Passion and Purpose: How to Identify and Leverage the Powerful Patterns That Shape Your Work/Life [Paperback]

Marlys Hanson (Author), Merle E. Hanson (Author), Arthur F. Miller Jr. (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 2002

This book is about innate motivation--the naturally endowed needs, drives or desires that motivate a person to some particular action or behavior. Many terms are used to describe this phenomenon. Giftedness, talents, motivated abilities, natural strengths, motivational patterns or passion and purpose are some of the most common. Regardless of the specific term used, all are intended to convey the fact that every time a person accomplishes something personally significant and enjoyable, he or she will inevitably repeat some or all of the aspects of his or her innate motivation. Over time, a consistent pattern emerges that, if recognized and understood, reveals the basis for fulfillment and productivity for that individual. This book presents the System of Identifying Motivated Abilities, (SIMA), a behavior-based assessment process designed to identify this unique but consistent pattern of your natural strengths.

The outcome of this SIMA Assessment is a description of your vocationally sighnificant motivations--what you enjoy doing and feel you did well.

It describes:

- the "motivated" abilities that recur in your work/life achievements

- the subject matter or content with which you are motivated to work

the circumstances that trigger and sustain yur efforts

the way in which you prefer to relate to others when you are working

- the overall outcome or payoff that you seek to achieve from your efforts.

This set of information, which is your Motivational Pattern, should be the foundation of every decision you make about your job, your career and even your life.After you have identified your Motivational Pattern, you may elect to have your pattern compared to profiles of more than 400 professions and occupations to determine the "best fit" for you.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Read this book and you will have a clear set of choices that will get you what you want. -- Mat Juechter, ASTD Board of Governors, former CEO at Wilson Learning, ARC International, 2001

Read this book and you'll have a clear set of choices that will get you what you want. -- Mat Juechter, ASTD Board of Governors, January, 2002

This assessment process process provides insights on which senior executives can make informed decisioms. -- Ron Galbraith, CEO, Management 21, Nashville TN, 2001.

This book could prevent much unhappiness and suffering, and give people a sense of joy each morning, instead of dread. -- Karen Roberts, M. D.,MPH, Atascadero, CA, 2001.

This book has helped all levels of employees to find their "fit" and career paths that will develop their strengths. -- Ornella Pensyl, Defense Intelligence Agency, 2001

This book is an extraordinary achievement that inspires, motivates and profoundly impacts one's life - professional and personal. -- W.Gamboa-Guez, EdutoriumA/S, February, 2002

This book represents a breakthrough in understanding intrinsic motivation. Nothing comes close to its ability to define person-job "fit". -- Dr. William Banis, VP Student Affairs, Northwestern, March, 2002

From the Publisher

How many people do you know who love their work?

Look at the people around you. Look up, down and sideways. Look at people you work with in other departments and divisions, and those employed by your suppliers and customers. Recall your history with colleagues, bosses and subordinates. How many would you suspect are, or were, a mismatch in the job they occupied? One out of 10--one out of five--three? How about one out of two...at the minimum?

A recent Career Education Corporation survey reported that half of the employed auults in the United States would con- sider changing their career and nearly 25 percent planned to do so in the next year.

It's like a secret that everybody knows but nobody talks about! How many bosses have you had who made good use of your talents? How many real leaders have you served under? How often have you occupied a job that fit you like undersized shoes? Of all those who have tried to sell you, mentor you, serve you, correct you, counsel you, train you, preach to you, or fix your car, how many were "fitted" to their job?

In their work with people who were doing what they loved to do, the authors of PASSION AND PURPOSE found a consistent pattern of strengths driven by a particular motivation to accomplish a certain outcome. The fundamental nature of this pattern never changes: The key to productive use of any person is to tap into her pattern of innate strengths, unqiue power and passiom. Why, then, does job mismatch plague so many? Because neither employees nor managers recognize the existence or the power of these patterns of innate motivations, nor do they fully comprehend the impact these patterns have on both performance and fulfillment.

The result? People lose their way. The majority occupy positions for which they do not possess both the desire and the ability to perform - resulting in mismatch of crippling proportions.

PASSION AND PURPOSE offers new and promising help. It is based on assessments of more than 50,000 individuals - and the organization's use of those assessments to leverage talents to meet both individual goals and organizational needs. It is offers unique career insights that are significantly more accurate and predictive than those found in the many career books now on the shelf.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Marlys Hanson & Associates (April 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0971721548
• ISBN-13: 978-0971721548
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 8.3 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #471,632 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Resource..., August 7, 2003

By 

James Neville (Katy (Houston), TX) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Passion and Purpose: How to Identify and Leverage the Powerful Patterns That Shape Your Work/Life (Paperback)

Well, if you're job-hunting or career-searching or mission-anguishing, this is the best resource to work with the Miller Motivated Abilities model. I've worked with Marlys in person twice, once as corporate-employed and once as self-employed. So you can tell I like the model which is a great balance to the Myers Briggs approach. How do you REALLY like to operate verus how do you THINK you're supposed to operate? Once you see that, things go "clunk" and you say OHHH! so THAT'S what happened with that job / that boss / that person / that project etc.

The book gives you the complete method and context, all that's missing is Marlys' personal read, but hey you'll have to email her for that. She has a web site but what I liked most about the book was I could work through the whole process sitting at Starbuck's.

There are several other books detailing Miller's model with him as contributing author. Marlys' treatment is the most complete, self-contained, and usable.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very Useful Resource, Highly Recommended, March 26, 2004

By 

Jan Milo "Jan Milo" (Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Passion and Purpose: How to Identify and Leverage the Powerful Patterns That Shape Your Work/Life (Paperback)

I read Arthur Miller's books and thought them to be excellent. His view of "giftedness" and design really made sense to me looking at my personal history.

As much as I enjoyed Miller's books, I needed something practical to accompany it. I found "Passion and Purpose" to be just that. It gave me a superb framework to map out the necessary data and analyse it. One result: understanding my motivation payoff, a major "ah-ha" for me, and something I doubt I would have come to on my own.

The section pertaining to analysis I found to be particularly helpful. It assisted me to be both throrough and quick. Several subseqent sections that help work through a "Best-Fit" scenario and team design I also found extremely useful.

I would say that "Passion and Purpose" is a wonderful companion to Miller's books and/or as a stand alone work on giftedness. It believe it will really help you to identify and maximize your natural design, motivations and abilities, and ultimatley lead to a more impactful and fulfilling work life.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What Will You Be When You Grow Up?, May 3, 2004

By 

Dr. Rustin W Allred (Dallas, Texas USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Passion and Purpose: How to Identify and Leverage the Powerful Patterns That Shape Your Work/Life (Paperback)

Are you having a hard time deciding what you want to be when you grow up? Are you 43 and still wondering? Or maybe you're 53 and considering your second career. For those of us who have ever had such thoughts, Marlys Hanson's "Passion and Purpose" is the solution.

In this excellent work you will learn about Motivated Abilities, and why you should work to your strengths more than always trying to improve your weaknesses. You will understand why you are particularly good at some activities, and perhaps a bit less so at others.

After you have read the book, help with understanding your Motivated Abilities is available from Marlys' company, Marlys Hanson and Associates. While the book teaches the method of doing this analysis oneself, the experience of Marlys and her team will help you learn even more about yourself for a modest additional cost.

I wish I had found Marlys sooner, but am thrilled that I found her at all.