Where to begin…
I meet with a lot of people who feel stuck in some way. Most of these people are young and have much of their lives ahead of them, yet that is often the problem. They sense there is a specific path they must forge but they don’t know how to get to it. Or they feel there are so many options they are paralyzed. Choosing means eliminating options and potentially picking a dead end, leading to failure. Not having a road map is daunting for young people, yet when being told what to choose, they feel boxed in. What many could use is a guide to discovery, a way forward that allows them to process their ideas and experiences so they may more readily discover their calling. For those who feel stuck or need to reimagine their way forward, Tina Seelig’s book, Insight Out: Get Ideas Out of Your Head and into the World does just this. A practical guide introducing entrepreneurial concepts with stories to illustrate her points along with practical application for the reader, Seelig offers a way to invent one’s own future.
In a culture filled with self-help schemes and gurus, Tina Seelig is not primarily interested in creating another money-making gimmick. As a neuroscientist and professor at Stanford in the department of Management Science and Engineering, Seelig is focused on helping her students “identify and seize opportunities…fostering skills that will enable them to build their career, contribute to the organizations they join, and lead a fulfilling life.”[1]
Seelig states in an interview her purpose in writing Insight Out. “My goal in Insight Out is to bring together what we know about creativity with what we know about entrepreneurship so that we can reproducibly teach, learn and practice these skills in a rigorous manner.”[2] She does this through introducing the invention cycle. “The Invention Cycle is a new model that defines the relationships between imagination, creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship… Imagination is envisioning things that do not exist; creativity is applying imagination to address a challenge; innovation is applying creativity to generate unique solutions, and entrepreneurship is applying innovation to bring unique ideas to fruition.”[3]
Seelig’s book is very pragmatic and doable for anyone, not just students at Stanford. Her basic introduction of concepts accompanied by stories to illustrate how the concepts take shape in the world provides vision for those beginning to grow their entrepreneurial skills. In addition, the practical application at the end of the chapters give learners a way to experience the concepts and actually grow their skillset. Seelig notes early on that learning is experiential and without experiencing the ideas being taught one will not actually learn the content presented to them.
One of the limitations to Seelig’s work comes in the way of a starting place. For entrepreneurs and innovators to create in a way that is meaningful and productive they must begin with a concrete sense of identity. Knowing who one is allows them to create something that is deeply fulfilling, especially when risk and challenge are inevitably involved.
When considering the development of an apprentice or new leader, one must begin with their identity. As a pastor and leader in the Free Methodist church, I believe all are made in the Imago Dei and, as such are a good creation. And, although we are good, we are broken and sinful, and in need of a Savior beyond ourselves, namely, Jesus. This identity leads us to begin with the creation narrative and then the story of redemption found in Jesus in the New Testament. There is much more detail and nuance to our identity but these are the basic beginnings. From here, disciples can connect with their unique giftings and personality. Thus, their identity will inform the ways they experience the world and how they choose to engage toward learning passion areas and choosing creative and even career paths.
Over the weekend I watched the movie Adrift featuring Shailene Woodley. Adrift is the actual story of two young people who set sail from Tahiti to San Diego in the 1980s. They are caught in a hurricane in the midst of their trip and are thrown hundreds of miles off course. The majority of the story is focused around the internal and external struggle to return to the original course and finish the prolonged trip with a broken sail and very few supplies. While watching I was struck by the sailor’s navigational abilities and their tenacity in what seemed like a hopeless situation. They were able to determine where they were in the midst of endless ocean and then re-charted their course to find land and survive in a dire circumstance. They could have remained stuck and allowed themselves to die in the bleak situation but, determining where they were and being compelled by something greater than themselves (you will have to watch the movie to know what that was), they carried on.
Adrift speaks to the idea of orientation and direction. The sailors had to start with where they were and when struggle hit, had to know who they were. From there they could navigate a course toward where they hoped to go. They innovated all along the way, making new sails, choosing options previously foreign to them.
When I consider my own research, analyzing the ways the Wesleyan Holiness Church approaches developing leaders, I realize our need for owning the identity aspect of our theology before ever moving into the doing. When we drift from our theological roots, our identity shifts and we lead in many ways that take us off course. Rather than following our Christ-centered convictions we float toward following the culture. This drifting keeps us from offering those young people I mentioned earlier a concrete way forward, knowing their identity and then walking it out to do as Seelig does so well, “fostering skills that will enable them to build their career, contribute to the organizations they join, and lead a fulfilling life.”[4]
[1] Seelig, Insight Out: Get Ideas out of Your Head and into the World. New York: Harper Collins,2015, Introduction.
[2] Seelig, Entrepreneurial Success Depends on Actions, Attitudes and Practice, Stanford Expert Says
Targeted News Service; Washington, D.C. [Washington, D.C]27 May 2015.
[3] Seelig.
[4] Seelig, introduction.
About the Author
Trisha Welstad
Trisha is passionate about investing in leaders to see them become all God has created them to be. As an ordained Free Methodist elder, Trisha has served with churches in LA and Oregon, leading as a pastor of youth and spiritual formation, a church planter, and as a co-pastor of a church restart. Trisha currently serves as leadership development pastor at Northside Community Church in Newberg, OR. Over the last five years Trisha has directed the Leadership Center, partnering with George Fox and the Free Methodist and Wesleyan Holiness churches. The Leadership Center is a network facilitating the development of new and current Wesleyan leaders, churches and disciples through internships, equipping, mentoring and scholarship. In collaboration with the Leadership Center, Trisha serves as the director of the Institute for Pastoral Thriving at Portland Seminary and with Theologia: George Fox Summer Theology Institute. She is also adjunct faculty at George Fox University. Trisha enjoys throwing parties, growing food, listening to the latest musical creations by Troy Welstad and laughing with her two children.19 responses to “Where to begin…”
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Trisha,
Inventing one’s own future seems to be a pressing challenge for many people today. Excellent recap of Seelig’s book themes of creativity-entrepreneurship and the Invention Cycle. My Dad helped me establish my “starting place.” I can still remember his encouraging words, “Son, you are a child of God. Never follow the crowd, be your own man, always love the Lord.” This is paraphrased and embellished, but that was my Dad’s general idea, to Stand Firm in the Lord no mater what.
In my generation, parents still parented, and I got my imagination, creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship from their lived theology and life experiences. My parents were children of coal miners, high school educated, and escaped the “back holler” living when my Dad joined the Air Force. I don’t think my Dad invented his future, but instead trusted God to lead in the journey.
Stand firm,
M. Webb
Mike, I think many people need a dad like yours who spoke love and truth. It seems like the world has opened up since the age of the internet for people to dream up new ways of being and innovating toward different futures. Do you think this is true? I’d love to hear your thoughts. Thanks for sharing from your own life experience.
Trisha– you brought a LOT to the table in this post! Not only connecting the reading with the dilemma of young people you work with, but also with your own theological tradition, as well as the movie Adrift, just for good measure. I hear in your post the way you are actively bringing this reading into your own research area, and applying it to real life situations as well. Thank you for such an interesting and enjoyable post to read!
Thanks Dave, I am attempting to glean toward research and I think there are some nuggets in this semester’s reading for the work I am doing. I hope your research is going well and these books are contributing.
Trisha,
Whew, that trailer was intense!! (Heart thumping… especially with that wave!!)
I love that the film emphasized that orientation and motivation help us get unstuck, and think these thoughts fits well with this book too. The couple definitely possessed and utilized entrepreneurial capacity to find their way home… (Haven’t watched the movie, but assume they did get home for the movie to be made!) There’s a lot in there to illustrate for your emerging ministry leaders who you mentor… despite woundedness, disillusionment, feeling lost, hunger, being abandoned, they must dig deep to find their way home…
How did you find this movie? Have you used it in your ministry context?
Mark, the wave freaked me out! It’s a new movie (2018) and I recommend it. You mostly got the ending right. 😉
You are right, there is a good story worth telling with a lot to self-leadership in it. The woman who was in it still goes sailing to this day. That’s a big deal to me after that terrible experience. The fact that the storm made her strong and there’s probably a lot less fear of things going wrong and much more confidence in her ability.
Great post as always Trisha! I loved the movie Adrift…very inspiring and courageous and I love how you weaved it into this weeks reading. The following part of your post that resonated with my post was: “One of the limitations to Seelig’s work comes in the way of a starting place. For entrepreneurs and innovators to create in a way that is meaningful and productive they must begin with a concrete sense of identity. Knowing who one is allows them to create something that is deeply fulfilling, especially when risk and challenge are inevitably involved.” It spoke to the need for leaders to be self-aware and mindful in order to be grounded and able to listen to that creative voice inside them so they can actually start the Invention Cycle.
You wrote, “Knowing who one is allows them to create something that is deeply fulfilling, especially when risk and challenge are inevitably involved.” Self identity is a natural part of leadership development. I agree that this is foundational when doing “creative” work and ministry. Great use of the movie to talk about theological drift. When the “popular” christian books that all leaders are reading don’t support our theology, I wonder how many of us challenge this notions or we simply allow it to influence us. There are lots of analogies for this idea of theological drift. Thanks for helping me think about my own life and work in this light.
Good point Greg. I think theological drift can be subtle over time. I just met a gentlemen over the weekend who told me he goes to a Calvary Chapel Church but identifies theologically as Free Methodist. Then he told me that regarding women in leadership he felt it was important but said, “Mind over matter, I don’t mind so it doesn’t matter.” It was like he undermined all of what he theology by basically admitting that because it doesn’t really effect him it doesn’t matter. That is pretty far from the abolitionist/activist movement he identifies with in my mind. I think his story is more prevalent than the church realizes or is willing to teach through. It’s hard work to stay with our theology in a shifting culture without being (or at least feeling) legalistic.
Great insight, Trisha!
You mentioned, “For entrepreneurs and innovators to create in a way that is meaningful and productive they must begin with a concrete sense of identity.” I completely agree. It’s imperative to understand one’s own identity before creating personal convictions. Therefore, self-perception must precede self-actualization.
I found it interesting that Dr. Seelig never mentions a concrete definition of personal identity, but she does venture into the idea of personal dissatisfaction. She touched on the organization Charity Water and gave us a glimpse at the before and after of Scott Harrison. She explained that his experience changed his vision and thus changed his view of himself.
Dr. Seelig presented the idea of purpose as being individual and driven by personal experience. However, I have found that Christianity is highly defined by discipleship and succession. Do you find that Christianity as a whole, leaves room for individualism? Has our fixation with discipleship created carbon copies instead of individual leaders?
Great questions Colleen. I think Christianity has community at the heart of it but calls for an interdependent way of living: knowing who we are but being connected to the whole without being unhealthily fused to one another. It’s not so much that we need to be independent as we need to know our uniqueness in who God’s made us to be (I think that helps a lot of people to own their worth) and to know what we are made in God’s image which solidifies our value. Hopefully, these make us varying parts of the body of Christ and not carbon copies, although, I could see as in Greg’s post has many want to get things right and so they mimic directly that of their discipler.
Trisha,
Excellent connection of the book, the film and your dissertation topic. I believe you are spot on in your assessment of young people today needing to know their identity, in all its facets, in order to determine a way forward for their lives. How do you propose helping unique individuals define or describe their identity in a manner that frees them to move ahead with plans for the future?
Thanks Dan. I have used a text written by a friend to help a lot of young people (and not so young) determine their calling called ‘My Vocational Credo.’ It’s by Deborah Koehn Loyd and it’s a great workbook. It helps them to own identity in Christ and their story which then gives some good movements forward in the way of creating a credo that brings everything together. I also ask students to come up with three different jobs they could do related to their credo so they get out of the ‘I can only be a worship pastor’ (or whatever it is) box. Having a unique statement rooted in God is important for them to own.
Hi Trish,
You had me at, “For entrepreneurs and innovators to create in a way that is meaningful and productive they must begin with a concrete sense of identity.” To be honest, that is where my son was taken off the path. His identity was watered down, and he searched for a new one in all the wrong places. I think intelligence can sometimes get in the way of identity, as we are too smart for our own good as we try to improve on God’s simple identity for us. Might you agree?
Jay, that’s an interesting thought regarding your son. I agree that many are really intelligent and creative and need room to flourish and innovate in new ways. But, I hold to my original statement you quoted as I see it in my husband who is a creative as well. There is a need for humility in it all – God is pretty intelligent and creative and has depths for us to plumb if we are willing to yield our own intelligence and creativity to his.
Trish, due to the fact that I am about to take a two week trip to Hong Kong, followed three weeks later by a two week Holy Land tour, I have been having to find a number of fill-preachers for while I am gone. I have taken this as an opportunity to find a few men that I have been pruning for a while now, and asking them to give their first attempt at preaching in my stead. All three men asked me the same exact question; “What should I preach on?” To all three men, I gave the same exact answer; “What topic appeals to you?” I left it at that. I offered no suggestions, but rather instead, was eager to hear their decision, and hopefully, their topic. To my delight, all three came back within a week and accepted the challenge, and were also excited about the topics they had chose. I say all of that to say this; your post stated that it was necessary to “realize our need for owning the identity aspect of our theology before ever moving into the doing.” I could not agree more! I cannot expect others to share my excitement and passion for the all of the same things; furthermore, I believe that we must help them find their own passions if we hope to see a fire grow inside of them. I have seen too many trying to force their own fire upon someone else, which in reality, never truly has the effect we hope for. Instead, we should work harder at helping them to determine that answer for themselves, and then guide them as they grow.
Always enjoy your post.
Thanks Shawn. I really hope the preaching goes well while you are out. I am glad for the good work you are doing in discipling people to find their identity in Christ and move into maturity to own it in creative ways as they go on to disciple others. That is good news!
Very interesting to think about identity in the context of this book and the invention cycle. I suppose the more one understands/knows herself, the more able she is to pursue her calling with clarity and conviction, and therefore find the internal and external motivation to thrive through the stages of the invention cycle.
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