ML44 – Create Opportunity with Passion, Not Talent with Danny Gutknecht

Danny Gutknecht is the CEO and co-founder of the advisory firm Pathways helping organizations tap into their potential through people strategies. He has worked with individuals and companies around the world and recently authored the book, Meaning at Work & Its Hidden Language

Danny Gutknecht

Episode Summary: Create Opportunity with Passion, Not Talent with Danny Gutknecht

Pathways: Change the way people take jobs
- The world of jobs has been commoditized
- We wanted to change that
It never occurred to me to do anything I didn’t love doing
- If it didn’t resonate, I didn’t do it
We have mental models to understand our purpose- our role in this world
- We have to help companies switch their mental model
Talent doesn’t create opportunity, but passion creates its own opportunities and skills
How do we display passion as a job seeker?
- Throw the resume out the window
- Have a contextual conversation
  - Where do I lose track of time?
- It is equally important to know what you don’t want to do
  - Passion aligns with good at
- 57% of our life we spend at work
  - You may not reach true passion all at once- start on the path
- Zone of genius: your expertise, the world needs it and you are interested in it
- Is the current workplace driving out our ability to seek passion?
  - Not necessarily
  - Domains of the journey (existence)
    - Phenomena
      - Scientific method, hypothesis and tests
    - Right (human rights)- safety and security
    - Resources
      - We have scaled and perfected- but our companies have become like machines- missing the fundamental equation of our companies
        
        Our companies are not reaching their potential
      - View your organization like an organism
      - Book: Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make the Competition Irrelevant by W. Chan Kim & Renée A. Mauborgne
        
        Apple, Starbucks, Clif Bar
      - Meaning
        
        Happening today
        
        Carl Jung
      - People want to show their uniqueness
        
        Is it true for me?
      - Organizations only tap a fraction of their potential because they don’t understand the meaning portion
      - Essence mining: the process by which we separate out the lines of existence and master them
        
        Unpack the context