Creating A Joyful Planet: How Susan Heaney is Helping

Patrice Tanaka, Founder & Chief Joy Officer of Joyful Planet LLC, interviews people who are actively living their purpose and contributing to a more joyful planet. This interview spotlights Susan Arnot Heaney, Director of Marketing at the Rainforest Alliance.PT:  Susan, what I love and admire about you is how you’re pursuing your passion and living your purpose, in part, through the amazing work you’ve done throughout your communications career at Avon, The Sustainability Consortium and now at the Rainforest Alliance. Can you share your life’s purpose with us? I define a life’s purpose as one that leverages your greatest talents, experience and passion in service of people and planet. When did you discover your life’s purpose? Was there a triggering incident?SAH:  As it says on my Twitter profile, I have a business mind and an activist heart, and finding my life’s purpose required clarifying this in my own mind, and then figuring out how to marry the two. There was not a triggering incident as much as a journey of discovery, with defining moments and guideposts along the way. From earliest childhood I was taught to give back, to volunteer, to be of service. Life had to have purpose. I was always independent (just ask my parents!), seeking ways to make a difference MY way, and through this independence I came to discover my two core passions:  women’s empowerment (call me the F word – Feminist!) and the environment.I realized I was a feminist in junior high. Shortly after Ms. Magazine launched it was banned from our school libraries. Want to pique my curiosity? Tell me what I CANNOT read. I dove into Ms. Magazine and found my tribe. (To bring it full circle, years later I worked at USA Today with Cathie Black and Valerie Salembier, who were part of the first Ms. Magazine team.)The environment became my passion thanks to a liberal, independent high school teacher who taught us that all citizens have a right to a clean environment. He started the Ecology Club (remember when it was called “ecology”?!) and, of course, I joined. I was hooked!PT:  And once you determined your purpose did you find yourself begin to actively live it? How did you begin? What did you do?SAH:  There are three elements to living your purpose. One is to identify your core passion(s) – know what you want to impact; the second is the capacity to do something about it – have applicable skills that add value; and the third is to take action to make it happen – don’t wait to be invited in. When I entered the work world you either worked for business or you worked for charity, and I launched my professional life in business (albeit in literary publishing, so I believed there was intrinsic value to my work!). These years were crucial for honing my professional skills, but there was a dichotomy between my work life and my life purpose. To fill the gap I was a chronic volunteer for numerous organizations, while at the same time I made intentional, evolutionary career decisions that brought my work in closer alignment with my purpose.PT:  Did knowing your purpose in life change what you do in your professional life in any way? And, in your personal life?SAH:  Nearly 20 years ago I made the conscious decision to ensure my professional life merged with my life purpose, and secured a corporate position that allowed me to work in women’s empowerment and health, and then in environmental sustainability. Underpinning these roles were my applicable business skills and a commitment to constantly learn and accept new challenges. It meant I was always reinventing myself and operating slightly outside my comfort zone – a sometimes nerve wracking but always exhilarating place to be.In my personal life, knowing my life purpose – and knowing that life must have purpose – definitely guided my choice in my husband, who shares this commitment. It has also ensured that I continue to be a constant volunteer (I am always overextended!) as well as a mentor and, I hope, an example to others.PT:  How does it feel to be living your life’s purpose? Specifically, how would you describe it in terms of the success, fulfillment and joy you experience?SAH:  After decades in a corporate career, a few years ago I made the deliberate choice to leap into the nonprofit sector, specifically in the environmental space, in a job that leverages my professional skills and personal passion. I count myself among those who can say they love their job. No, it is not perfect and I am not a starry eyed optimist. Work is like marriage:  there are always bumps along the way, but in the big picture, you know if you are in the right place. There is, of course, the pragmatic issue of income.  For me, moving from a corporate job to an environmental nonprofit can be summed up in 4 words:  less money, more joy.PT:  What is the result of knowing and actively living your life’s purpose? Is there a power that comes from knowing your life’s purpose in being able to actively live it?SAH:  Quite simply, I cannot imagine living life without contributing in a positive way. To live without purpose would be an empty existence. Power comes from giving, not taking.PT:  What are your greatest hopes and dreams for the life purpose you have chosen?SAH:  My current focus is environmental sustainability, so my dream is very fundamental. The planet is at a critical inflection point: we either make significant changes or the world will cease to exist as we know it. I hope my work and my life will make some small contribution to mitigating the extraordinary environmental challenges we face, and that I will help influence others to do the same.PT:  What do you think you would be doing now if you hadn’t determined and then actively begun to live your purpose?SAH:  I am not sure I could have done anything but pursue some version of the path I have taken. The specifics may have been different – a somewhat different job, or a focus on a different issue – but I would have found a way to a life that gives back.PT:  How important is it for people to discover their life’s purpose? What advice would you give others about discovering their life’s purpose? SAH:  To me life without purpose is hollow, but there are many who do not share this view. I choose not to share my life with them. For those who seek purpose, think about what sets your heart on fire, then think about what you are good at – what skills you have to offer – and then find a way to merge the two.  And if you don’t have a skill that is needed, go out and learn it!Ben Franklin advised avoiding any job that requires a new suit of clothes. In other words, don’t engage in work that is not authentic to who you are. When you have identified your purpose and are wondering if you should take the plunge, ask yourself:  If not me, who? If not now, when?[author]About the Author: Patrice Tanaka is a serial entrepreneur, having co-founded three award-winning, PR & marketing firms and, most recently, Joyful Planet, a Business & Life Strategy Consultancy. “Through Joyful Planet, I am doing what I love and what I do best, leveraging my creative, problem-solving talent to help individuals and organizations discover and live their purpose and move forward more successfully and joyfully in business and life,” says Patrice. This is the subject of Patrice’s new best-selling book, Beat the Curve, co-authored with world renowned management consultant and coach, Brian Tracy, and other business leaders. Her chapter is entitled, “Live Your Life’s Purpose and Unleash Your Joy.” Connect with Patrice@JoyfulPlanet.com, via LinkedIn/Patrice Tanaka and Twitter/Patrice Tanaka [/author]