Walking Mentorship
Meet João Perre Viana…
I was born in Lisboa, Portgual 44 years ago. For the first sixteen years of my life, I never imagined I’d leave my city or even my neighborhood. Then, I applied for a scholarship at AFS for an intercultural program that I couldn’t have dreamed would come my way. A few months later, I found myself in Montana, living an experience that shaped my life.
In the heart of big sky country, it became apparent to me that there is a global nation beyond our political borders and local languages, where what we have in common is much more important than what could divide us.
I was raised to believe that having a “proper” job would make me happy, and I accordingly have worked many such jobs throughout my life. I started my first company at the age of 24, went through the ordeal of becoming a lawyer, and spent years in the advertising industry (which turned out to be the best travel agency I could have imagined). After working in Belgium, France, Spain, Portugal, Central Asia, Russia, Ukraine, and Africa, I found I was just as changed by the human experiences as by the business opportunities.
Through the course of my work, I began to clearly understand the underlying need within each individual regardless of background, experience, or moment in life, to gain perspective on their lives regularly. After all, in order to transform our world, we must first transform ourselves. That kind of transformation comes precisely, systematically, and one step at a time. From this idea, Walking Mentorship was born.
As time passed, I felt increasingly called to seek a balance between my professional and personal life. In order to be closer to nature, my wife, my three wonderful boys and I moved back to Portugal, that sits between lush vineyards and the Atlantic ocean. As a seasoned hiker, I wanted to develop an experience that I could share with others that would make use of some the remarkable paths I had taken around the world. I decided to organize treks that would connect people with their present and future selves, and bring together the professional and the person within each individual.
Furthermore, I wanted to spark a transformative movement that would build off of capitalism with a human conscience, that triggers economic development and human self-realization. I want to operate from an open-source approach that will ultimately allow my business to cease being a business, and become a free resource that can be “hacked” and utilized by anyone.
I love business, but the distinction between social business and regular business always confused me. I believe there is only business! Some business just have a social conscience, while others don’t. Fortunately that is changing for the better.
I’m committed to learning the best way to create and to run companies that have GOOD at the heart of their operations, strategy and modus operandi, and I’m excited to be joining a community of like-minded people in COMMON. Walking Mentorship represents the best version of myself, and the culmination of my experiences so far. I look forward to building on those experiences with the COMMON community members, and continuing to solidify my dreams for this business.
Explore Walking Mentorship
Website: https://walkingmentorship.com/
LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joaoperreviana
Twitter handle: @joaoperreviana
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