Richard Leider's "Calling Cards"

[Joe Harder]

I've shared this in a few Spirit of the New Workplace courses, but I wanted to make it more widely available. Some years ago at a FastCompany conference in Phoenix that featured both Jim Collins and Play's Andy Stefanovich, I had the fortune of sitting in on a session by Richard Leider in which all participants were given a deck of "Calling Cards."

He opined that one's calling comes from a higher place, keeps "dialing" if you don't answer the first time, and is ultimately a key route to a happier life. His is to "help people discover their callings" (how convenient!).

Each card has a possible aspect of work listed on it, and the task is to sort the cards into three piles - those that you definitely identify with, those that maybe you identify with, and those that you definitely don't identify with. Sorting through the "maybes" to make sure none of them are "definites" is the next step, and then going through the "primo" stack (my term) to clarify what your calling is.

I found it very helpful, and through this process clarified that my calling is "designing and facilitating transformational learning opportunities."

My top items were (in no certain order):

exploring the way
making connections
bringing joy
awakening spirit
empowering others
bringing out potential
facilitating change
adding humor
instructing people
creating trust
building relationships
opening doors
seeing possibilities
shaping environments

And I consider myself extremely fortunate that at least when I am teaching Spirit of the New Workplace, I am engaged in most, in not all, of those aspects of work that feel like my calling.