We just concluded a four-month coaching mandate with a senior executive in the music industry. In our final meeting the client remarked how surprised she was that the process did not seek to push her towards roles available to her with bigger producers.

This comment reminded me of a parable. A fisherman sat by the quais, eating olives and slowly mending his nets on a sunny afternoon. Along came a pearl trader, who struck up a conversation:

“You should get the fish wives to mend your nets.”

“Why is that?”

“So that you could spend more time fishing.”

“What would that achieve?”

“You could make more profit and build a whole fishing fleet.”

“To what end?”

“Then you could catch even more and have all the riches of the world.”

“Why is that an aspiration?”

“Because then you could do whatever you want!”

Reflecting on this for a moment, the fisherman replied:

“But I already am.”

My client is doing what she loves doing. At Fox Meets Owl, our aim is not to maximize profits or influence (although both can enter the equation), but to align the demands of what you do with your strengths and passions.

We believe that this strength-based approach maximizes job satisfaction and happiness, positively influencing output. And for some, olives at the sea side are hard to beat.