Story Lab - Authoring your Story as Mission

Ken Janke co-founder of The Grove kicked off a 4-week lunch-time lecture series titled "Story Lab - Authoring your Story as Mission". See the slides below) Ken is interested in helping people author the story they want to live. He wants to help them create a vocation that is less about what people do and more about who they are. There was a good crowd that met in the Carriage House in the secret garden behind the Grove's main workspace. (What a great space right around the corner from my office that I never knew was there!)

Ken started the talk asking each of us to describe our passion. I talked about my passion to give back to society (such things as my work with Autism, Tanzanian Orphans, and Robots and of course as a father and husband to name a few :) ). I talked about my belief that "When you give, it comes back to you five-fold" and my other belief about community that "The whole is greater than the sum of its parts". The audience seemed to be made up by a majority of nonprofit and community organizer folks so as you would expect, their passions mostly revolved around community development and helping those less fortunate. I'm sure if more artists and business folks were there would have been a wider breadth off passions.

One woman in the audience asked if people believed that their career choice needed to one in the same with their passion. Many in the audience seemed to think this is the case. I however have a different opinion. I believe (and live) that my passion to help society can be separate from my career. I don't have a need to make a living off of my work with AIDS orphans or Autistic families or any of the other community initiatives I am involved in. In the age-old question: "Is your job a means to an end or the end itself?" I believe that your job provides that means to the end. Don't get me wrong, I love what I do and feel challenged and rewarded in my work, but it's only one aspect of my life. As I was reflecting on this on my walk back to the office I saw this tweet from Rich Digirolamo that I think sums it up perfectly:

"Your job title should not be your identity. Who you are, what you do and what you deliver should."

How about you what do you think? Let's keep the discussion going. I look forward to hearing what you have to say. I'd also love to see more folks join the discussion on Fridays. I want to hear the point of view from businessmen, entrepreneurs & artists!

Story Lab - Week 1