Purpose: A "Compass for What Matters" and Our Shared Search for Better Meaning

All of us find ourselves asking existential questions that are often inspired by our deepest thoughts, aspirations, and experiences at some point in life.

The majority of us struggle a lifetime connecting to our unique mission, finding, and/or living our core purpose. Unfortunately, the lack of awareness of our true passion or the disconnection from it manifests itself in an unsatisfactory life, a shared experience of chaos, miscommunication, dysfunction, and eventually, the formation of unproductive communities.

In the world of business, purpose has been both a topic and an unsolved dilemma. Corporations with a lack of strategic vision have often faltered at engaging their stakeholders while organizational leaders searching for ways to find or live their purpose have struggled to motivate, bond, and mobilize their employees. The level of connection or disconnection to our purpose has systemic consequences, too: How we experience life, how we live our values, how we relate and found relationships, and families, how we operate in a group setting, how far we lean in to drive an outcome, how much we actually accomplish and what level of performance we attain, etc.

Make no mistake: Those of us, who understand who we are, and what we stand up for are far better equipped to cope with curve balls thrown at us, often quicker to pick ourselves up after a falter, and generally better at managing internal resources and energy. Those of us, who can remain connected to that core purpose experience a higher degree of sense-making and find joy.

What Is Purpose?

Purpose is often defined as a central, self-organizing life aim. It is the greatest source of meaning, which is often referred to by academics and philosophers as a path to a good life. The kind of meaning is commonly understood by the concept of eudaimonia, an ancient Greek word for ‘human flourishing’. In scientific terms, it may be translated as a pathway to happiness though it is really not a passing positive emotion. Meaning is long-lasting and supports both sense-making and action-taking. It requires our participation in something bigger (than self) for the broader good.

Purpose is also self-organizing in that it provides a framework for systematic behavior patterns in everyday life. From the practical perspective, it embodies and awakens an intrinsic motivation while providing a reason for our being and belonging. By connecting to a purpose, we are presented with a choice by the moment to develop an attachment to a growing idea and/or develop a sense of possibility. Through self-organization, we develop an inner connection to a mission, an effort towards goal-setting, and a desire in allocating necessary resources.

Psychologists who study meaning-formation have pointed to three important anchors that define purpose:

·      Core aims and aspirations of what we want to do and whom we want to be,

·      Coherence or making sense of life and weaving threads together,

·      Significance beyond the trivial or momentary – orienting toward a bigger value.

Our research with Stanford University’s CCARE has been able to validate purpose is not only a philosophical construct but establishing and pursuing a sense of purpose in life has a proven bearing on our health and well-being. There is other empirical research showing us that without clear purpose, goals, or values, we experience a considerable amount of stress, struggling to reach the meaning formation.

Inside all the enduring organizations we studied, where resilience levels were high and stress levels were low, individuals were (1) clear on their life-task majority of the time and (2) could connect to the company mission. When we have a clear sense of purpose, we are presented with the possibility of not only realizing who we are (psychological impact), which leads to the development of better authenticity (spiritual impact), we experience better synchronization between our hearts and brains, preserving our most sacred natural resources and decreasing anxiety (physical impact).

Organizational Purpose Matters, Too!

Similarly, at an organizational level, when an employee experiences meaning finding at work, we find their engagement, commitment, and alignment to the organization’s values and/or the goals at hand are increased, therefore, increasing performance.

According to BrightHouse and Boston Consulting Group analysis of 2017, among organizations that had high purpose scores, there are more than twice as many Total Shareholder Return (TSR) performers as low performers. Similarly, Paul Zak through his study of the neuroscience of narratives has been able to validate that strategic narratives embodying purpose cause us to pay better attention and involve us emotionally to move into action. Scholars studying ideological messages and meaning-making find organizations play an important role in shaping or influencing the meaning of work for their employees.

Researchers have also explored how certain leadership styles can influence the degree to which work is perceived as meaningful. This research has particularly emphasized the meaningfulness-related outcomes of purposeful leadership, defined as going ‘‘beyond exchanging inducements for desired performance by developing, intellectually stimulating, and inspiring followers to transcend their own self-interests for a higher collective purpose, mission, or vision’’ (Howell & Avolio, 1993, p. 891).

Their practices are very similar to what we observed with purposeful organizations in our research: including but not limited to holding common missions, priding on collective stories, living shared values, acting on/ making decisions based on agreed-upon principles, listening intently to understand and motivating one another through open discussions, etc. Organizations and the symbolism of their leaders’ interpretations of, communications about, and responses to various work events and circumstances, therefore, have an important influence on the meanings people make of their work and their engagement (Podolny et al., 2005).

Why Do We Care?

The Industrial Revolution 4.0 is rightly characterized by three main drivers of change: (1) increasing globalization resulting in value chains that transcend territorial boundaries, (2) digitalization resulting in a flood of new and intelligent technologies, (3) democratization resulting in a number of system issues ranging from privacy to equity to equanimity. Our global economies have been shaping our local societies in culture, education, and in work experience for a century; however, never in history have we had the unpredictability of economics and the pace of change with the growing visibility of a gap between impacted and interested parties. People are exhausted from their inner resources. There is a vast amount of confusion about the organization’s missions (vs. actions taken) and a general sense of dissatisfaction from the greater workplace experience. What’s worse is a growing sense of discouragement, a lack of confidence and enthusiasm towards any refined future – especially from newer generations.

Sure, we see corporations creating new positions (i.e. Chief of Purpose) or rewriting their mission statements as an attempt to refine their organizational purpose. We also see leaders either claiming their sector as their actual purpose (i.e. “HR is my purpose”) or justifying their rigid behaviors thru their passion (i.e. “I work this many hours because I am so driven.”) (There is a good article on Sloan Review by Dr. Lynda Gratton this month.) None of us question the intent of these statements, yet, I am afraid the path to take us forward presents an invitation much bigger.

Let me try to explain with an example:

Sustainability is a topic everyone pays attention to and though it has become a higher priority topic on the business agenda, adoption remains slow and uncoordinated. The concept of “circular economy” was brought up at the World Economic Forum this year. In the circular economy, goods are produced and consumed through integrated flows of raw material with zero waste and powered by renewable energy. That’s different from today’s linear business models, which are designed to drive revenue at the lowest possible cost, reward shareholders and enable opportunities for future growth, resulting in huge negative environmental consequences around the globe. The big question, of course, remains how to source and pool the right resources, identify, and overcome barriers inhibiting progress and implement practices that drive a circular economy on a global scale. To shift from a “take-make-waste” model to a “recycle-reuse-resell” model would require a shift from scarcity to an abundance mindset (do away with a competitive attitude) and invite collaboration, not only cooperation.

It is becoming unarguable that today’s governments are not yet prepared for the kind of transformation required to bridge the economic, environmental, and social aspects of our humanities; nor are our political leaders equipped well enough to enhance our human experiences. Here, comes that unique opportunity for multinationals to play a role in the creation of a social contract that restores safety, and sustainability and provides the basic security for all of us to complement our identities and belonging.

Instead of solely investing in intelligence that (un)intentionally motivates societal polarization by the virtue of semi-adopted digital and analog infrastructures, searching for (un)seized resources to gain an edge, or minimizing operational cost to maximize revenue share, organizations could consider the creation of integrated frameworks, shared networks, and job catalogs that can connect sources and resources while supporting domination of equal opportunity in and across advanced and emerging economies. In such an experience, businesses could actually become visible examples of building a purpose beyond profit, perhaps serving life and contributing to broader positive meaning formation.

Reconnecting To Purpose/ Where To Start?

Human beings are sense-making organisms that inquire for deep understanding and belonging. Sense-making is a term used to describe how we structure the unknown to be able to work with it. Recognize sense-making in an organizational context (i.e. in a family, inside a corporation, or in a given society) is never a solitary exercise, it needs to be socially constructed. Whether we like to admit it or not, we are an integral part of a global system that’s highly interconnected, and we each play a role in realizing our space and owning up contribution.

Fostering this kind of transcendence is not going to come from a one-time transformation (i.e. implementing a new digital platform.) It will require more than a provision of cosmology, a comprehensive system of beliefs to constitute a new shared reality, an enactment, and a promotion of continual trust and integrity. To achieve a higher sense of purpose, we need:

• innovation in our shared business language,
• cultivation of core human attributes,
• a renounced acceptance of self as a whole,
• discovery of new mindsets and practices,
• enhanced experience of collective tasks, roles, routines,

which in return will bring value to the characteristics of group membership and contribute to regenerative and learning culture formation.

The role of business is clearly changing. There is an active pull from global society for organizations to reconnect to their original purpose – in serving life and our shared humanities. This is a moment we want to know what every leader and business stands for – and for real. It is not to say we demand a lack of performance; it is the contrary, we demand responsibility and legitimacy in reaching the kind of performance every leader and organization prides itself on. 

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Purpose is also one of the core human attributes found in a collaborative study we did with Stanford University’s CCARE worth investing in if we aim to expand individual capacity and grow organizational resilience as 21st-century leaders. For more information about Human-Centered Leadership can be found in our book or via our short course on LinkedIn Learning. Thank you!