A Calling

I was once asked if I ever felt called to do something, like the call to ministry. Some of you know that I attended seminary back in 1968. And yes, I felt the call to enter seminary. Gave up my job and career to explore a major departure in what I needed to do.

That was a calling. Major.

Since then, however, have there been other callings? I answer yes, but nothing quite as extraordinary as entering seminary.

Instead, my career goals had less to do with money than purpose. Of course, I needed compensation to pay bills and support a family. Rather than focusing on that, however, I dwelled on what changes in the world I hoped for and what role I would play in those changes. Purpose became mission. Defining it was not easy, but I knew I would know it when I saw it. Meanwhile, helping others became a steady theme in my head.

Each job I had thereafter truly served those ends. The core of each was helping others find purpose in their lives and in their organizations. More and more those organizations were nonprofits. Education, church and social services were their main activities.

Today, I am a nonprofit mentor for SCORE [Service Corporation of Retired Executives] founded by the Small Business Administration in 1962. I work with 12,000 other volunteer mentors who help form new small businesses, and help struggling small businesses thrive in today’s dynamic marketplaces.

In my case, nonprofits are the specialty. That is a rarity for SCORE, but much in demand. We are recruiting more mentors to serve the area and attract clients throughout the nation. Other SCORE chapters do not serve nonprofits much, hence we are very busy.

Doing this work, I have encountered one singularity that is very telling. My clients are passionate about what they do and why they do it. They are driven by purpose, by mission. They know that if they don’t do this work, most likely no one else will. That alone builds value to their mission.

Tapping into this passion is job one for me. The rest of the work flows easily. If it doesn’t, the passion has limits short of mission.

Strategic planning has become a major management tool for me. I needed it for assignments held decades ago. I invented my own planning process, later refining it more and more to uncover the passions of the organization to fulfill its mission. It is a useful tool in mentoring SCORE clients. Its success builds mission driven organizations that are self-sustaining. I think of it as uncovering the client's mission. In so many ways this feels like a calling, theirs and mine.

How much of what we do in life is a calling rather than a task or job? How does this make a difference. Or matter?

I know it matters. Oh yes, I know it matters.

June 26, 2024