Tired of leaders who can’t decide? Here’s where purpose comes in
The more confusing the world outside, the more important it is that those who want to lead be clear about their purpose
A friend asked me a profound question recently: “How do you teach courage?”
Many leaders, she observed, seem to lack this quality, which the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle considered a virtue, a marker of moral excellence that moderated our instincts towards recklessness on the one hand and cowardice on the other. The courageous person was one who feared only things worthy of fear.
But that definition alone is of little use to my friend, who has to help a colleague get ready for a leadership role. She has limited time to equip him with the courage he needs to make tough calls. So, can courage be taught? And if yes, then how?
The clarity to do what’s needed
Leaders are challenged both on the outside and inside. And by leaders, I do not mean only chief executives and those in senior management. I mean any of you when you want to take the lead or exercise initiative, rather than merely follow.
On the outside, any would-be leader faces a VUCA world – volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous. It is a world that is changing fast, at a speed that is likely a multiple of what it was when many of you began your careers. Everyone from the top to the bottom of any organisation, any society, may well feel that the ground is shifting under their feet.
Once you cast yourself as a leader, you will be under pressure because many others will be looking to you to show the way forward, to make decisions, to inspire confidence and trust.
As a leader, if you were to look on the inside for the strength to deliver what is expected of you, what will you find? If you are confused within, chances are that will come through on the outside as you try to lead.
So here is the nub of the problem: The more complex and confusing the external environment, the clearer a leader has to be on the inside in order to lead with courage and conviction. But how does one gain inner clarity amid the noise and constant distraction of this information age?
The clarity found in purpose
A December 2019 Harvard Business Review article declared that “purpose” had become a management watchword, and that it had, since 2010, appeared in the titles of more than 400 new business and leadership books and thousands of articles.
I chanced upon one of them recently, a book entitled Leading From Purpose, written by Nick Craig, a business consultant and coach. It draws on the author’s experience of working with 10,000 senior executives to craft their own purpose statements, as part of workshops on authentic leadership.
Mr Craig defines purpose as the unique gift that you bring to the world.
“Think of it this way,” he writes. “Let’s say we replaced you with someone equal to you in skill and mastery in your job and key roles in life. In three months, we interviewed all the people you used to interact with and asked them, ‘What do you miss most?’ Their answer to that question tells you your purpose: the thing you bring to the table that disappears if you don’t show up.
“Unfortunately because we have spent our lives chasing after everyone’s expectations of who we should be, we never know the one thing that makes the biggest difference, the purpose that has been leading us all our life.”
A purpose statement, I learnt, is an odd thing. It is likely to contain words or phrases that have a special meaning to the person who wrote it, anything from “lego-poet” to “blow your hair back” to “finally be home”, but which may not make sense to most others.
My own purpose statement includes the phrase “hear the click” because that is the sound I heard when I gained an insight into what I personally find meaningful.
Often, the words in people’s purpose statements remind them of magical moments during their childhood, or particularly trying times in their lives, or activities that have excited them over many years, as those are three sources of vivid memories that can help adults reconnect with what makes them unique, their distinctive way of seeing and engaging with the world that speaks to their purpose.
Well-crafted purpose statements are so personally meaningful to their writers that they have the power to help even seasoned leaders make key career decisions, even when those involved considerable risk or sacrifice.
In his book, Mr Craig writes about Ms Prerana Issar, who had to choose between a very lucrative role as head of human resources in Europe for one of the world’s most famous consumer brands, and that of chief human resources officer for the United Nations World Food Programme.
Ms Issar chose the latter, even though it meant that she – a mother of two young children – would have to travel to war zones as part of her job. The reason? She saw her purpose as being “a catalyst for positive change in the world, especially for women”.
Finding solid ground within
The idea of leading from purpose resonates with me because as I grappled with my friend’s question on how to teach courage, I found myself looking through my own experiences in search of an answer.
I recalled once being offered a leadership role that my boss found very exciting but which filled me with dread. By contrast, another less high-profile role, which I found far more meaningful, energised me. In this second role, I had clarity and conviction, even when making difficult decisions.
That is why I think Mr Craig is right to encourage us to look within for the answers we seek.
But please do not expect to nail your purpose statement on the first attempt, or even the second. It takes time to sift through your memories for moments when your unique way of being is allowed to show through.
Think of your purpose as a thread that runs through your life, from start to end, joining everything up even as you move through different jobs and life stages. This thread is what gives your life coherence.
Leaders who can see how their purpose and unique gifts connect to their work are well placed to lead with their whole hearts.
And the root of the word courage is heart; so it makes sense that our own lives provide the best teaching on this virtue.
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