Passion, meaning and user experience

I caught Simon Sineck’s How great leaders inspire action TED Talk recently. I think Simon’s on to something, and he’s definitely tapped into something important in the zeitgeist. But I think he’s only got part of the picture.

Experiences (user experiences, customer experiences, employment experiences) have three dimensions:

- Meaning — the social impact of the experience
- Aesthetic — the sensual dimension of the experience
- Benefit — the stuff it let’s me do better, newer or faster

Simon’s talking here about the “meaning” dimension.

The meaning of experiences is becoming more important in our culture and it’s not well incorporated into most experiences. Apple does it well, and they’ve had success. But Apple also nails the aesthetic and benefit dimensions. Would they be as successful if they only succeeded on the meaning dimension? Maybe as a religion or a social movement, but not likely as a consumer goods company.

Meaning is huuuge though — in terms of customer and user experience and especially in terms employment experiences and recruiting. Who doesn’t want to work in a place where they can actualize their values and do work that has meaning? And how much more can you achieve as a company if your staff find meaning in their work?

via  TED.com | Simon Sinek: How great leaders inspire action