2024.03.26

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What’s a Calling?

Conscious leaders who are oriented toward mission-focused impact come in two equally good flavors – those with a career and those with a calling. And though this article focuses on the latter, a calling is not inherently better.

When an individual describes what it means to have a professional calling, it is typically some version of a highly meaningful career that is used to help others or the greater good.

Scholarly approaches to defining a calling typically fall into two categories.

• Historical (aka neoclassical) approaches focus on a prosocial duty and a sense of destiny.
• Modern approaches center on an inner drive for self-fulfillment or personal happiness.

So, what differentiates a fulfilling career from a true calling?

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Three Elements of a Calling

Summons The first element is a “summons”. That is, if someone is “called” to do something in their career, then that implies there must be a “caller” or a source of the call. The summons comes in a variety of internal and external forms such as

• the needs of society or the nation,
• a family legacy,
• a higher power,
• destiny, or
• the skills/values/interests/passions of the individual.

Purpose The second element is that work aligns with the individual’s broader sense of purpose in life. In many cases the work itself is a way to live out purpose.

Prosocial Motivation The third element is that the individual uses their career to directly or indirectly help others or advance the greater good. Their work itself is prosocially oriented.

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Calling Myths

Contrary to popular belief, having a calling isn’t all or nothing. Callings exist on a continuum with one end being no calling whatsoever for one’s professional work, and the other end having a very strong summons, purpose, and prosocial orientation. Many people fall somewhere in between the two extremes.

Additionally, a calling can be an ongoing process that unfolds over time. It does not need to be “discovered” at one point in time and known with 100% clarity thereafter.

Furthermore, a calling can change or evolve over time.

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The Risks of a Calling

While it is natural to focus on the positive aspects of a calling, there are some potential downsides.

Overwork and workaholism, self-sacrifice, and over-identification with work are three common pitfalls experienced by passionate individuals pursuing a calling.

Additionally, these intrinsically motivated individuals are at risk for lower pay or other workplace rewards or compensation, exploitation in the form of being asked to do more difficult or unpleasant duties than others, or taking on a disproportionate workload.

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Research on Calling

Working adults with a calling tend to be more committed to their jobs and organizations, feel their work is a strong fit for their personal preferences, and are more likely to find meaning at work. They also tend to be more satisfied with life in general.

It is one thing to know you have a calling. It is another to be fulfilling it through action. While individuals across all income and education levels were equally likely to perceive they have a calling, individuals with higher levels of education and income were more likely to feel they were actually living it out.

Research on “unanswered” callings reveals that individuals often describe regret at not fulfilling a calling or stress from trying to fulfill it solely outside of their job.

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Questions for Reflection

• When you consider the three elements of a calling (summons, purpose, prosocial orientation), do you have a career or a calling?

• If you have a calling, have you noticed any of the downsides such as overwork, self-sacrifice, or over-identification with work? Or have you been treated differently at work?

• Do you know if any of your team members consider themselves to have a calling? How does that impact their own work and the dynamics of the team?

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This article draws from the following original source. Duffy, R., and B. Dik (2013). Research on calling: what have we learned and where are we going? Journal of Vocational Behavior 83: 428-436.

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