We recently connected with Devin Thorpe and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Devin, really happy you were able to join us today and we’re looking forward to sharing your story and insights with our readers. Let’s start with the heart of it all – purpose. How did you find your purpose?
When I was 11 years old, the Teton Dam in Southern Idaho failed, flooding the nearby college town of Rexburg and leaving about 80 percent of the structures damaged or destroyed. People from communities around the Western US organized to visit Rexburg to help dig out.
One day that summer, my father invited me to join him and a church group headed to help dig muck and mud out of basements. To my 11-year-old sensibilities, that sounded like fun, so I agreed.
The trip began with boarding buses at 2:00 AM in Salt Lake City. More excited than I’d have been to visit a Disney theme park, I remember watching out the window for the trip up to Rexburg. Arriving at dawn, we unloaded, ate donuts I remember fondly, and went to work. As the sun set late that summer evening, we loaded the buses and headed home exhausted.
Recently, I visited Rexburg. I looked all around town for the statue they erected in my honor but couldn’t find it. In fact, as an adult, I appreciate that my contribution that day long ago was modest, if positive at all. Did I mention that I loved the donuts? As a kid, I felt I’d made a difference and recognized the value of a group working hard to help people in dire need.
I pledged then that I would never miss an opportunity to help people. Of course, I missed many chances to serve, but I have learned to look for every opportunity.
Today, I focus my energy on fighting climate change, improving global health and ending poverty and social injustice. I see investment crowdfunding as a potent tool for addressing those challenges.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I call myself a champion of social good. As a bestselling author, convener, and new-media journalist, I host the Superpowers for Good show; my nearly 1500 guests include Bill Gates and other luminary changemakers. As a Forbes contributor with over 500 bylines and over two million unique readers, I wrote about impact investing and social entrepreneurship, often featuring leaders in the nascent crowdfunding industry.
He is also the founder and CEO of The Super Crowd, Inc., a public benefit corporation that organizes events to help community builders, social entrepreneurs and diverse founders. The events focus on helping ordinary people learn how to invest via crowdfunding in their local communities, entrepreneurs creating change and those who are too often overlooked or underserved.
My books, focusing on helping readers do more good in the world, have been read over 1 million times!
Over the past decade, I’ve served on the board of the nonprofit Crowdfunding Professional Association; I served as its volunteer president in 2023. I also serve as an advisor to a number of social enterprises.
Previously, I served as the CFO of the third-largest company on the 2009 Inc. 500 list. I also founded and led a FINRA-registered investment bank. After completing a degree in finance at the University of Utah, I earned an MBA from Cornell University.
Having lived on three continents and visited over 40 countries on six continents and with guests from around the world on my show, I bring a global perspective to my work.
Today, I channel the idealism of my youth, volunteering whenever and wherever I can, with the loving support of Gail, my wife. Our son, Dayton, is a Silicon Valley entrepreneur. Frequently finding myself on airplanes, I am glad I’m short enough to fit comfortably in the middle seat.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
The three qualities that have enabled my journey are persistence, compassion and a sense of adventure.
Persistence is the enabling ability that allows me to accomplish anything. Nothing worth doing can be finished in an instant. Staying with something for the long haul is my superpower. Persistence can be developed with intentional practice aided by a sense of purpose. You’ve got to find and define what motivates you so you can call on that when things get tough–and things will get tough.
Compassion, I’ve come to appreciate, is empathy paired with a focus on action. Empathy alone is powerful, but it can be hard on you. Feeling the pain and suffering of others can literally be depressing. Pairing that empathy with a plan to relieve the pain and suffering builds you up. When you act on that compassion, you build up others.
Life is to be lived fully. That requires you to take some risks. A bit of adventure–trying new things, stepping out of your comfort zone, traveling to new places–can expand your capabilities infinitely. Start by identifying all the new things you’ve tried in the past few years and look to build on those efforts. Remind yourself that there are no failures–only successes and learning experiences.
What would you advise – going all in on your strengths or investing on areas where you aren’t as strong to be more well-rounded?
The science I’ve read suggests that focusing on our strengths is more powerful than efforts to build a well-rounded suite of skills. People stand out when they develop truly exceptional abilities. It is hard to do that in multiple areas.
Furthermore, it is almost impossible to overcome some of our greatest weaknesses. Putting energy into something we may not be able to accomplish when we could be building up our strengths instead could be doubly unproductive.
For my show, I’ve asked hundreds of people, including Bill Gates, about their “superpowers.” It is fascinating to digest their answers. I wrote a book about what I learned listening to them. That book, “Superpowers for Good,” highlights 60 different skills people identified.
Here’s the problem. No one can build 60 superpowers. It is almost impossible to develop 60 qualities or skills at the level of competency. Forget becoming exceptional at 60.
Ask people around you what your superpower is. Then own it. Polish it. Wield it. Slay dragons with it. Then get help doing your taxes and running human resources.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://superpowers4good.com
- Instagram: http://instagram.com/devindthorpe
- Facebook: http://facebook.com/thesupercrowd
- Linkedin: https://linkedin.com/in/devinthorpe
- Twitter: http://twitter.com/devinthorpe
- Youtube: http://youtube.com/devinthorpe
- Other: https://TheSuperCrowd.com http://threads.net/devindthorpe http://twitter.com/superpowrs4good http://twitter.com/thesupercrowd
Image Credits
Kelsey Farley
