November 2016 Event Recap – Donovan Richards

“Dispatches from a Millennial: How 3 Views on Vocation Helped Me Find True Purpose in Work”

The November KIROS breakfast meeting was honored to have Donovan Richards as their speaker. He is a research analyst, content and project manager at See Seven Purpose Design. He is passionate about organizational well-being. In his work, he seeks to find answers to what makes a company culture flourish and how organizational identity can encourage people to find meaningful, creative, and fruitful work. Donovan is also interested in questions of purpose and storytelling. Having earned a BA in Philosophy from the University of Washington, Donovan is constantly seeking answers to the question “Why?”, especially regarding the reasons why people are motivated to take action in the world.

Donovan earned his MA in Business and Applied Theology at Seattle Pacific University (SPU) and teaches as an Adjunct Professor at the School of Business, Governance, and Economics at SPU. Donovan loves to write, and you can find some of his musings on critical reflections of pop culture at www.wherepenmeetspaper.com. Donovan is married and has a 2.5 year-old son keeping him on his toes.

Donovan has a passion to use his God-given calling to create flourishing in community. Not only is Donovan passionate about his own calling and giftedness, but he also seeks to develop that calling and vocation for individuals and businesses. This is his missional vocation, what God has uniquely gifted him for. Asking the questions of why and purpose to business and individuals guides this: What is your core identity? How are you living out that mission? How are you expressing your purpose and what experience does the customer have?

Mr. Richards describes the big picture of vocation as containing three elements. The Missional Element of Vocation is who God has made us to be -the good work that brings us joy by using our God-given giftedness for meaningful work. The Direct Element of vocation is when God speaks to us directly, requiring thoughtful discernment, wise counsel, and prayer. Through scripture, God gives us the General Element of vocation- what God has called and given each of us to do from scripture.
We all have a missional call. We should do everything we can to make sure our work reflects that missional calling.

Questions:
*What is God’s missional vocation on your life and how do you apply that call to your daily work? Are there ways you might be able to adapt or increase that influence on your work?
*How can you discover the missional vocation of your co-workers and help them maximize those gifts in the workplace?
*In what ways could God place a direct call on your work?