The Art of Work: A Proven Path to Discovering What You Were Meant to Do

I don’t have any regrets.” He told me about men he knew—
former park rangers—who had to make tough choices like
he did. They had to move their families or get laid off.
“Being a ranger was everything to them; they loved the
job,” he said. But many had to grieve the loss of their dream
when they chose their families over parks.
Some went on to be fish and wildlife officers, others
state troopers, and even others school teachers. But their
dream of being a park ranger was gone, as it was for Jody,
and they had to move on. “It’s really sad,” he said. “In
many ways, you are a park ranger first and a dad or
husband second.” It’s part of the job, he admits, but
something about it always unnerved him.
Maybe moving on is part of the process. Maybe a calling
is always evolving, never allowing you to stand still in one
place for too long. Now Jody is using both his business
background and his park experience to help build the next
generation of park leaders. When we spoke, he had recently
launched a podcast called The Park Leaders Show, which
features guest interviews with other rangers and experts and
is quickly becoming an industry resource. A lot of the job of
being a park ranger involves management and business
skills that you have to learn on your own. “There’s no
training for that,” he told me. The podcast provides such
training.
On the show, Jody was able to interview Jack Hartt, his
first manager, who helped him get started as a ranger. At
one point in the conversation, Jody said something to