Thoughts on Meraki

My organisation’s HR head launched 2 years back an organisation wide HR transformation initiative with a lot of suspense and hype. There were posters and teasers released 2 weeks before the launch. Information was revealed in parts, and the name was not revealed.

Then during the annual offsite at a resort the HR head announced the initiative – it was called “Meraki”. We didn’t know what it meant, but the HR head laid out in detail the idea and the philosophy behind Meraki.

‘Meraki’ is the Greek for “to work with soul, creativity, and love.”

When you put a piece of yourself into what you do, excellence follows!

It was a powerful idea and it instantly struck a chord with me and others in the room!

In the business world, enduring companies are often distinguished by their internal solid culture, guided by core values that unite their employees and drive marketplace success. A core value that holds significant importance is “Meraki,” derived from the Greek word “to work with soul, creativity, and love.”. Successful companies embrace the concept of Meraki, where employees work with creativity, self-motivation, and a love for excellence.

This concept, like many of sophisticated and abstract ideas, may not be applicable for the mundane work or the regular monotonous and standardised routines. It’s meant to inspire and motivate you to love what you do, take pride in the task, work or the deliverable and differentiate yourself.

In my opinion it also signifies that the detachment. Once you work on something with your soul and once the work is complete, you move on. You leave a part of your soul behind in that output, but that’s it. You cannot own it or keep coming back to it forever. It’s very hard to practice, but that’s how it should be!

Of late, I am finding it difficult to keep myself motivated. My faith in goodness and beauty and fairness and reciprocity is on a decline. During such a period, concepts like Meraki help. It makes you think about your work through a different lens. Maybe, my faith is going down because I need to find a job with better quality, a job that demands my soul – and not just my body and my mind. Lucky are those who find such a job. The Ikigai state. Till you find it, keep going.

Fake it till you make it!