Mixing Business with Adventure

The main cover story for the May 2008 issue of Outside magazine is “The 50 Best Jobs.” Their criteria is probably somewhat different than a lot of other publications that publish annual Best Jobs features, which is why their list includes such drool-inducing options as Race Director, Gear Designer, and Libations Professional (!). The piece includes several sidebars titled, “How I got my sweet gig,” where they interview some men and women currently working at their dream jobs. I was particularly drawn to the story of Christina Heyniger, a 36-year-old adventure consultant, who had been a management consultant to government departments and who now travels the world using those same skills to advise adventure companies how to improve their businesses. Sweet, indeed...

The article also lists thirty companies who supposedly offer “the nation's most well-balanced workplaces.“ I choked a little, then, when I saw #2 in the 250+ employees category: Google. While they laud the company for offering employees three meals a day, on-site haircuts, and a state-of-the-art gym, it occurs to me that these “benefits” seem like they're actually designed to prevent employees from ever going, well, Outside...

Putting that little bit of weirdness aside, I still highly recommend checking out the magazine's Web site for an amazing wealth of adventure-related stories, pics, videos, blogs, and more.

Speaking of magazines, I had mentioned in my post a few days ago that earlier this year I had an article about exercise-induced asthma published in Women's Adventure magazine. At the time, the article wasn't posted on their site, so I couldn't link to it. But since then, the next issue of the pub has hit newsstands, so you can now read the piece online if you're interested.

Blog of the Day

If, like me, you enjoy hearing about famous people using their influence to make a positive difference in the world, rather than simply to get them into the hottest parties, you'll love Celebrity Do Gooders. The blog's owner, Lisa Iannucci, highlights artists and athletes in every field about the causes near and dear to their hearts, whether it's Dave Matthews and other musicians working to increase voter registration, celeb photographer Nigel Barker fighting to stop the Canadian seal hunt, or Patrick Dempsey launching a center for cancer treatment.

Comments

[Melanie Haiken]

Two people I know have dream jobs: one organizes educational group trips for Wilderness Travel (and gets to do lots of scouting in the process); the other runs his own kayaking company on San Francisco Bay. Personally, I'm trying to figure out a niche that rewards me for traveling around the world seeking out amazing entrepreneurial businesses, research projects, relief projects, and examples of "world citizenry," and bringing them to the world's attention. This used to be called "journalism" but my how things change! Radio reporter Scoop Nisker used to sign off with "That's the news today. If you don't like it, go out and make some of your own." Seems like a good motto!

[Elizabeth]

I agree. Both about the motto and that your two friends certainly have found some dream jobs! (I've actually kayaked in a few places around the Bay Area, so I wonder if I've met one of them...)

Thanks for sharing, Melanie. (And good luck with your own dream(s)!)