The Not-For-Profit Human

Something about working at the music school - a non-profit org with a mission and vision that I strongly support - has gotten me thinking about my lifelong goals in a new light.

Before, at the corporate job, I had some personal short-term goals: learn how large businesses operate, learn the theory behind financial modeling, develop basic management skills, etc. But when I thought about my role in the company in the broadest sense, I realized that their understanding of my contributions was far simpler than mine: train her to make money for the executives. Without realizing it, my dedication of time and energy went more toward furthering the lifelong goals of a few people I had never met, than it did toward developing and meeting my own goals.

And so it is we call it "working for the man." Yes, Erica, we've all been there.

Right, I just realized that it is easy to lose sight of your personal goals when someone else pays you to help them achieve their's. And when their only goal is to make money (or not lose money, whatever the case may be) the whole thing just gets ugly. But that's all I'll say about that.

What got my brain turning today was the idea of "misson and vision" - something non-profit organizations are always discussing and re-defining and having big meetings about - and how cool that is. What is even cooler is thinking about these concepts on a personal level.

What would your personal "mission statement" be if you had to write it down? What would your long-term "vision" be for your life? If you were a not-for-profit organization, what would you be called?

This might be fun... post a comment if you come up with some answers.