In his book, "Crossing the Unknown Sea: Work as a Pilgrimage of Identity," author David Whyte explores the concept of work from an internal perspective and how work allows us to become the individuals that we are. He refers to the works of the well-known poet and engraver, William Blake. Whyte uses the analogy of a ship crossing unknown seas to illustrate how we need to be the captains of our vessels. Through a variety of analogies, Wyte has presented work from a different perspective and one that allows us to explore our own potential and how we can better leverage that potential within that area of our life we call work.

Work is viewed not just as a journey through the world, but through the various stages of understanding. Work allows us to give the gifts that we possess and shows us the gifts that we are afraid of receiving.

The voyage that we take in our ships also involves change. Change is a necessary component to meaningful and creative work.

Whyte also shares how he believes that the successes we have in middle life can also imprison us as much as our failures. Some of the other interesting concepts he discusses includes: courage, expressive imagination, family ancestry of work and the edge of necessity.

Leanne Hoagland-Smith

Good Day. Thanks for visiting. I hope that you have enjoyed my articles. In 1999, I founded ADVANCED SYSTEMS because I saw that performance could and should be doubled in warp time. Individuals, small and large businesses could not afford expensive solutions that may or may not deliver improved results in 12 months.

From my corporate, small business and education experiences, I recognized the individuals must have opportunities for connecting their passion to their purpose to secure the desired performance results, but many lacked the necessary skills, strategies and tools.

With over 20 years in sales management and 10 years in education, I understand how to unite productivity with profitability by developing a proactive working culture. My previous experiences resulted in cost savings through one of the first implementations of a computer software in a wholesaler distributor to the creation of a vendor performance assessment.

Since facilitating over 500 sessions, developing and editing over 25 training programs and writing numerous articles focusing on performance improvement, I bring a results focused approach to my clients. Also, I am proud to be one of the first five nationally certified facilitators of America?s Rising Stars (a Student Leadership developmental curriculum).

My passion is to help others connect their passion to their purpose to double performance. As The small business coach in Chicago, my clients have easily doubled their performance. Since our greatest resource is our young people, I am now working with large urban schools to generate the same results.

Education Background

• Graduated with honors from Purdue University with a B.A. in Education
• Earned M.S. from Purdue University in Instructional Design and Curriculum
• Published in the national trade journal, The Supply House Times, and numerous national newsletters
• Developed seminars and training on diversity, communication, leadership, sales, effective trade show behavior, networking, knowledge management, goal setting and improved educational outcomes
• Co-authored M.A.G.I.C.A.L. Potential: 7 Capicities for Living an Amazing Life Beyond Purpose to Achievement, to be available in 2006
• Working a another book focusing on performance in public education
• Speaker in a national bureau - Resource Associates Corporation