The Metiss Group's Blog

In 1928, Dr. Eduard Spranger wrote the book “Types of Men” in which he introduced six common motivators we all have.  Of the six, Spranger argued everyone has two about which we are most passionate.  One of the six motivators is Social – our desire to make sure society is a better place and to give back.  People with this altruistic passion are particularly moved by all the public support for breast cancer awareness. It’s hard not to notice all the different signs of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month; the pink is everywhere.  No doubt many of your direct reports are feeling the urge to give back and participate.

If your organization is compelled to participate in societal causes, let the passionate Social direct reports champion your efforts.  The energy and passion they create is contagious and the whole organization benefits.  However, as Spranger points out, not everybody has a passionate Social.  Don’t assume everyone will embrace the cause and respect those who choose to be less involved (there will be plenty of other non-Social initiatives they’ll be passionate about).

Empower your benevolent direct reports to champion your organization’s Social purposes, and your whole organization will succeed.

This entry was posted on October 28, 2013 at 5:00 am and is filed under Leadership. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.