Your Greater Good Business Accelerates When You Astound Yourself

In Life Lab, Publisher Channel by Mary Kurek

“If we did the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves.” – Thomas Edison.

Either you start out knowing you are creating a social enterprise, or at some point, decide that what you are doing leans so heavy in that direction that you must follow it – completely surrender – and give it your all.  The latter is me.

My journey is like many who have crafted their own business, determined to be creative, and accomplish what we could without an ivy-league degree or a pile of family cash to get us rolling.  It’s taken years for me to zero in on what I do best and who I am.  The expertise I’ve cultivated wasn’t actually so much on purpose as it was from delight.  I love interviewing people, because I am truly interested in them and what they are doing.  From repeating the interviews for a long time, I’ve gotten to know a thing or two about how to see opportunities and read situations that could be ripe with potential.  I’ve developed a wonderfully diverse network and a lot of social capital along the way – absolutely the best business asset anyone could have.  And, so creating connections is natural for me.

What has happened throughout this process of getting to know myself and my business is that I began to understand the need to be flexible and follow the path unfolding staying connected to my spiritual source.  What has accelerated that unfolding, truthfully, is developing confidence based on faith. Working on being a better human each day is no joke, but I find it better learning than if I sat in a business seminar for 3 hours.  I know what I’m supposed to be doing now – finally reached that age – but, I know there’s more coming, and I have to be a better human for the work ahead.  I’m capable and I’m astounded every single day by the amazing people and opportunities that show up.  I’ve never earned a PhD but, most of my network members have.  Many in my network have achieved ambassador status, hold leadership roles in banks, organizations, NGOs, government, and military. Some have been to TedX 4x over.  Many are also grassroots advocates, up-and-coming community and national leaders, global innovators so technologically or medically intelligent, I sometimes struggle to understand it all on a biz call.  But, I’m there in the middle and on the calls to nurture the processes toward further development and expanded impact.   And, what I’ve been blessed to do requires me all day long to do my best to keep a listening ear out for what guides me.  There’s really no formula or algorithm that I think of that can take bits and pieces of conversations over the years and understanding passion + body language + direction and see business, publicity, resource, or collaborative possibilities, often way outside of the box or hidden within a hint of intuition.

So, here’s the bottom line I wanted to share:  Call it social impact, social entrepreneurship, or greater good work — it all stems from a lifestyle that supports the heart behind the work.  Most people I’ve interviewed have a story that brought them directly to the spot they are in now.  A poverty-stricken childhood, a family member who died with a devastating disease, a gun pointed at their heads, or an addiction that almost killed them.  These instances jump-started their passion toward finding a solution or a path to impact, but, once you engage it, you are living it.  You have defined yourself as caring so much about others that you want to alleviate their pain.  That takes guts and life being well lived as a human being – connected to one’s source and developing past usual failings, ego stuff, the need to fix others, and so on, right past what is expected into the space of the seemingly impossible.  That’s where impact thrives.  Trust.  You are capable.  Astound yourself.

 

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Mary Kurek

President & CEO Frontrunners Development, Inc.
Global Business Developer 

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