Sometime in the 1970s, while managing a solar energy company, Nicholas Lore came to the difficult realization that he was simply bored by his job. He promptly embarked on a long journey to discover his true calling, and by 1981 he’d found it: helping others find their true calling. He founded the Rockport Institute in Rockville, Md., and today Rockport is one of the leading career-coaching firms in the country.
His 1998 book, “The Pathfinder,” is being rereleased this month by Simon & Schuster, with hundreds of pages of updated material. “The idea is to work like a detective to find clues that will lead you to a place where the whole ‘What am I going to do?’ question is over,” explains Lore.
For Lore, the key is a holistic approach that takes into account far more factors than traditional counselors are willing to consider. “In college, kids don’t go to the career center, because they generally know it won’t be helpful,” says Lore. “What we do is consider many more factors, because if there is just one major piece missing, you can wind up hating what you’re doing.”
Try it on
In “The Pathfinder,” Lore writes that your goal should be to “[design] a career that fits you elegantly, perfectly, like a custom-made suit.”
