Purpose
We don’t talk about purpose enough. What’s your purpose?
If you want to answer, I have an anonymous survey here.
My purpose comes from…
Over time I’ve come to discover that I’m deeply drawn to the space between personal change and social change. It’s my playground. And I’ve learned that I’m driven by two primary forces: curiosity and altruism.
What is it?
My purpose in life is to do as much good as humanly possible. I call this my mission.
I wear two primary hats to pursue this mission: social entrepreneur and social scientist. I’m fundamentally a very, very curious change agent.
But I also draw upon my inner positive psychologist, social psychologist, philosopher, ethicist, strategist, social innovator, and social investor to advance this mission.
This complexity is a function of my polymath “virus”, meaning I have a strong tendency to immerse myself in both breadth and depth. It will admittedly take me many more years to serve in each role well.
Living my purpose.
I’m currently:
Helping launch UP Singapore, an experiment in mixing ground-up innovation and big data improve our urban environments. This is one of the largest such experiments in Singapore’s history and the first in a new global UP movement. It also leads into the launch of Singapore’s first tech-focused sustainable business incubator, with funding up to S$250K for each new business.
We’re recruiting interns and additional sponsors.
Building Self Spark, which sparks people to take effective action for personal growth. We’re building the “TEDx of personal growth” by spreading open source, science-based personal growth events around the world. Ultimately, we’re trying to advance the science of self-actualization.
Pre-launch, private beta; we’re prototyping our events and recruiting for the team.
Helping Polymath Foundation create a new physical university for 10,000 young Leonardo da Vinci’s. We’re trying to redefine higher education around a “polymathic portfolio” of innovation instead of a piece of paper. Ultimately, we hope to help catalyze a 21st Century Renaissance.
Helping OnHand Agrarian invent a new type of sustainable, high-density fish farming and build a triple-bottom line social enterprise to scale the method globally. The fishing industry must change, now.
We’re currently doing R&D and seeking additional investors.
Doing emotional intelligence (EQ)-based coaching with an instrument that predicts 54% of life success factors. I care about measurably changing lives, otherwise it’s not worth it for you or me.
I can’t take on any more clients for the time-being.
And…
I also serve as a freelance social entrepreneur (i.e., I help others build their startups), consult for Singaporean social enterprises, speak at local or regional events, write, teach, teach/train, design events, research, and volunteer. Almost all of this is directly tied to creating social change.
And I spend a great deal of my time on personal growth, self-education, and connecting people and enterprises.
This sounds like a lot, but it’s not really that much. I am full-time with UP Singapore and part-time with Self Spark. I help build Polymath Foundation (founded by Michael Barnatham) and OnHand Agrarian (founded by Shannon Lim) as my schedule allows.
Believe it or not, I maintain a reasonable work-life-sleep balance.
I have big plans for the future.
Be warned: I’m from Texas–I can’t help but think big!
Long-term, I will move into venture philanthropy and impact investing to strategically scale social innovations and social enterprises, especially in the area of personal growth.
I will hopefully help define what might be considered a new type of job: a freelance social entrepreneur meets active venture philanthropist. In other words, someone who invests his or her time, money, skill, and resources into multiple social enterprises at once, working side-by-side with the teams as a co-founder or extremely active board member. Besides providing seed capital, I would hope to help shape culture, grow people, and directly contribute at an operational level, albeit for specific time spans (e.g., 1-4 weeks at one time).
At a hyperfocus level, I will help develop the means to create self-actualized polymathic youth and young adult changemakers, especially through globally scalable camps, competitions, conferences, clubs, and communities.
And in time, I also hope to help nurture Singapore into Asia’s Social Silicon Valley and help spark several Social Silicon Valleys around the world.
Ultimately, I envision a world of complete human flourishing. It’s not enough that people are fed, safe, healthy, and minimally educated–that is merely the beginning. In the end, every person deserves a real chance at self-actualization. Developing the scientific, technological, and engineering framework necessary to create such a world is my long-term focus.