape how we interpret success, how we respond to pressure and how we make trade-offs between ambition and integrity. Without clarity about why we do what we do, we risk chasing achievement without fulfilment.
The Shifting Meaning of Work
For many people, purpose evolves over time. I did not study medicine because I felt a vocational calling to the profession. I studied medicine because I was guided in that direction. At seventeen, I still had little insight into what I was going to be when I grew up. My father was disappointed when he heard I had chosen medicine. He said he helped people every day through food, because everyone needs bread. I did not understand it then, but I do now.
Medicine never felt like purpose to me. I worked hard, but I did not feel I was making an impact. Patients were grateful for too little, and everyone around me was exhausted. The system was underfunded and overextended, and goodwill was treated as an endless resource. I left knowing that public health cannot run on sacrifice.
Purpose began to take shape later, almost by accident. Working in HIV changed how I understood service. The patients were not defined by illness but by determination. They wanted to thrive, not simply survive. Their energy gave new meaning to my work.
Today, I find purpose in continuity. In the family business, I see the impact of feeding people, families, celebrations, the ordinary and sacred moments of daily life. Bread, once my father’s metaphor, has become my own. Through philanthropy, I have found another kind of purpose: strengthening systems so that they can serve more people, more effectively, more sustainably and with dignity. That is what meaningful impact looks like to me.
How has your understanding of meaningful work evolved as your life and responsibilities have changed?
Values in Practice
Bolles encouraged readers to reflect on what they consider non-negotiable. These are the boundaries that define a fulfilling career. For example:
- Integrity: I need to act in ways that align with my conscience.
- Service: I want my work to improve someone else’s life.
- Learning: I value growth, curiosity and the ability to keep evolving.
- Balance: I want space for both contribution and rest.
- Justice: I want to be part of systems that treat people fairly.
These principles have shaped how I understand impact. They form the thread that connects what I do now with what I once searched for in medicine. The work that feels most meaningful to me today is work that honours these values in practice, where effort is matched by integrity and systems serve people as they should. The alignment is not always perfect, but I can tell when it is there. It changes the tone of everything around it.
Recent studies affirm what experience has already shown me: meaning at work is closely tied to alignment. Research in Harvard Business Review found that people who experience their work as meaningful are more engaged and committed than those motivated mainly by pay or promotion. Similarly, Martela’s 2021 study on the psychology of meaningful work showed that a sense of significance, rather than status, predicts fulfilment. When work aligns with our values and allows autonomy and responsibility, it supports well-being and reduces burnout. I see this reflected in my own path. The times I have felt most energised were not necessarily the most visible or prestigious, but the ones that allowed integrity, clarity and contribution to coexist.
What boundaries or principles feel non-negotiable for you, and how do they shape your decisions at work?
A Question for Reflection
Think of three moments when you felt proud of yourself at work and three when you felt uneasy. For each, ask what value was being honoured or violated. You may start to see patterns that explain both your satisfaction and your frustration. Those patterns are your compass.
What matters most to you in your work, and how clearly is that reflected in the choices you make each day?
Petal 4 reminds us that meaningful work begins with clarity about what we stand for. When our values and our actions align, purpose follows naturally.
References
Martela F. The three meanings of meaning in work. Journal of Vocational Behavior. 2021;131:103646. doi:10.1016/j.jvb.2021.103646.
Kiersz A, Grant A. What makes work meaningful? Harvard Business Review. 2023 Jul 11. Available from: https://hbr.org/2023/07/what-makes-work-meaningful
Hackman JR, Oldham GR. Motivation through the design of work: Test of a theory. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance. 1976;16(2):250-79.
Schnell T, Hoffmann A, Pali S. Meaningful work protects against burnout: Links and mechanisms. Frontiers in Psychiatry. 2019;10:382. doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2019.00382.