One of my favorite books about leadership is The Power of Purpose: Find Meaning, Live Longer, Better by Richard Leider. In fact, you can listen to Leider talk about purpose:
Leider was one of the sages I interviewed for my book Leading with Wisdom and his work has been important to me because of his focus on helping leaders find their purpose and navigate in the second half of life. Similar to Leider, I am interested in leading and sage-ing or leading as a sage. One of my main conclusions in my book was this: It is hard to be a good leader if you are not a good person. The most important person to lead is yourself.
Recently David Brooks of the New York Times had an editorial titled What Is Your Purpose? in which he asked these questions:
- What is the purpose of my life?
- How do I find a moral compass so I can tell right from wrong?
- What should I do day by day to feel fulfillment and deep joy?
Brooks maintains we have lost our moral authorities and sages to help guide our way. “These days, we live in a culture that is more diverse, decentralized, interactive, and democratized. The old days when gray-haired sages had all the answers about the ultimate issues of life are over. But new ways of having conversations about the core questions haven’t yet come into being.”
Brooks is on a book tour for his book The Road to Character and claims “there is an amazing hunger to shift the conversation. People are ready to talk a little less about how to do things and to talk a little more about why ultimately they are doing them.”
I can attest to the fact that there is a hunger for purpose for people of all ages. While I was interviewing my more than 100 sages, I created a leadership course for undergraduates (ages 20-22) based on what I was learning and they loved the themes which included embracing one’s mortality. When I presented the findings at academic conferences, people were surprised that students in their 20s could relate to legacy work and purpose and meaning. Now I teach a graduate leadership course (average age 30) using my book as one of the books as they find the content relevant. I also teach a sage-ing course for people 50+ and they “eat up the information” seeking their purpose once they leave their career.
Brooks has started a conversation where we can answer his questions. Go to the website for his book here and click on First Steps and send in your responses. I have done this! He plans to write a column or two reporting on what he has learned about how people have found their purpose in these changing times. He was to build a supportive community to give people a vocabulary, tools, and models for trying to figure out what life is all about.
Do you think you have found the purpose to your life?
If so, how did you find it?