What’s the Purpose? Exploring the Essence of Meaningful Living

Delve into the question of purpose and its significance in leading a fulfilling life. This article explores the essence of meaningful living and offers insights into discovering one’s purpose. The above quote by Friedrich Nietzsche has been used quite approvingly by Viktor E Frankl in his iconic book “Man’s Search for Meaning”. Frankl mentions that prisoners at the Nazi concentration camps who gave up on life and lost all hope for the future were inevitably the first to die. On the other hand, Frankl stayed on with a purpose and hope, to be out of the camp one day and meet his wife. Also, he would be able to lecture on the psychological lessons he learned from his experience.

Navigating life with a sense of meaning and purpose is so critical. They are like the guiding north star that keeps us moving and gives our being value and fulfilment. Ask people what makes them stay with organisations? And for many of them, the answer would be that the organisation provides them space to fulfil their purpose in life.

I recall this anecdote. At a construction site, two workers were crushing stones to be used to build a structure. An observer was keenly looking at these two workers, and he noticed some difference in the way both of them were doing their job, though the work was the same. He goes to one of the workers and asks, “Hey, what are you doing?” “Well”, said this worker, “you can see that I am doing my job of crushing stones”.

While the work was mundane,  mechanical, and unexciting, it seemed pretty interesting to the other worker. He was doing his work with a lot of attention and finesse.  He was enjoying what he was doing. That evoked some curiosity in the observer. Moving on to this worker, he asked the same question. The answer was very different. “I am building a temple”, said this worker.

That’s the difference created in ownership and accountability when one sees the larger purpose and aligns oneself with that purpose—the feeling of being an essential and integral part of creation and being able to contribute to a more significant cause.

What is a “purpose” for an organisation? It is the answer to “Why”. It explains the organisation’s reason for existence. ​It explains the larger objective and meaning that the organisation stands for. It is outward-looking as opposed to internal goals like profitability. The purpose of an organisation answers why the organisation began and why it’s on that journey. It explains what larger justice in the world it is seeking to create.

“Vision”, as opposed to “Purpose”, is a statement that answers “What”. It is a statement of what the future looks like​ when the organisation is successful. It is abstract and aspirational and seeks a continuous journey to reach ​there. ​They are meant to inspire by painting a picture of a future worth working towards.​

A classic example of a Purpose statement for a food company may be “Eliminating hunger”. This creates a sense of larger meaning for existence and talks about a need that the world strives for. By doing that, the organisation serves justice. It hardly has anything to do with its business goals.

In his book “Lead with Purpose”, John Baldoni senses that people working in an organisation had an expectation of doing work that meant something, that is, work that would make a positive difference in the life of others. And if people are in quest for that “meaning”, whose job is to find it for them. The leadership drives the organisational purpose. And it is also the accountability of the leadership to instill the purpose in the organisational DNA. That way, when people align to the purpose, they feel being part of a larger ecosystem.

Life is not primarily a quest for pleasure or a quest for power*. It is a quest for meaning. A primary task for people is to find that meaning. Frankl identifies three sources of meaning – work (doing or contributing to something significant), love (caring for another person) and courage (surviving in difficult times).

While in an individual capacity, we are seeking for purpose, and our deep reflection on our ability to contribute can help evolve one, it is of utmost importance that organisations stand up for a purpose. A purpose that defines its existence and aligns people there who feel important and significant, having contributed to a larger cause and not merely a business cause.  The purpose of existence for an organisation is also the root of building its culture. When people align to a purpose, a specific behaviour emerges in the organisation. It evokes a particular way of working very distinct to that organisation. That’s what culture is about.

Resources for “Purpose”

https://www.wgu.edu/blog/how-develop-company-purpose-statement2108.html#close

https://purposebrand.com/news/best-purpose-statements-fortune-500/

Credits:

• Man’s Search for Meaning by Victor E Frankl
• Lead with Purpose by John Baldoni
• *Works of Sigmund Freud and Alfred Adler