growth matters your growth matters
getting clear
how you as leaders are called on to
serve your institutions your businesses
your communities your nations matters
here's my story it was 2008 I was 36
years old and I went on holiday now this
is kind of a scary story but the purpose
of this is not to tell you never to go
on holiday far from it
I was 36 I had a great job a lovely wife
two young children things were
flourishing I was on holiday at the
beach and I went for a walk again I
don't wanna put you off going for walks
but maybe see what you think in a minute
I went for a walk and I started to
reflect my first reflection things are
going great I'm enjoying my work I found
a role where I use my gifts leadership
gifts intellectual gifts I'm being
rewarded not to be thankful for
next reflection maybe this is the thing
this is my vocation I found it and what
I should now do is set up my stall 10 20
years and develop this and I paused on
that what I was doing I was building up
institutions businesses mainly to
charities public bodies who are my
clients they were doing all kinds of
good things and on my walk where I've
now got to I was in North Cornwall and
I've got to the church out of a church
course in Patrick's Church which is the
site of an ancient monastery and I sat
down on the bench and I thought to
myself how do you know how do you know
if you found your vocation well it's not
easy but I thought one thing I could ask
myself am I using my gifts for what's
most important to me and the next
thought I had
in the moment was a total surprise to me
this while I'm doing now it's not quite
what's most important to me there's
something else my own spiritual life and
a desire to help other people to grow in
spirit to develop spiritually I want to
integrate that into what I'm doing and
then I thought well there is an
institution I'm engaged with in a
different way which tries to do that a
Christian Church so maybe that's my
vocation a leadership role in the church
and the next thought I had was please
God no that is going to be inconvenient
I tried to run I tried to hide
I had a great role great clients great
colleagues did I really have to give all
that up but over time the cordon go away
if anything it got clearer and it came
to seem more manageable and in 2012 I
gave up my partnership without the role
I had was being a BCG partner and I went
off to train for ordained ministry in
Cambridge and now I worked the Church of
England in an inner-city parish in South
London
I still have great colleagues a great
role a lovely wife two growing children
and many rewards
was it a bolt from the blue
people ask now in one way yes because I
think if I'd known what was going to
happen I might not have gone for the
walk but in another way it was a process
it was a reflection one thing led to
another in those 10 or 20 minutes of
thinking it was a dialogue with God I
would say a dialogue with myself it made
sense and when I look back over five or
six years things have been brewing
perhaps I hadn't spotted some new
interests some part-time study changes
in my spiritual life my prayer life
different kind of engagement with church
things that have been integrating for me
in a new way and that has kept happening
people are often surprised that I think
I can integrate what I learned and did
in business with what I do now and learn
in ministry but I can let me give a
specific example
I've got involved over the last couple
of years in social enterprise so in
social enterprise what we're doing we're
using our skills in business building to
address social issues that are hard to
address in any other way like developing
simple low-cost ethical financial
products that promote Financial
Inclusion or try to align interests in a
new way to increase our rate of house
building but working with the church and
with social enterprise is my vocation
it's probably not yours but what matters
is each of you does I believe have a
particular vocation a particular way you
are called to serve your institutions
your businesses your communities
your Nations and my message for you is
simple go for it get connected to the
places where your greatest gifts meet
the world's greatest needs the world
needs more vocational leaders living
with purpose growth matters your growth
matters go for it