Who are we outside of work?
World no.3 ,Rory McIlory, is having a tough year on the course. The four time major winner missed the cut at both The Players Championship and The Masters. Most recently, he finished T47 at the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow, a course where he has historically thrived.
Over the past year, Rory has become a kind of defacto leader of the PGA tour, in addition to serving on its board. He has repeatedly spoken out against the Saudi backed league, LIV, and worked with the PGA to create a series of changes designed to make the tour a more competitive product.
In a recent interview, he said this regarding his performance:
“I think I have always thought I had a good handle and perspective on things and where golf fits within my life. But I think over the last 12 months I had sort of lost sight of that and I had lost sight of the fact that there is more to life than the golf world.”
Rory’s experience raises an important question so many of us ponder: Who are we outside of work? How do we build a larger identity that transcends what we do?
In a podcast interview with Brene Brown, Dr. Maya Shankar, talks about her experience with change and what it means to form a bigger identity for ourselves. Dr. Shankar’s life experience gives her a lot to say on these topics. She studied violin at Juilliard under legendary violinist, Itzhak Perlman, before an injury forced her to stop playing permanently. She went on to pursue and receive a PhD in cognitive science before joining the Obama Administration as an advisor.
Over time, Dr. Shankar has realized that what she loved about the violin was the emotional connection the instrument allowed her to build with other people. It was that same love of and desire for human connection that cultivated her passion for studying cognitive science. With this awareness she’s found something fundamental about who she is and what she loves that transcends any job title.
I had to ask myself: What is it that I love doing that has nothing to do with being an investor or coaching?
I love holding space for ambitious people to be themselves. I love supporting others in navigating roads less traveled. I love figuring out the ways no one else has thought to approach a particular problem and giving those strategies a go. The funny thing is that I did all of these things in my prior life as an investor and I do them now as a coach. And if I wasn’t coaching, I’d be figuring out another place to apply this essence of who I am.
Perhaps for Rory the question is this: What does he love about golf that has nothing to do with the game?
And for you: What do you love doing that transcends your title?
