About 400 years ago when I first started working as a journalist, I had the misfortune to attend an ad rep meeting. You know what it looks like when someone goes from bright-eyed-and-bushy-tailed to devastated in ten seconds flat, don’t you? Well, the pinprick to my balloon came when the financial manager said that journalists are a dime a dozen, but a good ad rep . . . Ah, there’s the real treasure.

The next job I had was doing a computer company’s promotional magazine. Here, of course, the fact that the magazine will simply not exist if somebody didn’t start selling ad space pronto, finally sank in. So this is how one finds out that you can do something you never thought you could; that you’d be willing to take on any task that forms part of the thing you passionately believe in.

Now fast-forward to the day a job-hunting journalist phones The Bronberger’s office. Job hunter has a dream of one day having his own rural community publication. Surely we can provide him with a safe salary in the meantime. Nope, he cannot see how a writer could possibly help to create his own salary by selling ad space. I nearly found myself explaining that journalists are a dime a dozen, but a good ad rep . . .

See, the familiar ways of working aren’t working any more. Those who merely sit somewhere, filling in time from nine to five, without feeling passionate about what they’re doing, without letting this passion drag them into uncharted territories . . . well, let’s just say they’re going the way the Dodo did.

As distressing as the ongoing economic slump has been for everyone, at least it is causing people to wake up and demand more consciousness and integrity in work. The lines between one’s work, personal and spiritual life are slowly being erased.

Nick Williams, author and international speaker, is someone who has a profoundly spiritual vision of work. He is on a mission to help people transform their passions into profitable businesses. He believes that one’s work should affirm, nourish and express the strengths and spirit within you and bridge the gap between your spirituality and your material world results.

Nick compiled a list of ten beliefs that inspired entrepreneurs share. First on that list is to always put purpose before profit. Sure, you need to ask money for what it is you’re doing, but you should never forget why you’re doing it.

“I don’t know about you, but I’ve noticed how more people than ever want to find meaningful work that does more than pay the bills,” writes Aaron Ross in his article: ‘Could Business Be Your Path To Personal Growth?’ He writes that people are done with just making money and buying more stuff. They want to make a difference.

And it is precisely this need that one of the world’s best-known maverick businessmen, Ricardo Semler, CEO of Semco, cashes in on. Some call his approach anarchic socialism; others call it cutting edge capitalism. Semco, one of Brazil’s largest conglomerates, started out as a family business. Ricardo entered his father’s business and transformed it into a multi billion dollar business empire by a startling approach to the workplace.

Ricardo simply does not accept that the old methods of doing things are good enough in a rapidly changing environment. He practices a leadership philosophy of trusting in intuition, not only his own but also the intuition and innovation of his staff.

Ricardo believes that if one gives employees freedom, they act more responsibly. In his opinion control is an illusion and any attempt to impose rigid control inhibits innovation and accountability. It is when leaders choose power over productivity that worker motivation and capacity is destroyed.

According to Nick Williams it is time for employers and employees to release all the erroneous ideas, beliefs and attitudes they’ve inherited about work and business. He says that when you unify your work and passion you unleash the brilliance within you.

You are here to make the kind of contribution only you can. The world needs you, now more than ever, to show up with your greatness.