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Formula of Purpose; From Lara Galinsky's Lens

If sincere stock is to be taken, reflection is to be done in order to get the much needed guidance into the variegated strata of the social, economic, and perhaps the political existence of the macrocosmic society, staying in touch with the experiences of people who have swam the oceans from uncertainties to certainties, from despondency to success, from low ebbs to high points, from nothing to something, from little to plenty and from scarcity to sufficiency, then Work on Purpose can fill such vacuum of wants. Authored by Lara Galinsky and Kelly Nuxoll, the non-fictional book nourishes the mind with the engaging life stories of five individuals. Their lives are eventuated by the heaps of tragic, moving, comic, boring, challenging, disturbing, and even ennobling actions and inactions of variegated human creatures cum happenstances characterizing their life purpose.

The duo of Lance Armstrong and Doug Ulman who refused to be dubbed cancer victims but cancer fighters wrote in the forward of the book: “There is no shortage of people and causes that need and deserve attention. And there is no limit to what people can accomplish when they approach challenges with both passion and practicality.” Such declaration of fact brings to mind the process of marching practicality with passion. This suggests that if there is a vacuum between these two entities, then passion will forever remain in the fictional world. This is where Work on Purpose becomes a partner in success. Flowing from the thought line of the duo of cancer fighters, there will always be causes in need of attention and there will always be people to man those causes. The challenge here lies in the intrinsic ability of people to get hooked to their right causes. This, most times, requires purposeful search of the inner mind for the right moment of call to action. This is a rare strength. Work on Purpose offers a seamless search route into the past, such that the root of passion can be unveiled, and the man housing the passion can be discovered with purpose.

Lara Galinsky helps in leading Echoing Green, a New York based multifaceted nonprofit organization but with intense global reach. It is considered a pioneer in the social entrepreneurship movement in the world having been established since 1987 by the leadership of a private equity firm, General Atlantic, with investment in more than 500 social entrepreneurs working on the world’s biggest problems from over forty-two countries. Lara Galinsky conceptualizes the theory of purpose in the book when she proposes the scientific conditions that can spring up mental revolution. She writes that Heart plus Head equals Hustle. The book showcases how Lara came up with the formula by studying the career trajectories of Echoing Green Fellows, with some of them initially taking off along the valley down below and were left chattered, and others with a sense of professional path they wanted to take but with no knowledge of how and where to kick start. Throughout the life of the book, Lara’s formula requires no complex instructional manual to make recourse to. Swimming along the path of the career formula requires no targeted experience and special skills. While chronicling the life and times of five Echoing Green Fellows, Lara writes that these fellows at a point in their life discover what moves them and what gets them out of bed in the morning by listening to their heart. She exposes how they take inventory of their beliefs, acquire skills and innate gifts by using their head, and how they lock on to their inspiration and work on purpose by unleashing their hustle.

In profiling Andrew Young, Lara wrote that Andrew grew up hearing two clear messages in his home: Try hard to succeed, and help the needy. Andrew’s life is a true reflection of a person whose heart has been at the work of helping others from childhood. Lara takes readers through what made Andrew a man of purpose. Andrew got to listen to his heart when he was a junior in high school. In an exercise in Mexico, he wondered if he could turn his passion to a profession. With little cash left in his pocket after paying for the trip to the town in Mexico, a woman carrying a baby approached him and begged him for food. Andrew observed the woman closely and noted the frustration in her guts. Andrew felt she must have been turned down many times. He went in search of his five dollars in his pocket and gave it to the woman. It was his lunch money. Using his money to buy sandwich could not have given Andrew much satisfaction as he got from the smile the woman in need beamed. Lara wrote that in that moment on the street, Andrew felt useful. He wondered if he could find a way to feel so useful everyday in his life. In the event of his life, Andrew was able to separate his intellectual gifts from passion, his heart from his head. With robust successes recorded in a consulting firm, Andrew at a time, ventured into volunteerism which he found easier to do than his work at the consulting firm. A trip to South Africa, then to Kenya, witnessing hunger season in the East African country made his head to kick in. A thud landed in his body system and gave roots to “One Acre Fund”.

About Cheryl Dorsey, Lara wrote that: “Her parents did not push her. They didn’t tell her she had to be or do one thing or another. But as an African American girl who’d been given every opportunity, she thought she owed it to her parents and her community to succeed.” Cheryl’s career path has tributaries; it was not a straight route towards medical field. While growing up as a medical student, she fell in love volunteering for nonprofit organizations rather than hospitals. She became a doctor because of her willingness to serve but that didn’t substitute for the fact that she didn’t enjoy medical work. In the heat of this, Cheryl got a White House Fellowship where public policy nearly reduced her attachment with medicine to nothing. Cheryl’s detours pointed that her passion wasn’t in medicine but in social justice. Her many engagements rewarded her teasing jokes from her family members requesting for her latest business card. At a point, she felt her darkest fear was reigning supreme over her: she was a failure who did not fit in anywhere. Interestingly, that did not discourage her from trying new career paths. During these years, Lara wrote that: “Cheryl was finally learning to recognize and heed the message her heart and head were sending her.” In Work on Purpose, Lara reveals how Cheryl’s heart had always been attached to service and how Cheryl sees her unique qualities as a gift and not a burden. Right in the heat of her consulting gaits, Cheryl was asked to take over as the head of Echoing Green. Moving from uncertainties to precision, her changeability became an asset.

When writing the opening lines on Mark Hanis, Lara exposes the reason why Mark owes his life to genocide. Mark was born by the Holocaust. A careful read though the life of Mark would allow for a seamless link between the events that characterized Mark’s upbringing and his professional career routes. At a point, he wanted to earn a Law degree and improve international trade policies with the sole aim of lending a helping hand to Ecuadorians who were financially handicapped. At another point, he felt the need of joining the Army and defend the interest of his countrymen. So he was wholly immersed in anything that has to do with safeguarding people. That was what got him up from his bed every morning. Events in some African countries sent a thud in the heart of Mark when he felt that he was living in a world where events just like the Holocaust were occurring everyday and he wanted to stop those events. That was his raw passion, wholly unfocused and his success was set to be delayed. Pushed by his raw passion, Mark ventured into social justice volunteerism. After a while, events taught him how to translate public’s interest in genocide into action. Lara summed it up that his heart and head finally synced. With three friends, Mark launched a plan for an advocacy organization called Genocide Intervention Network. In describing Mark’s bold action, Lara wrote that: “Stopping genocide was a bold, ambitious goal that required bold, ambitious action.” Unlike Cheryl who leveraged on her strength for everything, Mark was more devoted to being political. To fight genocide, he must be in the heart of side-stream politics.

Mardie Oakes has a uniquely gravitated background as Lara narrated her life in Work on Purpose. Mardie’s supporting background helped in centralizing her passion. Unlike Cheryl, Mardie’s career tributaries were specific. Lara wrote that: “She began to picture her career as a Venn diagram: Architecture was one circle, community development was another and financing a third. Time, learning and opportunity allowed her to keep adding circles to her diagram, and she had faith that one day they would finally all come together in the middle.” From Lara’s formula, Mardie would start hustling once all her circles intersect at the epicenter, when her heart and head would have synced. Mardie’s baby friend’s image formed right in her heart; suddenly she found another circle in her diagram. Mardie found the much searched spot where her circles in the Venn diagram overlapped, the circle of Hallmark Community Solutions.

Born in a refugee camp in Thailand, Socheata Poeuv has a mixed upbringing full of stops and movements, frustrations and hopelessness with her passion immersed in condensed solitude. Feeling out of place pushed her to make friend with stories and language stylistics. She fell in love with books and at a point, she felt she could become a poetry professor, her heart was at work. Socheata’s professional route began at home. Leveraging on the engaging role playing of her family history, she stumbled over a connection to a meaningful social issue. Her heart finally synced with her head.

Published by Echoing Green in 2011, Work on Purpose shows graphic movement of five change makers whose life hovers around Lara Galinsky’s formula of purpose. The 120-page book is capable of setting new directions for young professionals who found themselves in jobs that are not aligned with what their heart and head have synced.