Tom Peters has been sermonizing about this for sometime. His 1999 book, The Project 50 (Reinventing Work), said that jobs were going the way of the dinosaur.

Peters pointed out that in order to stand out you need to see your career as a series of Wow! projects. The ability to define and execute Wow! projects defines your personal reputation and brand, while bringing value above and beyond just doing my job.

I’ve felt this acutely over the years in my own work and in my own hiring. I refused to hire people who were just looking for a job or who waited to be told what to do. The pace and the demands of business are so great that I had little patience with telling every single person what their work should be for a given day. I wanted to surround myself with team players who really owned what we were trying to do, imaginatively think about how to create value, and then executed project after project that moved us forward.

In Who Should You Hire?, Seth Godin reflects on the shift from

manual-based work (where you follow instructions and an increase in productivity means doing the steps faster) to project-based work (where the instructions are unknown, and visualizing outcomes and then getting things done is what counts.)

Job Mentality in the Christian Community

In the Christian community this type of value-creating initiative has been wiped out by an overemphasis on authority. We are taught to be submissive to authority and that means not doing anything that the authority doesn’t tell you to do. I’ve seen it in Christian schools, churches, and ministry organizations.

Eventually people become passive, and innovation dies. It also comes out of an over-emphasis on “stewardship” – the teaching that we are mere managers of our resources whether it is time, money or talent. So the emphasis becomes-risk aversion, playing to the accepted playbook of formulas and conventional wisdom.

In the Christian community this type of value-creating initiative has been wiped out by an overemphasis on authority

Am I against jobs or people that hold jobs? Of course not. But I don't like the "job" mentality of employers and employees. Employers should seek to create more purposeful, energizing, and developmental environments for people. And employees must realize that job satisfaction, personal development, and career advancement depend on the project mind versus the job mind.

God has called us to take initiative, take risk, to get things done versus waiting for someone to tell us what to do. Isn't that what we call a life of faith? God wants us to think more like co-owners of his Kingdom; to understand His goals and purpose, to take initiatives to advance them.

I’m also concerned that parents and educators are still preparing young people for a job world rather than the highly innovative, fluid, and entrepreneurial project world that is the new reality.

In our new world of work, I’m worried that at a time when followers of Christ have incredible opportunities in all arenas to innovate and serve, that most are being very passive. Companies are looking to hire the kind of people that Peters and Godin and the Bible describe. Are you one?

Seth Godin adds,

I’m almost done with my (sold out) book tour, and the biggest pleasure of the project was working with people who totally understand what it is to get things done.

He echoes Christ’s commendation,

Well, done, my good and faithful servant!