Working on Purpose

What would you do to make your dreams come true and live your life’s purpose? It’s certainly not an easy path for most. Would you restructure an incredibly well established and successful business? Start a PhD program in order to change fields? Move to a different continent? Start a brand new subsidiary from scratch? Erika Jacobi did all these things and more in order to live fully to her values and allow her true identity to emerge in her life and work. Leaving Germany, she started over in the United States where the opportunity to reinvent herself as a scholar, earn a PhD, and pursue a career in Organizational Change Consulting coincided. Tune in to hear about her lessons learned, what she did to forge ahead to realize her dream, and why pursuing this dream was so important.

Initially unsure of what to study or pursue for work, Dr. Edward Fischer tended bar for a while and then his parents sent him on a trip to Guatemala for a little rest and redirection. And that fortunate intervention helped him fall in love with Latin America and ultimately study anthropology. Today Dr. Fischer makes a career studying people all over the world, including how they participate in the economy, and has written several books chronicling his study experiences. Professor Fischer also deeply cares about malnutrition in children, knowing the profound difference a good diet makes to a youngster’s overall cognitive and physical development. He created the Mani Plus program in Guatemala, which relies on locally sourced ingredients. In all of his study and travel, Dr. Fischer has come to realize that while people’s socioeconomic circumstances can vary widely, at the end of the day they still value aspiration and opportunity, dignity and fairness, and commitment to a larger purpose.

The path of least resistance in a career is not always the best long-term fit, nor the most fulfilling. And worst still is when we ignore the persistent voice in our heads telling us exactly the career path we know is right for us. Dr. Malea Maynard learned all these lessons and then some, as she transitioned mid career from Audiology to Medical Doctor. She had known since she was a young child that she wanted to be a doctor but somehow convinced herself it just wasn’t meant to be. At age 32, while in the midst of her work in Audiology, she decided to go to medical school. She simply could not ignore the persistent inner compass that kept telling her that this was the work she was meant to do. In exchange for heeding this compass and with the investment a lot of time, effort, and money into this path of medicine, Dr. Maynard has been handsomely rewarded with fulfillment and purpose as a Family Medicine physician

Once you get to the top, how do you know when it’s time to let go? At a time when women were rarely decision makers in business or agriculture, Susan Sokol Blosser, a pioneer in the Oregon wine industry, distinguished herself in both. For over three decades, Susan managed every aspect of Sokol Blosser’s winery operation. As the vineyard manager, she drove the tractor, did hand work, and used a forklift to load grapes onto flatbed trucks. As president, she saw Sokol Blosser grow to become one of the largest and most innovative Oregon wineries, with national and international distribution. Then, at the height of her career, Susan made an extraordinary decision – to step away from the work she loved and transition control of the winery to her children. The book Letting Go is the engaging account of how she made that decision, the surprising challenges she faced, and the unanticipated journey that ensued and the good life that followed.

After careful consideration of a college major, you navigate a thoughtful and successful career. Years go by and you learn a ton along the way and enjoy knowing you’re making a valuable contribution to your employer. Then, seemingly out of the blue, you enter another stage of life where you want something else from life and your work. The question is – should you stay or should you go? There are certainly advantages to each route. How do you choose what’s right for you? And once you do decide, how do you strategize that transition and make that new path work for you? If you can relate to this story or any of these questions, tune into this episode as Dr. Shelette Stewart discusses how she learned to connect her career with her calling and her profession with her purpose and how she espouses this same path for others in order to maximize personal fulfillment and professional success and drive performance, productivity, and bottom-line profitability.

Wouldn’t it be great if you could stumble onto an unexpected hobby and manage to turn it into a business? And what better if that something involves the curious complexities and full-palette flavors of, well, beer? That is almost exactly what happened with Jacob and Lindsay Sloan of Dallas, Texas. Smart, forward-thinking young professionals, their passion for beer turned business venture is at an early stage, so they both work other full-time day jobs. Their zest for crafting beer and coming up with new recipes keep them going while they learn entrepreneurship and the fine art of running a business. Tune in to learn their story and what they hope to accomplish in the future.

What can drive, focus on continuous improvement, and a good mentor do to catapult your career? A lot, says Donald Thompson who refers to himself as The Unlikely CEO and is in fact writing a book of the same name. After a year of college football, Donald left school to start his career in Sales at age 19 as a determined and ambitious young man bent on success. Today, standing at the helm of several technology companies, he is focused on leadership and leaving a legacy. An insatiable student of life and business, Donald has attained extraordinary success in his 43 years while developing a focused, can-do perspective that has served him well in both his personal and professional lives. Join the conversation as he shares his lessons learned, perspective on common mistakes people make to inhibit success, and what he believes has contributed to his own success and happiness along the way.

Ali Tiegs took the 20 year plan to complete her education and delayed her career gratification, never losing sight of goals in life but aware of what it would ultimately take to obtain them. Priorities play a very significant role in achieving success and even in her later career as a teacher, principal, and executive director, she looked at the end result first, then worked her way backward in order to achieve the desired outcome. While in her 20s, she purposely opted to postpone completing college and instead focus on her marriage and motherhood. After raising her three gifted and talented children, she set out at age 42 to finish that college degree and seriously develop her career. Now, some 24 years into very fulfilling work in education and administration, she enjoys strong connection and fulfillment in her work, making the journey all the sweeter. Ali’s story reminds us that each of us can enjoy several careers and it’s never too late to pursue our dreams.

The importance of finding a niche to serve in today’s marketplace cannot be overstated. In fact, entrepreneur and author Dan Schawbel recommends everyone be known for one big thing. In his case, Dan began his career out of college working at EMC, and quickly realized he could be the voice of the Millennial or Gen Y generation. This realization led him to write Me 2.0 and then Promote Yourself, which are international best sellers that clearly speak to an audience hungry for career advice. Recently, Dan founded and directs Workplacetrends.com to provide the Human Resources Community research and advisory membership services. In this conversation with Dan, we’ll cover the gamut of his own career and hear his perspective on current workplace trends, Gen Y, and the importance of self promotion in your career.

What you want out of life can change drastically as the decades of life course by. Many people have a burning desire as college graduates to enter a chosen profession, climb the ladder of success, and enjoy a financially comfortable and respectable career. For many men and women, as they reach their 40s, new or additional longings often accompany this middle age period in life span development. We begin to look for more ways to develop ourselves, realize our potential, and enrich our lives. That’s partly what prompted Annette Anderson to begin taking, and then teaching intensive personal development workshops while having a very successful career as a healthcare executive. Once hooked, that initial taste for personal exploration blossomed into a spiritual calling to help others navigate their sacred path. Today as an ordained teacher, Annette’s ever curious quest for spiritual nurturing and ongoing unfoldment continues along her own path aside those she serves.