| En Root | The OutGrowth Monthly Newsletter Volume Three | February 2018 |
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February is the month of love. At OutGrowth, we are all about loving our story. In this issue, we include pieces on weaving a life narrative, mastering the art of storytelling, and utilizing stories to build success in business. As students, professionals and business owners, we have endless options when it comes to choosing our next direction. At OutGrowth, we are dedicated to providing opportunities for the next generation of storytellers. How are the stories we build and tell shaping our lives and communities? Happy reading. Grow out with us. |
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The Sun Beam Featured Farm Professional Lanie Swanhart of South Mountain Creamery Upwards Storytelling on the Road to Success By Kevin Frick |
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This Month at OutGrowth (and the opportunity to get on our calendar!)
The En Root Scoop Three Ways Travel Shapes Your Life Narrative By Bailey Graf |
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Charting a purpose-driven career path is a shared goal among most of us. Recently, I had the pleasure of meeting with McLane Swanhart, Marketing and Social Media Manager at the South Mountain Creamery. McLane, known as “Lanie,” is a shining example of how to live with intention to create a meaningful life narrative. Lanie is a recent graduate of Stevenson University who discovered that she wanted to work for a small business that mirrored her own values. Active in 4H from a young age, Lanie hadn’t always planned to go into farming. She recalls her courses at Stevenson in Communications, Marketing and Design as turning points in her professional development. An independent thinker with a knack for the creative, Lanie now thrives in a small business environment. Lanie recalls, “It all fell into place, and I’m so happy it did!” Knowing who you are and what excites you is a key component in knowing what to look for in a career. As OutGrowth advocates, diverse and unique experiences move us closer to finding what lights us up. The experiences we have in college serve as the foundation for our futures, but the directions we can take are limitless. The more we experience, the more we know about what we have to offer the world, what environments bring us joy and where our degrees can take us. For Lanie, she discovered that she was able to apply her concrete skill sets gained at Stevenson to the agricultural sector. Her background and life to date tell a great story, a story that has shaped her future and the future of the South Mountain Creamery. |
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Lanie’s advice to college students is to take your current skill sets and seek ways to apply them to small business environments. This is a sure-fire way to see your impact directly. Here are her top three favorite parts of working for a small business: 1. Creative freedom: Lanie thrives in an environment where she can participate in each stage of the marketing process, from idea generation to execution. Lanie states that she “loves getting to see firsthand how results play out.” 2. Impact: “The words that I say and use directly impact how customers view our business and products. It’s so great that I get to be that voice,” Lanie shares. 3. Flexibility: Lanie works well in an environment where she can tackle a constantly-revolving series of tasks. Every day is different. Whether you are in college, just entering the workforce or are mid-career, how do you want to tell your story? How can your unique set of skills and interests position you to take your next steps? Looking for ways to merge your abilities and your sources of joy will be instrumental in shaping your professional landscape. Lanie’s message to the world:
Small farms are the backbone of America. Any way that we can find to support them is vital. Be sure to visit the link below to follow South Mountain Creamery on social media, and to get updates on the Spring Festival (coming up on April 28-29, 2018). |
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I recently thought about how often I hear something proclaiming the importance of storytelling for business. A quick Google search reveals headlines from Forbes like, “Storytelling: The New Strategic Imperative of Business” or “Why Every Business Needs Powerful Storytelling to Grow.” There is also a notable Harvard Business Review headline, “The Irresistible Power of Storytelling as a Strategic Business Tool.” While I have always liked storytelling and did a lot of creative writing as a kid, I had no idea about its importance to business when I was growing up. For anyone who wonders about the link between storytelling and business like I used to, I think a sentence in a book I was reading recently, Fables and the Art of Leadership: Applying the Wisdom of Mister Rogers to the Workplace provides us with useful insight: "There is an old Hasidic proverb that says if you give a person a fact or an idea, you enlighten his or her mind, but if you tell a person a story, then you touch that person's soul." I believe that touching others’ souls is important for two critical components of business: trust and change. Conducting business with another person is much easier when there is trust. I have one colleague with whom a great degree of trust had already been built. The trust was strengthened for the long run when I developed a symbolic story about that trust, using symbols about which we both cared deeply, and shared the story with my colleague. |
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Having used a story to demonstrate a shared vision makes all my interactions with this colleague much easier as we look into the future. Much of my day-to-day life in business is about change—changing either my team’s behavior or relevant consumers’ behavior. I could just give them information or I could share the information in a story that is intended to be “moving.” The latter is much more likely to lead to change; in other words, what people find moving is more likely to move them toward change. So, if you can improve your storytelling to bring ideas to life in ways that move and change people’s trust in you and behavior toward you or your business, you will have taken an important step on the road to success. Kevin Frick, PhD, is a Professor and the Vice Dean for Education at the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School. He has worked at the university for more than 21 years and at the business school for almost five. He is a health economist by training and is an author on over 250 articles. Kevin has given a TEDx talk on mentorship and an IGNITE Baltimore talk on how one of his passions outside work (running) changed from being an individually-focused activity to something that is the foundation for friendship, mentoring, and giving. He has made several contributions to CareyTheTorch (a Carey Business School blog) and enjoys working with students of all ages. |
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| | OutGrowth Blog January Writer Showcase Lauren Novsak Top 5 Ways to Prep For Your Alternative Spring Break Lauren Novsak is a Business Communication major at Stevenson University. Originally from South Jersey, Lauren currently serves as the Director of Public Relations and Alumni Outreach for Stevenson’s Student Government Association. Lauren recently completed a term as a Sondheim Nonprofit Leadership Scholar with the Shriver Center at UMBC. | | |
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I’ve been lucky enough to swim with sea turtles along the Great Barrier Reef, climb volcanoes in Costa Rica, and sail around the Fijian islands. Traveling creates so many opportunities, and it seems that each experience opens a door to another. These adventures make wonderful stories to tell, helping to transcend cultural boundaries and connect with people from across the world. Traveling adds small stories to your experience library, in addition to setting up the foundation for your own life story! |
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I was under the impression that if I didn’t score a “big girl job” right after graduation, I would be deemed a failure. I learned that the opposite is actually true. Taking a gap year helped to free my mind and gave me the chance to add some unique skills and experiences to my resume. Traveling develops motivation, independence, and confidence. It shows the ability to think outside of the box and sets you apart from the crowd. It may even open up job opportunities or give you the inspiration needed to start your own business! |
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What good is a story if you don't have the confidence to tell it? Traveling pushed me out of my comfort zone every single day. From the anxieties of not knowing how to get around a foreign country to having a constant language barrier, traveling is not always easy. However, these experiences are the ones that teach you the most in life. You will learn things from traveling that you could never learn from a book. Traveling allows you to explore unknowns and have adventures that may not be available at home. It pushes you to the extreme, but this helps you to grow into a better, more confident version of yourself. All of these little experiences are the threads woven into each of our unique life narratives. |
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Bailey is a recent graduate from Salisbury University who loves hiking, traveling, healthy food, exploring, and sustainable living. She is currently in the USA but is looking forward to her next adventure abroad. | | |
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