Finding the Why-Intersect
Can it really be 15 years ago I fired up Typepad for the first time and shot off my first blog post? Sigh. The passing of time. I asked a very simple question back then: Why Carpe Factum? Why would someone want to seize an accomplishment? For my first post, I gave an adequate enough answer. I now have 15 years of looking back on my career. And after recently listening to the audiobook of Simon Sinek's "Start With Why," I now have a more nuanced answer.
For starters, I realize I have more than one why. My values and priorities have evolved over the past 15 years. Some (family, faith, a sense of accomplishment) are solid; others have evolved. Things I viewed as more black-and-white back in my late 30's and early 40's and softened into, not only shades of gray, but also high definition color. People whom I once viewed as important thought leaders have exited stage-left as time marches on; they have been replaced with others whose values align with my current journey. My definition of community has migrated as well. Now that I'm sewing seed in the "back 40" of my career, I'm more careful and deliberate about the recipients of those seeds.
Finally, I am more introspective. I look at all my why's and I think about where they intersect with each other. I view that Venn Diagram through a new lens. The passing of friends and relatives has provided me with a sense of urgency in ensuring my legacy is one of leaving a positive mark. That was one of the reasons I chose to launch my Udemy courses: my students provided me with a valid "why" in stating they wished their bosses, significant others, friends, and coworkers could hear a particular lesson. I recognize not everyone is destined to earn an MBA; that doesn't mean they should be precluded from learning.
Where do we go from here? Well, the accomplishment I care about now is leaving the world a better place. That may take on new faces and new accomplishments. But as I said in my first blog post, "the journey is so much more enriching than the mere destination."
DISCLAIMER: I know the mathematically correct term is Y-INTERCEPT. Play on words. Mathematicians are SO LITERAL. :-)