My neighbor is an eye doctor. She sees patients every day. The vast majority of her patients suffer from a handful of common conditions, many a natural byproduct of old age. She helps people every day in a very tangible way. She loves it.
One of the most common sources of turnover at Taproot when I was CEO, with both team and board members, was the realization that employees were too far removed from the front lines. For people who wanted to work directly with others, helping a nonprofit become stronger was intellectually satisfying but not engaging. We would lose many talented pro bono consultants for the same reason--they wanted to be working directly with those in need.
My friend, James Shepard, once roughly described this as the difference between a doctor and a hospital administrator. Many people want to directly serve those in need (doctors), while others (like me) like to build the systems that enable and support those individuals (hospital administrators, in this example). For the latter, our playground is advancing organizations. We see organizations and groups of people as the organizing units of society.
My cousin, Jason Elliott, works for the mayor of San Francisco. His work arena represents another type of playground. His passion is for working at a policy level, analyzing how city, state, and federal programs impact hospitals and clinics and can also set those places up for success. He is about as far removed from the front lines as you can be, but the impact of even the smallest decision at that level can affect thousands of patients.
In my early twenties, I began to realize that the impact that drove me was for organizations. I am intellectually curious about policy and broader changes in systems, but they tend to move too slowly to meet my need for experimentation and feedback. Changing policies and whole systems tends to take years, and then decades longer to see if they worked. This work is so removed from the front lines that it doesn't give me an emotional charge. I also enjoy working to help individuals, and working on the intersection of organizations and society. But at the core for me is a love for helping organizations realize their potential.
As you seek to have more purpose in your career, this is the first area where you should seek clarity. Are you a doctor, a hospital administrator, or policy-maker? This isn't an intellectual question; it has to do with what you want your day to day to look like, and ultimately, what will allow you to create the most meaningful impact in the world.
So which one are you?
This post originally appeared on Imperative.