CONCLUSION

When I first set out to write this book, I was excited to share a new framework that I had seen emerge from the coaching work I had done with hundreds of clients over more than two decades.

My goal was to find a set of “new” skills for the world of work in the twenty-first century that would provide options, flexibility, and freedom to workers across every work mode, in every industry.

When I initially thought of including some of my dad’s story in the first chapter, I was excited to hear his perspective on the two decades he had spent restoring the Port Costa School. It seemed like the perfect metaphor.

During our interview about the school, my dad told me that when he was living in San Anselmo in 1967, someone wrote a letter to the editor of the local paper, complaining about the decaying downtown storefronts.

“This really bothered me,” he said. “I wanted to do something about it.”

Since he was a photographer, he took pictures of every storefront along the main downtown strip on San Anselmo Avenue. Then he called seven of his friends who were skilled architects and designers. He passed out a couple of photographs to each of them and asked if they would be willing to draw a picture of what they would do to improve the storefronts, as well as what they could do to an ugly concrete parking lot that backed up to a creek that ran parallel to the downtown. All of them agreed and set to work with the new designs.

When the drawings were all done, he took pictures of each of them. Then he created a slide slow that included pictures of the decaying storefronts, along with the “new, improved” drawings. He set up community meetings in a couple of different locations in town and invited the residents of San Anselmo to attend. Many of them did.

“When they saw the new drawings, they started applauding!” my dad said. “They got really excited about the possibilities.”

He did the show for the downtown merchants, and they were amazed by what they saw. The merchants and city government mobilized, and over the course of a decade, the downtown was slowly upgraded. A beautiful new park was designed to replace the ugly concrete parking lot by the creek based on the drawing by my dad’s friend Dan Goltz. It was renamed Creek Park.

In this small project in San Anselmo, in 1967, my dad utilized every one of the skills I include in the Body of Work Success Framework.

He connected to his roots. He had a deeply instilled sense of community pride and service, reaching back to the way his father raised him on the farm in Yuba City. “Our farm was immaculate,” he said. “From the time I can remember, my dad had us pick up trash along the road and clean every spot of the farm.”

He relied on his ingredients. He depended on his photography skills and experience from his role at Pacific Gas and Electric, where he used to run community meetings up and down the state of California.

He chose the work mode of volunteer. Instead of waiting to get in a position of influence or authority, he chose to do this project as a concerned member of the community, since he thought that from that perspective, he could garner more trust (in later years, he did join the city council and eventually become mayor).

He overcame his fear and hesitation. Since he was neither an elected official nor local merchant, he had to face his fears head on in order to do something about the decaying downtown.

He created a project to address the problem. He designed community meetings where he could show people concrete examples of the area’s potential.

He gathered a team of collaborators. He reached out to talented peer mentors who had the exact skills he needed to complete his project.

He defined a big part of personal success as having a positive impact on the community. Even though he didn’t earn a dime with the project, he felt tremendous satisfaction when he saw the results.

He told a compelling story. He moved through Nancy Duarte’s presentation framework from “what is” (the decaying storefronts) to what “could be” (the drawings of the reimagined storefronts), and he inspired his audience to action.

I got chills as I heard my dad tell this story. I suddenly realized that I had watched him use these skills in his life and career for years, but it wasn’t until I wrote this book that I truly understood the underlying framework, since I was used to looking at his career, volunteer work, and personal life through separate lenses.

The one thing I knew all along? That he was a very fulfilled and happy person who navigated a life of challenge and uncertainty with grit and success.

I hope that the stories I shared in this book of the creative and brave people like Amanda Wang, David Batstone, Mike Carson, Rafe Eric Biggs, Kyle Durand, John Legend, and Desiree Adaway will inspire you to take some risks of your own, with the purpose of feeling more alive, engaged, connected, and excited in your work.

Viewing your career as a body of work will give you more choice, financial security, and creative freedom. The world is not going to serve up neat career tracks anymore. You cannot guarantee that your business or nonprofit will survive in a constantly changing economic landscape. But you can choose the kinds of projects that are worth completing and the type of life that is worth living.

This book is part of my own body of work, and it is just beginning. Join me at pamelaslim.com/bodyofwork to learn more about the people profiled in the book, to access additional tools and resources, and to share questions, thoughts, images, and videos of your body of work.

My wish for you is that you create a full-color, full-contact life that brings great value to the world and great joy and success to you and your family.

Let the creating begin.