Finding Purpose at Life's Intersections: Where Innovation Meets Impact

Picture this: you’re standing at a crossroads in your career, holding a mix of experiences that do not fit neatly into any job description. Hiring managers look puzzled. “You have B2C, entertainment industry, eCommerce experience, but this is B2B,” they say. “You’ve worked across too many industries. We need someone more focused on one industry.”

That was my reality for years. But what felt like a weakness, being a generalist in marketing and operations across industries, was actually my strength. Those intersections taught me to see patterns others missed, solve problems with tools borrowed from different fields, and bridge gaps specialists could not. Eventually, this perspective became the foundation for Mind the Gap Services.

Rethinking Intersections

Most of us think of intersections as intimidating choices that force us in new directions. I prefer the mathematical definition: the set of elements common to two or more sets. When applied to careers, this definition reframes scattered experiences as overlap,the powerful sweet spot where different skills, industries, and perspectives converge.

Yet intersections are not just professional. They reflect identity, opportunity, and systemic barriers. Gender and cultural biases made my path harder, forcing me to prove both competence and belonging. But those challenges revealed something important: intersections are about more than skill; they are about navigating the realities of who we are and how the world sees us.

Where Innovation Lives

Research consistently shows that innovation thrives at intersections. When people from different backgrounds and industries come together around shared goals, breakthroughs happen. Companies that deliberately create these intersection moments consistently outperform their competition.

Consider a few examples:

• Marrone Bio Innovations (Founder, Pamela Marrone) emerged at the intersection of environmental science, agriculture, and biotechnology, creating natural biopesticides that transformed the industry.

• SEP (Social Enterprise Projects) (Founder, Roberta Ventura) empowered over 500 refugee women artisans by merging fashion, economic empowerment, and humanitarian work.

• Circular Board (Founder, Carolyn Rodz) a collaborative accelerator, combined entrepreneurial expertise with a gender-equity lens to help women founders build multimillion-dollar businesses.

These weren’t random successes. They were born from merging the gaps.

The Corporate Challenge

Large organizations often miss these opportunities. Silos and uniformity prevent breakthrough thinking, even though hundreds of studies from McKinsey and BCG confirm diverse teams produce better solutions. Some companies, like Cisco, are finding new ways forward with models such as “speed innovation,” where collaboration rules and ownership are established upfront, allowing different perspectives to come together quickly and effectively.

Beyond internal diversity, industries are increasingly learning from each other. Healthcare borrows user engagement strategies from gaming. Financial services look to retail for customer experience. Manufacturing adopts agile development from tech. Each example shows the power of stepping outside silos and crossing into new intersections.

Image Credit: Steve Legler, Ikigai: A “Four-Circle Model” of Human Capital

Ikigai: The Intersection of Purpose

This exploration into intersections led me to Ikigai, the Japanese concept meaning “reason for being.” It’s found at the convergence of four elements:

• What you're good at (your strengths and skills)

• What you can get paid for (economic sustainability)

• What the world needs (impact and relevance)

• What you love (passion and energy)

Intersections often push us closer to our Ikigai by stripping away what’s comfortable and clarifying what’s essential. For individuals, it’s deeply personal. For organizations, it’s about building collective purpose that transcends quarterly targets and fuels long-term impact.

The Wealth of Perspective

Intersections look different depending on privilege and circumstance. Families with wealth may struggle to find purpose, while those facing systemic barriers develop resilience and clarity born from necessity. Both perspectives can hold value, I realize, it is a choice. When they meet, scarcity collaborating with abundance, cultural diversity uniting around shared challenges, or established industries learning from disruptors, that’s where transformation can occur.

What About You?

Mind the Gap Services exists because we believe the future belongs to intersection thinkers, or  those individuals and organizations who can see connections others miss, bridge divides others accept, and create value at the crossroads of different worlds.

We are all standing at intersections, whether we recognize them or not. The real question isn’t if you have unique experiences, everyone does. The question is: will you embrace them as your competitive advantage, or will you keep trying to fit into someone else’s narrow definition of expertise?

So, what intersections have shaped your journey? Where have different worlds in your life created unexpected opportunities? And how are you using your unique vantage point to create the kind of impact only you can make?

Real innovation does not happen when we choose a single path. It happens when we embrace the intersections and create something entirely new regardless of how scary it may seem.

Referenced articles and sites:

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/intersection 

https://www.elle.com/life-love/g29539/multi-million-dollar-side-companies/ 

https://www.inc.com/female-founders 

https://escalon.services/blog/startups/8-female-founded-firms-that-experienced-successful-exits 

https://stevelegler.com/2019/02/16/ikigai-a-four-circle-model-of-human-capital/ 

https://ebsedu.org/blog/finding-your-ikigai