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With Gratitude

To Ken Blanchard, for modeling what servant leadership looks like, for a lifetime dedicated to helping others identify the leader within themselves, for shaping me as a leader, and for inspiring me to finish this work.

To John C. Maxwell, for equipping me to understand more deeply the concepts of leadership through your many works, for helping me find the leader within myself, and for reassuring me that it is okay to fail as long as we fail forward.

To Patrick Lencioni, for guiding me through your work over the years to understand team dynamics and what true organizational health looks like, helping me to become a better leader for others.

To Simon Sinek, for bringing back into the spotlight the most important question we could ask: Why, a foundational element of finding purpose, and for serving as a spotlight for so many other thought leaders and igniters through your work.

To Bob Buford, for flipping my journey upside down with your book Halftime, shifting my mindset to pursue significance over success, and keeping me focused on “What’s in the box.”

To Brene’ Brown, for unleashing the power of vulnerability, for challenging each of us to be our most authentic selves, for daring us to lead, and to do so greatly.

To Randy Tomko, for being not just a pastor but a friend and mentor over the years, keeping my eyes fixed on the only thing that matters when it’s all been said and done, for modeling what it looks like to lead from the heart, and for challenging me many years ago to not let that piece of me that cares most for people die to pursue personal gain.

To Brad Seitzinger, for never giving up on me, for believing in me, for consistently challenging me, for supporting me, and for helping me become a better coach of others, but most of all for your true friendship and fellowship over the years.

To Kurt David, for taking a chance on a newfound friend’s dream, for believing in the vision that I was given, for keeping me focused and reeled in over the years, for not letting me give up, for challenging me to think differently when I needed to, and for being a great business partner and friend.

To Joe Sciacchitano, for being the friend who sticks closer than a brother through my many transitions in life. From the very beginning of this journey of purpose, you believed in me and in this vision and have served selflessly at all hours of the day and night as a sounding board, a resource to our organization, and a critical member of our team. Most importantly, you have always put our friendship before anything else.

To David Smith, for being a friend and confidant over the years, for introducing me to Bob Buford’s work, and for believing in me when I didn’t believe in myself.

To Brian Wassom, for being a voice of wise counsel and perspective in my life and along this journey. For your constant support, encouragement, and friendship.

To Dwight Eberts, for countless conversations over the years that have led to critical and meaningful decisions along this journey, for believing in this work that was set upon my heart, for giving me opportunities to serve others, and mostly for your unconditional support, your many prayers, and cherished friendship.

To Dennis Moseley-Williams, for our rich, long-distance conversations over the years, many on airplanes or in hotel rooms as we passed as ships in the night, to share our gift of inspiration and insights with the world.

To Roger Norberg, for introducing me to the C12 Group and giving me the opportunity to join such an incredible fellowship of leaders, for bringing Kurt David and I together and for believing in our vision, for finding opportunities to support us along each step of our journey, and above all for your friendship, fellowship, and servant leadership.

To the members of the PurposePoint team, for your relentless and selfless pursuit of engaging, inspiring, and impacting the lives of others, and to the clients we have served over the years who have invited us to engage their purpose and their people.

To my parents, who have always believed in me, supported me, and encouraged me through the challenges and changes we have gone through together, for being there for me in times when I needed them, and for cheering me on along this journey.

To Steven Valtri, my uncle, who has always been the big brother I never had, for believing in me, supporting me, and inspiring me to achieve something of significance in this life without sacrificing my values or losing sight of the things that truly matter.

And finally to my grandparents, who are no longer around to read this, but who shaped me at an early age, imprinting values on my heart that have guided every decision I have made in this life, who modeled for me what living an others–focused life looks like, and for giving me a vision of the kind of person I wanted to become, and am still becoming.

Foreword

When Davin Salvagno first told me about his upcoming book, Finding Purpose at Work, I was so intrigued I immediately offered to write the foreword. Why? Because I believe that what Davin has to say is important, and that people need to hear it.

I have been a big believer in the power of purpose for a long time. To me, without a clear sense of who we are, where we are going, and the values that will guide our journey, we could be open to all kinds of distractions and our lives could get out of control. Having a clear purpose helps us use our time to the best advantage by knowing how we want to show up in the world and where we want to focus.

This was important for me to learn, because I tend to say yes too often. I am a positive-thinking guy, so lots of ideas sound good to me. But I had to realize I couldn’t do it all. So with some help from Jesse Lyn Stoner, my coauthor on the book Full Steam Ahead! Unleash the Power of Vision in Your Work and Your Life, I created my personal vision statement. It reads: “I am a loving teacher and example of simple truths who helps and motivates myself and others to awaken the presence of God in our lives and to realize that we are here to serve, not to be served.” Every morning I read this statement as one of my daily affirmations to renew my focus on who I am, where I am going, and why.

Davin and I share the belief that finding purpose at work is all-important. When an individual, a team, or an organization has clarity of purpose, they can step forward with confidence knowing they are moving in a positive direction toward their goals.

As you read about Davin’s twenty-year journey toward purpose, you’ll become acquainted with the people and ideas that have shaped both his thinking on the power of purpose and his decision to share his passion with others. Davin’s most sincere desire is to help you, the reader, realize the same satisfaction he has achieved as you do the work to discover your own purpose and that of your organization. Finding Purpose at Work is the blueprint that will guide you.

Thanks, Davin, for sharing your life in a way that will help us live the rest of our lives with purpose as we strive to make a positive difference in the world.

—Ken Blanchard, coauthor of The New One Minute Manager and Servant Leadership in Action: How You Can Achieve Great Relationships and Results

Introduction

One can never know where their journey of purpose will lead them. In the fall of 2019, I had just wrapped up a speaking tour and was ready to retreat to Boca Roton, Florida, with the family to attend a global partners church-planting conference that would also provide some much-needed rest and reflection. However, when I landed back home in Detroit from my travels on the west coast, Amy, my bride, had come down with pneumonia and we would end up canceling the trip to Boca.

A few months later, David Nelms, Founder of the Timothy Initiative, the organization that hosted the global partners weekend we missed in Boca, reached out to invite us to a similar retreat in February of 2020 in Laguna Beach, California. I gratefully accepted the invitation. The closest airport to Laguna Beach is John Wayne (SAN), and it just so happened that I had a client in the area at the time who I contacted to advise I would be in town and to see if he would like to grab dinner. It turned out that he was hosting a client appreciation event that day and asked if I would come in early to speak at it. He also mentioned another client event in Lake Tahoe the following week and asked if I could stay to speak at that event as well. So, what started as a church-planting weekend turned into an eight-day trip, and it is actually on the return flight home from this trip that I am typing these very words.

As I built out the itinerary for these eight days, there was only one day that was clear of any commitment, and I had planned to use that day to just rest and write, until I received a phone call. Our company, PurposePoint, had become a Channel Partner of the Ken Blanchard Companies so that we could provide our clients with the best possible leadership training resources available, and we had just placed a significant order for leadership training for one of our clients. The phone call I received was from our support partner Michelle at Blanchard, inviting me to their Partners Conference in San Diego to have dinner with Ken and their team, and guess what day it was on? The one day I had clear on my itinerary. Of course, I did not hesitate to change my travel arrangements to make that happen.

The morning of the Blanchard Conference came, and I showed up with high excitement and anticipation to meet Ken that evening after twenty years of being steeped in his work, but I didn’t have to wait because Ken walked in right behind me. I turned to meet the man I considered a mentor for two decades, and after a brief introduction he said, “Tell me, young man, have you had breakfast yet?”

I said, “No sir.”

He gently put one are around me, while the other held his walking stick firmly, and said “Let’s go get something to eat.” It would be at that breakfast that the foreword you just read came to be.

The intent behind the title of this book, Finding Purpose at Work, may seem obvious—How do we find meaning and fulfillment in the work that we do? Even more importantly, how do we make a difference in this world through our work? I will cover those questions in great detail in the chapters ahead, but there is another meaning behind the title to follow here—finding purpose at work in our lives every day and in every moment. The story I just shared about meeting Ken on the one day I had available in my travels, and the series of events that had to fall into place prior for that to happen, is an example of what I’m talking about. Certainly none of us want to see our loved ones become ill, and we often ask ourselves the question, What is the purpose of this? in such times. Had Amy not come down with pneumonia, our trip to Boca in November would not have been canceled, I would have not rescheduled to California a few months later, I would have not met Ken when I did, and this book would likely still be just a bunch of pages of notes still waiting to be written. If we look at every circumstance, we can often find purpose at work in it, although not always, and we often can’t see the purpose until after the moment has passed. I’m sure there is at least a moment or two where you experienced car issues and the thought that you were perhaps spared from an accident due to that delay crossed your mind. In chapter two of this book, I will share my personal journey that has led to this moment of time. The intent of sharing my story is not to talk about myself, but to expose purpose at work through different moments of my life and to encourage you to look back and find purpose at work in your own life.

I once heard a very successful, and humble leader say, “Who I am is less important than what I have to say.” I would add to that, “What I have to say is less important than what you actually do with it.” The purpose of putting these words to paper in the pages that follow is to call you to action. This book is not an autobiography, it’s not just a book on leadership or a another self-help book, it is not meant to define your purpose for you, or to force mine upon you but rather to serve as a guide to help you to discover your own purpose as an individual or as an organization and, once you find it, to never let go.

This brief work is a compilation of a twenty-year journey of trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life and, more importantly, what God wanted to do with my life. Regardless of where you stand in your personal journey of faith, and while this is not intended to be a faith-based book, it impossible for me to share the insight, wisdom, and stories presented here without recognizing Him. It is important to understand from the very beginning that this book and my work are not about me or anything that I have accomplished. I consider all that I am and all that I have done the work of the hands of my Creator.

It has long been said that the difference between who we are and who we will be are the books we read and the people that we listen to. I have found that to be a profound truth in my life, so much so that when I look at my very own life and who I have become, I am merely a compilation of thoughts, quotes, and lyrics from people, books, and music that have shaped me. It is difficult for me to respond when asked for my favorite book or song because there are so many that have impacted me over the years. Some of the very best are those that have simply re-stated or rephrased thoughts of those whom have gone before them. This book may prove to be very much the same, and I should only hope so. A thought came to me one day to, Choose to be the spotlight rather than to be in the spotlight. I hope that this book does just that, drawing attention not to me but to people and thoughts that have shaped me, to others whom I have shared them with, and to organizations that I have had the privilege to serve.

Before you begin, I encourage you to pause. Silence the noise around you. Take a breath. Close your eyes. Remember your younger self, sitting at a desk in school, envisioning who you wanted to become and what you want to do with your life. No matter how life has played out so far, it is never too late to find your purpose or to start a new journey. Circumstances don’t define you, choices do. The fact that you are reading this book right now is proof of that. Regardless of where you have been, what you have done, or where you find yourself right now, you are choosing to read something that will better yourself and perhaps change your circumstances. It is my hope that reading this book will be one of many moments you will be able to look back on where you found purpose at work in your life.

—Davin Salvagno