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<\/a>Our FaithWalkers<\/em> journey\u00a0continues today with Part 2 of my interview with Brad Lomenick, CEO of Catalyst <\/a>on the topic of calling. If you missed\u00a0Part 1, click here to start at the beginning.<\/a><\/p>\nOur discussion stems from his new book The Catalyst Leader: 8 Essentials for Becoming a Change Maker<\/a> And now, on to Part 2 of my interview with Brad Lomenick <\/a>on calling.<\/p>\n \u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014-<\/p>\n Me: Do you think it\u2019s harder for people like yourself or me whose strengths are not making widgets or playing a violin? It\u2019s not something we can really show someone. It\u2019s not tangible. Do you think it\u2019s harder to try to figure that out when you can\u2019t really point a finger at it and say, \u201cThere it is\u201d?<\/strong><\/p>\n Brad:<\/strong> Yes. Definitely. There are the folks who are doctors, great surgeons in the sense that they are craftsmen or craftswomen with their hands. They\u2019re able to do things in delicate ways. Others look at a surgery and say, \u201cI could never do that!\u201d Or somebody who hits a tennis ball, or plays an instrument \u2014 those are easier to discover. But somebody might say, \u201cWell, I think I\u2019m really good at business.\u201d OK, well what does that mean?<\/p>\n And that\u2019s where I would say, again, don\u2019t make it harder than it is. You might be somebody who is a generalist by nature, and that\u2019s OK. There are a lot of assignments or vocations where you could end up really tuned in to what God\u2019s called you to do. So my advice always is \u2013 the more questions you ask and the more you know yourself, the more you have other people around you help you understand what you\u2019re good at.\u00a0Think of what you love to do, what you would do if you didn\u2019t get paid, what were your childhood dreams, what we\u2019re the things that when you were a child you gravitated towards, and what do you gravitate towards now?<\/p>\n I think it\u2019s OK also to say that there may be things\u00a0 that don\u2019t look necessarily like a job<\/em>, or like an assignment that looks like work<\/em>, but they\u00a0might be your calling. If you discover that and you say, \u201cMan, I feel like I\u2019m called to do this, but there\u2019s really no way to get paid doing that.\u201d That\u2019s OK. I think there are still ways to figure out how to create an environment where you can find something that feels like a profession. That\u2019s the thing we get hung up on so much, \u201cWell, I\u2019ve got to find something that pays me.\u201d OK, well, that\u2019s true, but that\u2019s not always the only question we have to be asking.<\/p>\n What you\u2019re saying obviously resonates with me given the faith walk I\u2019ve been on. We\u2019ve had to look that fear right in the face, because we all want to, and some cases need to, start with how are we going to pay the bills, how are we going to make that a profession. Connecting your chapter on calling (Ch.1) with your chapter on courage (Ch.4), how are those two connected? It seems to me that fear plays a big part in whether or not we pursue the calling, even if we think we know what it is.<\/strong><\/p>\n Seven or eight years ago we started to try to identify some content filters for Catalyst. We originally started with the five elements of a Catalyst leader and now with this book coming out, we say the eight essentials of a Catalyst Leader. One of the ones we originally talked about in the five was this phrase \u201cCourageous in calling.\u201d It\u2019s the idea that you can\u2019t really be truly called or feel a sense that you\u2019re pursuing your calling without courage. Those two have to go hand in hand. They\u2019re always connected or at least almost always connected.<\/p>\n When there\u2019s something that will take risk, when you\u2019ve got to jump off the diving board, and when you pursue something that may not make sense, there\u2019s going to have be courage involved.<\/p>\n That\u2019s where I think we\u2019ve created this world that says the only thing that my calling can connect to is a sense of vocation, or job, or work, or what I get paid at. When those line up \u2013 man, that\u2019s a home run. If you can find the place where you\u2019re calling lines up with a job that you get paid at great. But a lot of people don\u2019t have that luxury.<\/p>\n You can\u2019t also live in a fantasy world that says, \u201cJust quit your job and go do something.\u201d People are saying, \u201cWait a second. I have responsibilities in life that I have to steward \u2013 family, kids, and all those pieces. I think the idea of appropriate<\/em> risk<\/em> is really important for leaders.<\/p>\n Jon Acuff<\/a> has coined some good phrases even with his own story. I talk about his story a little bit in the book, how he\u2019s working at an advertising agency. He wants to jump. He feels like his calling is to go be a writer and speaker. That idea of being smart in taking appropriate risk is really important to throw into the equation, because we can\u2019t be stupid.<\/p>\n We can\u2019t necessarily take the approach that says, \u201cWell, if we jump then God will take care of us.\u201d I believe He will, but we also need to be smart. We need to identify all the things that go into that decision that are part of the equation.<\/p>\n The thing I always say is that it also depends on your season of life. So if I\u2019m talking to a single, twenty-five-year-old who is two years out of college, the idea of jumping for them is like, \u201cWhatever. I\u2019m ready. Let\u2019s go! I\u2019m jumping.\u201d A forty-eight year old who has three kids, who has a mortgage, and has two kids in college \u2013 the more things you add on to the list, the smarter you have to be about where you are in life.<\/p>\n All of which just makes it more urgent to get to people while they\u2019re younger to help them think through these things, don\u2019t you think?<\/strong><\/p>\n Absolutely.<\/p>\n If you remember our own story, I stepped out to follow my calling with a plan in mind and then the plan fell through a bit, through some fault of my own but also just with some organizational decisions that were made, so we\u2019ve experienced in a real way the question of \u201cWhat do you do when the bottom that you thought would be there is gone?\u201d We\u2019ve had to walk through that, so I\u2019ve experienced some of the best and the worst case scenarios. All that is part of what has moved my heart to come alongside and help people figure out their calling and figure out their strengths, because\u00a0I know that fear can paralyze us all.<\/strong><\/p>\n Absolutely. I think of our education system. I\u2019m not an opponent of the public education system and the environment we\u2019ve created in the US, but the way we help students understand the way they\u2019re wired is really messed up.<\/p>\n You basically have to determine a major, if you go to college \u2013 and how many of us when we go to college, have no idea what we\u2019ve been wired to do? That\u2019s the fault of our not helping students discover what they\u2019re great at, what they\u2019re called to, and the way they\u2019re wired.<\/p>\n We\u2019ve got a system in which people often end up finding their calling or their sense of purpose in their thirties and early forties. I agree with you. We\u2019ve got to back that up. We\u2019ve got to back that up to where we\u2019re discovering and finding that out earlier in life, which will give us a better sense of the right path to be on so we can accomplish things that are significant.<\/p>\n It doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s necessarily a bad thing for those who went through life and thought, \u201cNo, I never did really discover that sweet spot.\u201d Is it sin? Not at all. It\u2019s a better<\/em> or best<\/em> option to me. Are we in the best option passible or are we in one that\u2019s just OK or good.<\/p>\n I like how you put it in your book:<\/strong><\/p>\n Good is doing what is expected of you. It is slightly above average and requires some focus and determination to get there, but is relatively easy to achieve. Better is rising a little higher than good. It typically means that you are comparing yourself to the next one in line. But best is where you want to live. It is greatness and doesn\u2019t mean you are better that everyone else but that you\u2019re working to your maximum capability. (pg. 87)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n This has got to be a busy time for you, Brad. Are you going on the traditional book tour with Catalyst conferences coming soon? What\u2019s on your plate now? <\/strong><\/p>\n Well, no book tour. I\u2019m not doing the book tours. I mean, we\u2019ll have it at the events coming up. Catalyst West <\/a>is coming up in two weeks, then our Dallas event<\/a>, then Chik-fil-A Leadercast<\/a>, so it\u2019s a busy next month.<\/p>\n I\u2019m going to London right after that because we\u2019re working on launching a London Event in 2014. That\u2019s fun, though. It\u2019s one of those things that our team is really excited about, even though it\u2019s a lot of work. It\u2019s different, and it will actually be frustrating in some cases because we don\u2019t know that market as well yet, but it\u2019s an exciting new venture for us.<\/p>\n Brad, I so appreciate your taking the time to talk. As always, keen insights shared in an authentic, humble way. <\/strong><\/p>\n \u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014-<\/p>\n <\/strong>Subscribe via e-mail in the upper right to have my book review of The Catalyst Leader<\/em> delivered to your in-box tomorrow, along with regular updates from FaithWalkers.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Our FaithWalkers journey\u00a0continues today with Part 2 of my interview with Brad Lomenick, CEO of Catalyst on the topic of calling. If you missed\u00a0Part 1, click here to start at the beginning. Our discussion stems from his new book The Catalyst Leader: 8 Essentials for Becoming a Change Maker, releasing this coming Tuesday, April 16, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1084,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,458,46],"tags":[446,459,462,473,476,475,455,474,460],"class_list":["post-2809","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christian-living","category-interviews","category-leadership-2","tag-brad-lomenick","tag-catalyst","tag-catalyst-conference","tag-catalystspace","tag-chruch-and-calling","tag-finding-your-life-calling","tag-interview","tag-life-calling","tag-the-catalyst-leader"],"yoast_head":"\n<\/a><\/p>\n