People, Purpose
Author: Sheri Nasim, President & CEO
Since publishing Work On Purpose: How to Connect Who You Are With What You Do in 2014, I have had many opportunities to speak about its principles. The book opens with a story about how something I heard on the radio one morning became a career-changing wake up call. It led me on a journey to connect with my purpose, and find work that truly makes a positive impact in the world. In closing, I challenge others to connect who they are with what they do for a living. Then I take questions. Without fail, this question is always in the top three:
You left your job in order to find work with purpose. Do you think all people who are unhappy in their jobs should look for work with a purpose like you did?
“Should I quit my job?” continues to be a burning question on the minds of many of today’s workers, especially for post-pandemic Americans. My answer? “Yes, and no.” Yes. You want want to be more than a coin-operated employee. But, if you don’t take stock of the kind of co-worker you are now and get clear about where you want to go, you could easily find yourself facing the same workday woes at your next gig that you’re facing now.
According to research from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, about 4 million people quit their jobs in April 2021 alone, the highest quit level since the agency began publishing these rates in December 2000. There’s no single reason for this massive shift. Millions lost their jobs due to the pandemic, many switched careers, started their own companies, or dropped out of the workforce altogether.
If you are among those considering a move, take time to reflect before you refresh your resume. To the extent that you have the locus of control, it’s your job to take ownership of who you are and what you want. Here are 3 questions you should ask yourself before you quit your job:
1. Am I Adding or Subtracting? The late motivational speaker Zig Ziglar said, “You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help enough other people get what they want.” If you’re waiting for others to solve your engagement issue, you could be waiting a really long time. Break the habit of waiting for things to change, and look for ways to add value to every interaction at work.
2. Am I Using My Skills Instead of My Strengths? Author and consultant Marcus Buckingham suggests that we have a moral duty to understand our greatest strengths because our teams should use us where we are our strongest. He notes that this is harder to do than you might think because your strengths come so easily to you that you barely recognize them. It’s entirely possible to slide into a career that matches your skillset but not your greatest strengths. Here are Buckingham’s tips to pinpoint your strengths.
3. Am I Working from a Roadmap? Many people are not. They go through their careers like passengers on a bus. Scenes fly by the windows for mile after mile. Seatmates come and go. Opportunities to get off occur at regular intervals. But the hum of the road dulls their senses, and soon they end up lost. Their personal plans and dream destinations long forgotten. Use the simple guide in Work on Purpose to create a Purpose Plan for yourself. Of course, it’s possible to find meaningful work without a Purpose Plan, just as you can get to your destination by riding a bus. But, with a plan, you are more likely to be alert and stay on your truth path.
I’m not suggesting that leaders should not take primary responsibility for creating a culture of engagement. I’m suggesting that the turbulence is likely to continue. While leaders focus on creating resilient workplaces, challenge yourself to actively look for ways to add value, know your strengths, and have a roadmap to connect who you are with what you do.
Question: What’s one thing that you can do to improve your engagement level at work?
Driven by the premise that excellence is the result of aligning people, purpose and performance, Center for Executive Excellence facilitates training in leading self, leading teams and leading organizations. To learn more, subscribe to receive CEE News!
Purpose
If the turmoil of 2020 has prompted your leadership team to reconsider people priorities such as employee well-being, resilience, or purpose, then you’re in good company. Your employees are reconsidering you, too.
An August 2020 study by McKinsey found that nearly 70% of U.S.-based employees said that the Covid-19 pandemic has caused them to reflect on their purpose in life. Almost half said that they are reconsidering the kind of work they do because of the pandemic. Millennials – the largest generation in the U.S. labor force – were three times more likely than others to say that they were reevaluating work.
Such findings have implications for your organization’s talent-management strategy and its bottom line. People who live their purpose at work are more productive than people who don’t. They are also healthier, more resilient, and more likely to stay. Moreover, when employees feel that their purpose is aligned with the organization’s purpose, the benefits expand to include stronger employee engagement, heightened loyalty, and a greater willingness to recommend the organization to others.
Nonetheless, if you’re like most senior executives, you haven’t given the individual purpose of your employees much thought. Yet research shows that 70% of employees said that their sense of purpose is defined by their work. So, like it or not, as a leader, you play an important part in helping your employees find their purpose and live it.
But, where do you begin? Hint: With the one and only thing you control directly – the organization’s purpose. Clarify it. Codify it. Commit your senior leaders to modeling it. Treat it like your North Star for how to make difficult decisions and trade-offs. If you don’t put the work into getting your purpose off the walls and into the halls, the results can be devastating.
One action you can take today is to start spending time with your team reflecting on the impact the organization has on the world. Think dialogue, not monologue. Cringeworthy emails to your team about corporate social responsibility efforts that seem disconnected from the team’s day-to-day experience will only inspire cynicism. Still, when authentic and handled well, reflections on the bigger picture can inspire a sense of purpose.
So, whether you’re focused on meeting mid-term goals like a resurgent second half 2021 or long-term resilience initiatives, remember that your employees are five times more likely to be excited to work when they connect their work to the impact your organization makes in the world.
Question: Why is the world a better place because your organization exists?
Purpose
All joking aside, those who will make this year a true success are not focused on their New Year’s resolutions – about what they will start doing or stop doing. Instead, they are focused on their why. They’ve taken the time to connect the dots of who they are with what they do. And that is a very powerful motivator.
This year, don’t resolve to do two or three big things differently. Instead, take the time to connect with your why. What can you do to make an enduring impact? Here are three simple questions from my ebook, Work On Purpose: How to Connect Who You Are With What You Do to get you started.
1. What did you want to be before the world ‘should’ on you?
You know. “You should go into accounting.” “You should take over your father’s law practice.” “You should study medicine.” As Mark Albion writes in More Than Money, “It’s easy to slide into a career that matches your skills but not your deepest desires. When you get good at something you don’t want to do, you feel as if you’re dying a little bit each day – that your soul is being sucked out of you. Worse yet, it takes time to realize what’s going on.”
2. What did you want to do when you were eleven or twelve?
In Now, Discover Your Strengths, Marcus Buckingham suggests that we remember our ‘yearnings’. He writes, “Perhaps because of your genes, or your early experiences, as a child you found yourself drawn to some activities and repelled by others. While your brother was chasing his friends around the yard, you settled down to tinker with the sprinkler head, pulling it apart so that you could figure out how it worked. Your analytical mind was already making its presence known.” Your purpose is hiding right beneath the surface of your life. It threads between the major events of your life and opens windows of opportunity.
3. What legacy do you want to leave?
Author Michael Gerber takes this idea to an extreme in his book, The E-Myth Revisited. He asks that you imagine attending your own funeral. All of your friends, your family, and your business associates are there. Picture yourself lying in the box in the center of the room, then listen. Imagine what your colleagues would say about you. Would they talk about the margins you gained? The deals you closed? The efficiencies you implemented? Or, would they talk about the value you left behind? How you helped them grow? How they are better off because they knew you? Starting today, you have the power to shape these conversations.
Rather than rushing to the gym or buying an organizer, take some time this month to connect with your why. There’s no passion to be found in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living. Find your passion. Connect with your why. Work on purpose.
Question: Do you know someone who is guided by a clear sense of purpose? What differences do you see in their daily behavior?
Purpose
If your faith in leadership is at an all time low, you might be heartened to learn about some of the youngest among us who are stepping up and taking action. These young leaders had a dream and let nothing stand in their way to make a positive impact. Their inspiring stories remind us that lack of experience, age, and money are not permanent barriers, but temporary challenges.
1. Shubham Banerjee
Age: 17
Purpose-Driven Enterprise: Braigo Labs, Inc.
Positive Impact: Banerjee turned his 7th grade science fair project into a business that offers low-cost Braille printers to help the visually impaired. The latest model uses Wi-Fi and Bluetooth to automatically print text from a website and translate it into Braille.
2. Haile Thomas
Age: 18
Purpose-Driven Enterprise: The HAPPY (Healthy, Active, Positive, Purposeful Youth) Organization
Positive Impact: HAPPY works to improve the health and wellness of underserved children by implementing programs that teach the importance of nutrition and healthy lifestyles.
3. Moziah Bridges
Age: 17
Purpose-Driven Enterprise: Mo’s Bows Memphis
Positive Impact: Mo’s handcrafted bow tie business started at the age of 9 at his grandmother’s kitchen table in South Memphis that has become an internationally recognized brand. Its foundation provides youth leadership skills through entrepreneurship.
4 and 5. Katherine and Isabelle Adams
Ages: 11 and 14
Purpose-Driven Enterprise: Paper for Water
Positive Impact: In 2011, sisters Katherine and Isabelle Adams learned that millions of people don’t have access to clean drinking water, and that girls their age have to haul water instead of going to school. They decided to raise $500 selling handmade origami ornaments and use that money to help fund a well in Ethiopia. Today, Paper For Water has raised more than $1 million for 150 water projects in 14 countries.
6. Mari Copeny
Age: 11
Purpose-Driven Enterprise: Dear Flint Kids Project
Positive Impact: Copeny is an advocate for her hometown of Flint, Michigan, which has been fighting a life-threatening water crisis since 2014. When she was 8 years old, she wrote a powerful letter to President Obama on behalf of Flint and its children. Obama replied to Copeny, visited Flint, and eventually signed off on $100 million in funding to help repair the city’s poisoned water system. Copeny has since founded the Dear Flint Kids Project and raised more than $10,000 for students in her community.
7. Henry Patterson
Age: 14
Purpose-Driven Enterprise: Not Before Tea
Positive Impact: Not Before Tea is a British children’s lifestyle brand, based on the Adventures of Sherb and Pip, a story written by Patterson when he was 10 years old. The book sold thousands of copies when it was first published in 2014. Not Before Tea, launched in the same year, is the fastest growing children’s lifestyle brand in the UK. The environmentally-friendly collection uses organic fabrics, FCS accredited paper from sustainable sources, and avoids plastics where possible.
8. Jakhil Jackson
Age: 11
Purpose-Driven Enterprise: Project I Am
Positive Impact: Project I Am was founded by Jakhil Jackson at the age of 8 after helping his aunt distribute goods to the homeless population in Chicago. Since then, volunteers have distributed approximately 15,000 “Blessing Bags” filled with wipes, socks, deodorant, hand sanitizer, granola bars, toothbrushes, toothpaste, bottled water, and more, in cities throughout the U.S. and around the world.
9. Paloma Rambana
Age: 13
Purpose-Driven Enterprise: Paloma’s Dream
Positive Impact: Rambana was born visually impaired and underwent two surgeries to create pupils when she was less than a year old. But when she entered the first grade in Tallahassee, Florida, she realized that not everyone with sight issues had her advantages. After talking to her parents about her concerns, she learned about a gap in Florida state funding for kids her age. She lobbied the state government and launched Paloma’s Dream which helped secure $1.25 million for programs to cover the gap. Today, she’s advocating for more state money and has asked Congress to set aside at least $1 billion for special education programs for visually impaired, deaf, and blind children across the country.
10. Liam Hannon
Age: 12
Purpose-Driven Enterprise: Liam’s Lunches of Love
Positive Impact: Liam makes and distributes homemade lunches with the help of family and friends to his homeless neighbors in Cambridge, Massachusetts. What started as a way to stay busy during summer break when he was 10 has turned into Liam’s Lunches of Love through which over 2,000 hand packed lunches have been distributed in brown paper bags decorated with inspiring messages.
We can complain about the state of leadership today, or, like the young people featured here, do something about making the world a better place. In Liam’s words during his interview as a CNN Young Wonder, “Start small, get help from friends, and do something that you love.”
Question: If these kids can trade a few play dates and video games to make a positive impact, where can some of your free time be spent to make a positive impact on others?
Driven by the premise that excellence is the result of aligning people, purpose and performance, Center for Executive Excellence facilitates training in leading self, leading teams and leading organizations. To learn more, subscribe to receive CEE News!
Purpose
Welcome to another year, and another round of jokes about not keeping New Year’s resolutions. To-wit: The 13 funniest tweets about New Year’s resolutions.
All joking aside, those who will make this year a true success are not focused on their New Year’s resolutions – about what they will start doing or stop doing. Instead, they are focused on their why. They’ve taken the time to connect the dots of who they are with what they do. And that is a very powerful motivator.
This year, don’t resolve to do two or three small things differently. Instead, take the time to connect with your why. What can you do to make an enduring impact? Here are three simple questions to get you started.
1. What did you want to be before the world ‘should’ on you? You know. “You should go into accounting.” “You should take over your father’s law practice.” “You should study medicine.” As Mark Albion writes in More Than Money, “It’s easy to slide into a career that matches your skills but not your deepest desires. When you get good at something you don’t want to do, you feel as if you’re dying a little bit each day – that your soul is being sucked out of you. Worse yet, it takes time to realize what’s going on.”
2. What did you want to do when you were eleven or twelve? In Now, Discover Your Strengths, Marcus Buckingham suggests that we remember our ‘yearnings’. He writes, “Perhaps because of your genes, or your early experiences, as a child you found yourself drawn to some activities and repelled by others. While your brother was chasing his friends around the yard, you settled down to tinker with the sprinkler head, pulling it apart so that you could figure out how it worked. Your analytical mind was already making its presence known.” Your purpose is hiding right beneath the surface of your life. It threads between the major events of your life and opens windows of opportunity.
3. What legacy do you want to leave? Author Michael Gerber takes this idea to an extreme in his book, The E-Myth Revisited. He asks that you imagine attending your own funeral. All of your friends, your family, and your business associate are there. Picture yourself lying in the box in the center of the room, then listen. Imagine what your colleagues would say about you. Would they talk about the margins you gained? The deals you closed? The efficiencies you implemented? Or, would they talk about the value you left behind? How you helped them grow? How they are better off because they knew you? Starting today, you have the power to shape these conversations.
Rather than rushing to the gym or buying an organizer, take some time this month to connect with your why. There’s no passion to be found in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living. Find your passion. Connect with your why. Work on purpose.
Question: Do you know someone who is guided by a clear sense of purpose? What differences do you see in their daily behavior?
Purpose
Cheryl Kilmer is a leader on a mission. At the age of 17, Kilmer was a psychology student working at a state hospital for children near Ann Arbor, Michigan. What she saw there was horrifying — children were being warehoused, neglected, and forgotten. One such child, Yvette Champagne, sat motionless all day in wooden wheelchair with no physical stimulation, no encouragement to build social skills, and no hope. Yvette had cerebral palsy. She also had a bald spot on the back of her head from rubbing against her wheelchair.
“The only good thing about Yvette’s life was her name,” recalls Kilmer blinking back tears as she reflected on that transformative experience. “I wasn’t able to save her, but I knew that, as a society, we could do so much more for children like Yvette and others who suffer from disabilities.”
Fast forward to San Diego over four decades later. Kilmer and her team of more than 500 dedicated professionals and volunteers serve over 850 children and adults with developmental disabilities. They do this through the nonprofit called TERI (for Technology, Education, Research, and Innovation). Led by their enigmatic founder and CEO, TERI has been recognized as a model for delivering the highest standard of care and uncompromising quality of life to its clients.
That level of care cannot come soon enough for many families. With a 200% increase in the diagnosis of autism in the last decade, the need for quality services and programs dedicated to the developmentally disabled falls far short of the need. It is a need that extends far beyond San Diego. 1.2 million children are born with congenital disabilities in China alone each year. Delegations from China and many other countries around the world have heard of TERI’s success, which they are eager to replicate in their own countries.
Doing so, according to the indefatigable Kilmer, means first building a campus where TERI’s quality standards can be centralized and codified before they can be scaled. Today, TERI offers everything from speech programs and vocational support to equestrian therapy and performing arts productions. These services are provided from several locations strung primarily along north San Diego County. When it comes to tackling the physical, mental, and emotional needs of its clients, no challenge is too big for TERI’s team. But Kilmer’s vision far exceeds the local impact that TERI is providing. “We can do better, and we can teach others to do better,” says Kilmer.
TERI’s Campus of Life, a 20-acre site nestled in the warm hills of San Marcos, California, is the launching pad for global impact. With the help of over $13 million in community donations, TERI purchased the site and completed a state-of-the-art therapeutic equestrian center. Today, clients learn to trust the world around them and build confidence in their own talents and strengths while interacting with and caring for a stable of six horses.
The next phase of the Campus of Life is the key to unlocking Kilmer’s ultimate vision – to build the world’s first place where the entire community can learn, create and thrive side-by-side. When completed, the master plan will include 111,000 square feet of facilities for a theatre, art studios, galleries, music production studios, all available for use by both clients and the community. A fitness and wellness complex with three pools will be key to emphasizing the active lifestyle that is crucial to TERI’s emphasis on health and self-esteem.
It’s an ambitious plan that requires vision, an uncompromising commitment to quality, and tenacity on the part of Kilmer, her team, and the community. The Campus of Life will be Kilmer’s legacy inspired by the memory of one little girl who spent her days in a wooden wheelchair. As a result, millions of lives around the world will be improved for decades to come. Yvette Champagne would have loved it.
If you would like to learn more about TERI and how you can help by donating your time, talent, or treasure, contact development@teriinc.org.
Question: Can the story of two girls who met in a mental institution in the 1970’s forever change the world for millions?
Driven by the premise that excellence is the result of aligning people, purpose and performance, Center for Executive Excellence facilitates training in leading self, leading teams and leading organizations. To learn more, subscribe to receive CEE News!