Finding a Company’s Purpose and Defining Personal Joy | Patrice Tanaka, Joyful Planet

The Strategy Sphere podcast — brought to you by Intapp — features interviews with leading experts in academia, innovation, and business. Our hosts are Lavinia Calvert, who leads the global marketing and business development solutions business at Intapp, and Deborah Farone, a marketing strategy consultant and author. In each episode, Calvert and Farone explore today’s world of professional services marketing, leadership, innovation, and education.

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In episode 10 of Season One, Calvert and Farone spoke with Patrice Tanaka, Chief Joy Officer of Joyful Planet.  

Next to the day you were born, Tanaka believes that the day you articulate your life’s purpose is the most important day of your life. She helps both individuals and organizations define and leverage their specific purposes, and has helped unleash greater fulfillment and joy for clients throughout the world. 

“My life’s purpose is to choose joy, to be mindful of that joy, and to share it with others,” Tanaka said. She shared the story of how she took hold of her own PR firm from the ranks of an ad agency, and how that firm was later named one of the most creative PR shops in the country.  

Tanaka also discussed how her work with a coach — and her decision to take a ballroom dance class — changed her life, leading her to write the book, Becoming Ginger Rogers: How Ballroom Dancing Made Me a Happier Woman, Better Partner, and Smarter CEO. 

Some key takeaways from this discussion include: 

• Think about what it is that brings you joy and those times when you were your happiest. Find an occupation that allows you to do that as often as possible.  
• Professional services firms can provide great opportunities for staff to find special projects that fit their interests and bring them fulfillment. 
• Organizations that are proud of — and clearly articulate — their missions are bound to be more successful and profitable. 

Learn more about Tanaka’s work and discover how purpose-driven organizations — including Unilever, Microsoft, and Deloitte — outperform companies that don’t define their purposes.