Your Work Is Noble! We Need Your Noble Work!

The work you do every day is noble. I don’t know what you do, but I do know it is needed, necessary, and valued. You may be the CEO and your work matters. You may be a 7th-grade math teacher and your work matters. You may be the line cook at a restaurant and your work matters. You may be the bus driver and your work matters. Everyone has an important role to fill for the success of the business, organization, or home. If you are gunning to operate for the greatest noble purpose, service, everyone’s work in that position is so important and if anyone person doesn’t execute, your organization or family will not accomplish the greatest version of themselves to serve the noble purpose.

There is a feedyard I go to every month, and the tank washer’s name is Francisco. As a tank washer in a feedyard, his job is to clean every water tank in the feedyard to ensure that the cattle have a clean and safe water supply, as well as help keep water tanks in good, solid, functioning, working order. If a feedyard has 300 pens, their job is to clean all 300 hundred tanks once a week. What happens if this job isn’t done correctly? Water consumption may not reach optimum levels for individual cattle. If cattle don’t consume water optimally, they may not consume feed optimally.

For Francisco, he takes this responsibility very seriously and he does a tremendous job. Any visit where I run into him at the yard, I always take time to visit and check in with him. “How’s your day?”, or “You have any questions or concerns?” or “How’s your family?” When we finish our conversation, he has a big smile on his face, and we move on about our day.

In the feedyard world, many people would consider that the bottom of the totem pole job, but I consider it a top of the totem pole job, because if this team member isn’t successful at the yard, cattle tanks may be excessively dirty, therefore water consumption may not be optimal, and this could hurt feed consumption. Which is not the goal.

The key to the story is even though many consider this job the bottom of the totem pole job at a feedyard, Francisco’s work is very noble. His work is just as noble as the Manager or the CEO. The same can be said for the bus driver at a school. Many people may feel the superintendent or the teacher has the most important job, but without safe quality bus drivers some schools would be half empty, especially if you grew up in a rural school like me. My dear friend Bill Fairchild from Larned, Kansas was a bus driver for years. I promise you, he did some of the most noble work on the planet and made a huge difference in many kids' minds, likely just as much as the superintendent or any teacher in Larned. I also promise you he recognized the nobility of his work with a tremendous passion.

The same could be said for bus driver Cody Schmidt of Great Bend, KS. He has solid passion and work ethic, with a tremendous attitude, and I’d guess runs one of the best transportation segments at any school in Kansas. I promise you, if you talk to him, he knows his work is noble!

Everyone’s work is noble! We must each realize that. If you lead a team of people, it is your job to instill that “mantra” into each team member. If you are doing any job on any team anywhere, your work is noble. Each person is contributing a talent, be it to the team or the family. Your talent is needed and matters!

Your talent is needed and matters!

You may be “in a rut” and feel like your work doesn’t matter, but I’m telling you, that is false! Regardless of what you are doing, we or they can’t do it without you! You may feel your contribution is small, but we don’t care about the size of the contribution, we care about “the contribution”. No matter where you are and what you are doing, you can make a difference in someone’s life through your contribution. That work is noble! We need your noble work!