Job.
The entertainment reporter Michael Idato gave us a rare and brilliant example of the relationship between Widget Thinking and Defining Moments in the workplace wild.
A leaked two year old internal email from the former executive producer of the 'Sunrise' television programme to Network management proposed replacing two presenters and the newsreader.
The leak led the 'Sunrise' presenters who remain on air to not just dismiss it, but to ridicule it and cite their continued tenure as evidence that the former producer was wrong and the email was meaningless.
Yet as Michael Idato observed:
'Sunrise's former executive producer....would not have been doing his job if, at every turn, he was not considering alternatives, lest the happy Sunrise family he had assembled passed their use-by date and started to creak with age. His first loyalty is not to them, it is to his employer, and the promise that he will deliver them an enduring hit.
'The same could be said for the Nine Network's management, who would not be delivering value for their stakeholders if they were not examining the on-air performance of their entire talent stable in minute detail, regularly, and willing to do whatever it takes - or sack and replace whoever they need to - to win.
'It was that attitude that saw Jessica Rowe wrenched from the Today line-up several years ago. Make no mistake it was appallingly handled at the time, but it was a brutal and vivid demonstration of the business of television and the very small role that human decency has to play in it.'
Amidst the denials and damage control rose the refreshing voice of Karl Stefanovic, host of the Sunrise rival, 'Today', who said (in a text book use of the three most powerful words in the English language - I Don't Care):
'I know that [network management] is actively planning to get rid of me, and I like it, I embrace it, I don't care....It's best to go, 'it's TV, eventually they will [get rid of me],' so I'm just gonna have a great time and sail on into the sunset.''
A similarly healthy response to the email came from former Sunrise co-host Melissa Doyle, who was one of the three presenters that the email suggested changing:
'It was one view....Television, radio, newspaper executives the world over are probably discussing staff, columnists, et cetera, all the time....I figure that's the nature of the job. It's television. If they didn't have that conversation then you would probably wonder.'
The producer who wrote the email was doing his job - deciding to give his best advice to ensure the success of the Widget - albeit at the public cost of three people's jobs.
The management did its job - deciding to reject the advice as not serving the Widget.
The three current presenters did their jobs - deciding to reassure viewers that they are one big-happy-family, which protects ratings, which dictate the price of advertising which brings in revenue which buoys the stock price which is their boss's Widget.
Three different decisions that may look in conflict on the surface but each serving the Widget.
Perhaps it's Karl and Mel who are the best examples of a healthy shrug at the inevitable clanging of our professional and personal Widgets.