“People want to be part of something larger than themselves.  They want to be part of something they’re really proud of, that they’ll fight for, sacrifice for, that they trust.”

– Howard Schultz, Chairman and Founder of Starbucks

I found this quote this morning during my usual wandering through favorite websites.  It appears on business guru Tom Peters’ website – in his “free stuff” section.  I got to Tom’s website via another excellent site – Speaking on Speaking.

The Internet is something larger than ourselves that we want to be a part of – at least “our favorites” or the “blogs” that we participate in or the multitude of friends that we associate with through My Space and other social networks.

However, Mr. Schultz was really talking about what sets his company – Starbucks – apart.  Why do people want to work there?  Why do people like to buy their products and hang out in their cafes?

Job satisfaction is not directly related to how much we get paid for what we do.  Certainly money is important and we must all feel that we are being compensated on a fair and equitable scale.  But that is not job satisfaction.

Why do we choose the companies or industries that we work in?  The causes that we support?  The people that we want to be around – or to be like?  What gives us satisfaction?

People, Products, Reputation

We want to work with people that we like and respect.  We want to produce products and services that we are proud of.  These help to establish our reputation.  This is what give us satisfaction. This is why we choose our associations.  This is why we fight for what we believe in.  This is why people will trust us.

From today’s web-crawl and finding Tom Peters’ treasure trove of “freebies”, I have a stack of quotations to add to my database.  But I also have found motivation to get my day going.  I hope that this blog is help you as well.  If so, please share your thoughts with our readers.