My guest on this episode is Sam Ushio. Sam and I met through my colleague Elaine Newtson (also a guest on the show, episodes 2.11 Behavioral Interviewing and 4.2 Informational Interviewing) in the pre-Covid times. We connected around the work I’ve done with Designing Your Life and CliftonStrengths and Sam’s focus on the Japanese concept of Ikigai. Sam is the founder of Ikigai Lab, host of the Ikigai Stories podcast and fellow Gallup-Certified Strengths Coach.
Our conversation from February, 2021 is on both of our podcasts. I ask Sam some questions about Ikigai, and moai, he asks me some questions about about how students use CliftonStrengths, and whether more students are seeking out purpose driven companies or impact careers. We talk about meaning and purpose, and generally have a really great conversation.
Here are some of the books, websites and other resources we mention during our conversation:
- Sam references the work on Blue Zones a few times, these are places around the world with high concentrations of centenarians. And here is a link directly to an article about Moai in Okinawa
- FSG is a mission-driven consulting firm that Sam mentions.
- Opera’s Super Soul Sunday podcast
- Sam’s interview with Jonathan Rauch, author of the Happiness Curve
- An NPR story about the book, We Need To Hang Out More, by Billy Baker
- CliftonStrengths