Ikigai and Collaboration - A Collaborwocky Interview with David Marlow

Описание: Tonianne DeMaria: For those who might not have a familiarity with Ikigai, how would you explain it?

David Marlow: So, Ikigai is a Japanese combination word that literally means ‘life purpose’. And Ikigai is your reason for getting up in the morning. That purpose, that unique expression of you, your gifts, your passions, your skills, your experiences, your opportunity to impact the world. And when you're living your Ikigai, you're spending your time doing what only you can uniquely do. Again, it's that special combination of everything that is you, your personality, your interests. And then it’s understanding that to level and then becoming the best in the world at it, which is it being yourself.

And the great thing about a Ikigai, once you've got a sense for that, it becomes core to your essence to your being, to your doing, and it's like a north star like a guide. And incredible things start to fall in place for you. Your natural ref... you have a naturally... sorry, excuse me, you have a reframe for your focus and your energy. And that happens naturally. And doors begin to open where you didn't even know it existed.

Tonianne DeMaria: Is it a concept only embraced by the individual? Is it something that teams can apply or embrace or organizations?

David Marlow: Yeah. So, the really cool thing I found about it is it's at a personal level, but it can also be at a company level. So, what I do in my coaching and my consulting work is I help individuals find it, and find that fulfillment in living into it. Then I help businesses identify their purpose and bring that into their products and into their people. And I know both of you are wonderful, wonderful leaders and thought leaders in continuous improvement work. And what I have found is that when you add a Ikigai into that, you really multiply the benefits of any kind of transformation work.

So, let me give you an example. In I'll just say a company that I worked with, there in life insurance, we'll call them Acme Life Insurance. How's that? There might be an Acme Life Insurance, I don't know. But we'll just pretend. Okay? And they were headlong into, and I was leading a transformation effort there and doing all the right things in an area interestingly called death benefits. So, as you have life insurance, you have a benefit, there's death benefits. And they were all about improving that process, speeding it up, getting the money to the beneficiaries. Someone's lost a loved one, they've got a life insurance policy for all the right reasons, you want to get it to them as fast as you can.