TheIKNPost.com — Sitting in front of me are two young women. They are law graduates from UI.
The face and appearance of the middle class, who from the outside have the opportunity to “get rich quickly”, as long as they want to work in a top law firm that is currently prosperous, like the dream of some middle class people who spoil their children.
However, both of them chose to join the eradication task force illegal fishing led by senior activist Mas Achmad Santosa.
From the photos shown by presenter Najwa Shihab in the Mata Najwa program, it appears that they are riding in a small lifeboat to the fishing boats. From Ambon, they headed to Tual, Benjina, and other fishing centers in Arafura.
That’s just the beginning. This is because large-scale theft will not occur until the next two to three months.
They, the thieves, came in bigger ships, perhaps even with “bouncers” ready to push them out to sea to become prey for fierce fish.
Money or meaning?
Out there, other young people are half-dead looking for work, taking part in the selection to become civil servant candidates, bank employees, IT consultants, teachers, lecturers, and so on.
Like most other young people, they are all under pressure from their families to quickly get a job, help with family finances, and get married on time. Graduate quickly and get a job that pays well.
Not a few of them are lucky to meet great people, from leading companies, receive training abroad, or placements in big cities around the world.
However, all that is about to change. Because a pleasant boss doesn’t always sit there. Your seat may pass to someone else. Young people will continue to arrive and new knowledge will continue to develop. The career honeymoon will end. They will look old in the eyes of the young people who later come along.
Some of them also became entrepreneurs. Not a few were bewitched by the codes sent by a number of people regarding tips on how to quickly become rich.
They could have achieved a lot so quickly. However, are they really successful forever?
My experience has found that people who used to be so diligent in making money now actually don’t get any money.
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At the age approaching retirement, more and more people come to visit old friends just to get a loan. Others can only share sorrowful songs.
House contracts and children’s tuition fees that have not been paid, spouses leaving the family, and repeated attacks of illness. In fact, in the past they were so diligent in pursuing a big salary, changing jobs to increase their income.
I want to tell you a piece of advice that Apple Co-Founder Guy Kawasaki once gave. To young people, he once said this:
“Pursue meaning. Don’t pursue a career for money. Because, if you chase money, you won’t get ‘meaning’, and in the end you won’t get money either. If you chase ‘meaning’, then you will get position, and of course money.”
So what is meaning?
That’s the meaning of what the girls I met in tapping the Mata Najwa television program on the National Awakening Day edition on May 20 in the next few days are working on, becoming volunteers in the team to eradicate illegal fishing.
That is also what the medical students in Stovia who founded Boedi Oetomo did, which marked the Indonesian National Awakening.
In fact, that’s what an engineer who graduated from ITB who pioneered Indonesian independence, Ir Soekarno, also did. That’s what leading CEOs did when they were young.
Throughout the world, leaders are born from their persistence in building meaning, not looking for ordinary work.
In modern life, that is also the path taken by the world’s billionaires. They are not chasers of money, but chasers of beautiful dreams, as told by many German executives who used to spend months doing social work in Africa.
“I didn’t expect it to be what I did 20 years ago that shareholders would pay attention to,” they said.
I remember several people who were looking for work at my place, both at UI and in my various activities. There were those who were really realistic, came with ideas to build meaning, and there were those who couldn’t wait to get a big salary.
The first group, now I can say they are everywhere. Some have become CEOs, leaders in various organizations, and of course great entrepreneurs or PhD graduates from leading universities.
However, the second group, came with a high offer. Yes, they valued themselves much higher than their abilities.
It is not uncommon for their families to ask them to quit just a few months after starting work in order to look for a job with a higher salary.
Observe those who have just got married. If it’s not their partner, it could be that their parents or in-laws are changing the direction of their lives and they too will enter the vortex.
In fact, everyone knows that people who pursue meaning are doing something they love and brings happiness.
Happiness is the seed for achieving success. People who chase a salary think the opposite, get rich first, then be happy. This thrives when people are required by their environment to consume much more than their income.
On the other hand, those who build meaning know exactly that their main enemy is consumption that exceeds income.
Self-portrait
If I reflect back on the things I have experienced in my life, I can say that I have experienced everything I mentioned above.
Meanwhile, friends who 30 years ago showed off their credit cards (at that time it was a new thing for this nation), jobs with high salaries, positions and so on, are now experiencing bitter times.
A big businessman said this, “Money doesn’t have eyes, but it has a sense of smell. It cannot be chased, but comes endlessly to those whose meaning is strong.”
On the walls of the Harvard campus library, I was often stunned to read short essays written by applicants who passed the selection.
Did you know, they all tell the journey of building meaning. So, I was not surprised that when Madame Sofia Blake, wife of the United States Ambassador, visited the House of Change last week, she also discussed the same thing as helping the 25 best Indonesian sons and daughters to be accepted at the world’s main campuses.
Meaning is a story that is attached to a person, which creates trust, reputation, which ultimately is what you call branding. You can get it not through shortcuts or through getting rich quick.
This meaning is built in a different way from that used by ordinary workers, from new breakthroughs. Sometimes, from the guidance of great people who provide new examples and toys. Yes, examples and toys are what we need to look for and the breakthroughs we make will provide an open path.
Prof. Rhenald Kasali is a Professor of Management Science, Faculty of Economics, University of Indonesia. This man with a PhD from the University of Illinois also has a lot of experience in leading transformation, including serving on the KPK committee four times and being a management practitioner. He founded Rumah Change, which became a role model for social business among academics and social activists based on entrepreneurship and independence. Finally, the book written was entitled Self Driving: Changing the Mentality of Passengers into Drivers.
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