The Pursuit of Purpose

Today, let’s talk about ‘purpose’.

“If it falls your lot to be a street sweeper, go out and sweep streets like Michelangelo painted pictures. Sweep streets like Handel and Beethoven composed music. Sweep streets like Shakespeare wrote poetry. Sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will have to pause and say, here lived a great street sweeper who swept his job well.”

These are the words of Martin Luther King Jr., and they lead beautifully into our topic today, ‘purposeful leadership’. 

This is the third in a multi-part series of blogs where I am going to share with you my perspective on great leadership. Each part will focus on a key component that drives high performing leaders. 

This time, let’s turn our attention to ‘purpose’. 

Speaking to fellow coaches and reflecting on my own practice, it seems that the pandemic has forced more people than usual to think about their purpose.

Odd how an existential threat can make you wonder why you are here in the first place…

Is this really a ‘why’ question that needs to be answered?

Traditionally, when people consider their purpose, either from a life or a career perspective, there is a tendency to frame that consideration as a ‘why am I here on Earth?’ type of introspection. Simon Sinek even wrote a book called ‘Start with WHY’ to cover this very topic.

But I see things a bit differently.

I think it is a ‘HOW’ question that needs to be answered, not a ‘why’ question.

If you assume that everyone is here on Earth to:

1.     Help others and

2.    Leave Earth a better place than how we found it

…then, isn’t that everyone’s ‘why’ question answered already?

If you agree, then ‘how’ you realize this ‘why’ becomes the focus. 

Put another way, “How can I match my intrinsic talent with one of the world’s deep needs?”

Now, let’s turn to what leaders can do to foster an environment that helps their staff along the process of determining their ‘how’.

As always, this starts at the top. That is where the example and the tone are set. The leader himself or herself needs to embody a clearly articulated purpose. And that purpose needs to be tied to the organization’s overarching purpose. It should be defined clearly enough that people can understand it, but broadly enough that each individual can find at least one component of the ‘how’ that deeply resonates and to which they can identify at a deep, visceral level.

This presents one of the many paradoxes I am seeing in leadership now, particularly given the multiple competing forces at play during times as challenging as the ones we are living through at the moment. 

To what extent is it the leader’s role to help staff define their overall life purpose, when all they are offering is a job?

Well, the lines between ‘work’ and ‘life’ have been significantly blurred by our new ways of working during this pandemic—and they are not likely to return to their pre-pandemic state. The days of leaving your ‘personal’ self at home as you went off to work are gone.

So, is this really a paradox then? Or as a leader, if you help your staff define their ‘how’ in a way that exceeds the narrow confines of their title and job description, are you overstepping—or empowering?

Not all intellectual ‘flow’ comes from work, but a good proportion does. Each staff member will place varying weight on work satisfaction versus other priorities in their lives. Respecting that internal equation and giving each staff member the vision, the example, and the tools to help them define their ‘how’—even if it is not confined to a neat set of activities that will roll up to a top line or bottom line number for your company—will still pay significant benefits in terms of engagement and loyalty.

Now, let’s turn to one more thing that leaders can do to help staff define their ‘how’.

Respect.

Yes, respect. We each come into the world with intrinsic talents, some of which we enjoy and we hone, others we enjoy less and we let wane. There are innumerable ways to help others and leave the Earth a better place than we found it. When one of your staff finds her or his ‘how’, celebrate it. The CFO who is incredibly detail-oriented and a visionary when it comes to navigating markets and internal demands on capital, for example, tends to be lauded disproportionately. The customer service representative who has a knack for connecting with people on an empathetic level, who is always the one called on to defuse tense interactions, and who loves your company’s products almost like their own children, should be celebrated just as much.

Having worked in Japan for 13 years, one of the things I liked about work culture there and which does not get enough focus outside of the country is the belief that all work is noble in some way. The CEO. The ramen shop owner. The courier. The entertainer. The road construction worker. The caregiver. 

There is a deep meaning in work. Part of that meaning comes from the fact that it is a manifestation of that individual’s purpose. They are not waving you into the gas station, wiping your windshield and pumping your gas only because that is their job—they are doing it because this is how they show their commitment to others, through service. While it may be a part-time job and one of many in their career, while they are doing it, it is there way of saying ‘this is how I will help people and leave Earth a bit better than how I found it’.

I believe it is the calling of servant leaders everywhere to help people find their ‘how’ and to give them the space to pursue it.

I would love to hear your perspective on ‘purposeful leadership’. 

Should leaders look beyond the confines of job descriptions to help staff define their ‘how’? 

What helped you define your purpose as a leader? 

What advice would you give your millennial staff in terms of how to define their purpose?

Till next time, may you lead well…and be well as you lead.