Yellowstone* and San Francisco are worlds apart (1,032 miles, to be exact), but Tom Porter** is closing the distance. His journey started when he was 20 and working as a housekeeper at Yellowstone’s Old Faithful Inn. While he won’t comment on whether or not the Inn is actually haunted (“it depends on which story you subscribe to”), he did find a lot of magic there. Tom’s path has been unique for its depth of meaning and the ways that he defines work-life fulfillment.

 

LESSON: Be Part of Something Bigger than Yourself

Yellowstone is one of the most magical places on earth and guests to the park are regularly having experiences that are once-in-a-lifetime for all the ways the park moves the human spirit. The park is enormous. It is unchanged and constantly changing. It is beautiful, and it is awe-inspiring. For these reasons and more, park guests are regularly in the midst of powerful moments. As employees of the park, Tom and his co-workers were aware of how special their roles were. “We were part of something unique and bigger than ourselves,” Tom says, “even if we were only cleaning rooms or serving cheeseburgers.” Each employee was witness to awesome moments happening all day long for their guests+. (In the photo at the bottom of this post, that’s Tom in the red, skiing Yellowstone with his buddies all those years ago.) Today, Tom works for the SFJAZZ organization (that’s him in the photo next to jazz legend John Handy***) where he is also regularly part of something bigger. Audience members are moved and inspired by the jazz they come to hear, and staff members of SFJAZZ are part of this broadened sense of meaning.

 

LESSON: Be Part of a Shared Experience

The SFJAZZ facility is brilliantly designed to serve the purposes of the audience and the artists. In a unique twist on the usual darkened theatre or auditorium, it is built so everyone can see each other: artists and all the audience members. During each of 300-ish performances SFJAZZ conducts every year, there is special-ness in the shared experience of the audience members and the artists who come together in the container of music that is unique to that performance on that night. What does this have to do with work-life? Everything. Work-life fulfillment comes from a feeling of shared experience – that Tom has as part of his work with SFJAZZ – and that we can all have when we share experiences with our co-workers, customers, and clients.

 

LESSON: Be Authentic

Tom loves jazz**** so in his role as a manager of corporate partnerships, he has an easy time securing relationships and seeking funding for SFJAZZ. One time though, Tom had the unusual experience of showing off SFJAZZ to a potential patron when his not-so-favorite artist was performing. He mustered his enthusiasm and emphasized the greatness of the organization as a whole, despite the musician that night. The patron was a fan of the artist so it was all good, but it reminded Tom of the importance of authenticity. Work-life integration and fulfillment really come from the ability to be authentic – that is, to do what we enjoy and what is at our core.

 

LESSON: Blur Your Relationships

Tom blurs his personal and professional relationships. He is a trailer – 12 years younger than his next-older sibling – in a family with 7 children. He grew up almost like an only child because he was so much younger than his next-oldest sibling, but at the same time, he was part of a really big family. His network is broad today as well – from relatives to friends to colleagues – and he blends his social with his professional pursuits. He is a member of the Porche Club of America and he and his wife Jen regularly socialize with other club drivers. The club connects them personally and as potential donors and friends of SFJAZZ. This works well, because the meaning of work-life is really with the connections and relationships we have in both our work and the rest of our lives.

 

LESSON: Do What You Like

Tom’s advice to others? Do what you like! “The ‘do what you love’ admonition can be overwhelming,” says Tom. It can be a too-big charge. Instead, he has found it more useful to figure out what he’s good at and do those things. He loves music and in addition to his career with SFJAZZ, he also has a radio gig at KPOO which he hosts once a week.

 

Yellowstone* and San Francisco are a thousand miles apart, but Tom has closed the distance easily because he’s doing work that is at his core. Despite the differences in organizations, in regions, and in cultures, he is doing something that has meaning for him. Perhaps Tom’s greatest discovery? When you’re doing something that has meaning, it is completely portable. This is truly how we accomplish work-life integration and fulfillment, when we can port our meaning and our fulfillment with us and be part of something bigger than ourselves, in concert with others.

 

*Yellowstone touches Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming, but Tom was based Bozeman, Montana in the park’s northwest corner.

**Based in San Francisco, Tom Porter is the Manager of Corporate Partnerships at SFJAZZ.

***Photo courtesy of SFJAZZ.

****One of Tom’s favorite jazz songs of all time is the 1959 tune called ‘Goodbye Pork Pie Hat’ which is a tribute to Lester Young written by Charles Mingus and featured on his album, ‘Ah Um’. The piece features a solo by John Handy.

+I had my own life-changing experience at Yellowstone a few years ago. Here’s a moving story about Yellowstone’s ecosystem.

 

Would you like to tell your story? If so, let me know by emailing me at tbrower108@gmail.com. Why? One of the foundations of Bringing Work to Life is abundance: the idea that it is possible to find fulfillment, have it all, and avoid the trade-offs between work and life. After all, work and life aren’t separate things to be placed in containers, but part of an integrated whole of a satisfying life. Another foundation of Bringing Work to Life is the idea of multiple right answers. As we’re all seeking ways to bring work to life – and bring life to work – we can learn from each other’s unique solutions and stories. I’d love to learn about your story!

 

Tracy Brower is the author of Bring Work to Life by Bringing Life to Work: A Guide for Leaders and Organizations.