Hate Your Job? Here's How to Reshape It    • Share   • Read
Later Matthias Tunger / Corbis  Once upon a time, if you hated
your job, you either quit or bit your lip. These days, a group
of researchers is trumpeting a third option: shape your job so
it's more fruitful than futile.  "We often get trapped into
thinking about our job as a list of things to do and a list of
responsibilities," says Amy Wrzesniewski, an associate professor
at the Yale School of Management. "But what if you set aside
that mind-set?" If you could adjust what you do, she says, "who
would you start talking to, what other tasks would you take on,
and who would you work with?"  To make livelihoods more lively,
Wrzesniewski and her colleagues Jane Dutton and Justin Berg have
developed a methodology they call job-crafting. They're working
with Fortune 500 companies, smaller firms and business schools
to change the way Americans think about work. The idea is to
make all jobs — even mundane ones — more meaningful by
empowering employees to br