Everyone knows about the super-sweeper incident from many decades ago. President JFK went to NASA to inspect a rocket launch. He chanced upon a sweeper. JFK asked the sweeper what he was upto. The sweeper didn’t feel shy or embarrassed to tell only the the most important man he’d meet in his life that he was sweeping the floor. Instead, he told JFK that he was contributing towards putting a man on the moon. What a superb attitude to life!
This is often quoted in relation to Krishna’s teachings in the Gita as well. Our life purpose and work purpose must transcend the mundane. Krishna emphasizes many times that it is not what work we do that matters, but only “how” we do the work.
Folks think that they will be happy at work only when they become the CEO. But the CEO’s role might be the hardest, and definitely the loneliest. The CEO is alone, managing a huge team below him, while also solitarily reporting to a Board above.
As many expert opine nowadays, if we want people to align with us, then we should get them to care. And no one cares about what we do, they only care about why we do it.