Get on purpose: What are the benefits of knowing your purpose?

A while ago, I watched The Wolf of Wall Street. It was rather debauched and with lots of foul language, sex, and drug use. Certainly not for the faint-hearted. It is based on the true story of Jordan Belfort and tells his rise to a wealthy stockbroker living the high life to his fall involving crime, corruption and the federal government with him ending up in jail. The basic method of his firm was a ‘pump and dump’ scam. To cover these dodgy dealings, Belfort gave the firm a respectable name, Stratton Oakmont. An article in Forbes called Jordan the "Wolf of Wall Street", which resulted in hundreds of highly ambitious young financiers joining his company and making a lot of money.

What struck me was this notion of purpose at Stratton Oakmont. The financiers had a clear purpose in mind: “Sell and make money”. Morals and values didn’t feature. They were not part of the company culture. It was focused on making as much money as quickly as possible. And it did. Because of this laser-like focus which was emphasized by Belfort each week over the microphone as he motivated his people to sell, the company was hugely successful and its traders became very wealthy as a result. Belfort’s staff were in no doubt as to their role; they knew with absolute clarity the purpose of the organization and Belfort reminded them of their focus again and again in his engaging manner. Success was magnified and celebrated. Anyone who did not fit the culture (lacked focus on the purpose) was promptly fired.

Now I am not putting forward the idea that sex, drugs and corrupt behavior is the way to ensure company success. I am saying that crystal clear clarity of purpose does result in success, however success may be defined for your particular organization (in Belfort’s case it was to make money by whatever means possible).

The role of purpose and communication thereof is a critical key to success. Purpose answers the crucial ‘why’ question. Why do I get up in the morning? Why do I go to work? Does my work matter? Is there a purpose in what I do? Why am I on earth? (Belfort’s people knew the answer to this).

Organizations need to know their purpose and have leaders to clearly define and help their people connect with it. Gallup’s recent global study on the changing demands of the workplace highlight employees’ shift from “my paycheck” to “my purpose”. The connection employees have between their personal mission and the company has a lot to do with engagement and performance.

Your people need to know why they are at work. They need to understand what their role is in the greater scheme of things i.e. WIIFM (what’s in it for me?). This motivates and inspires people. When they pick up their bags at the end of their day, they know they have made a difference. No matter how highly paid, or socially valued the job is, or how premium the brand, people want meaning and purpose. As a leader, you have an important part to play in defining company purpose so your people come to work with absolute clarity on their role. Furthermore, it is worth investing in the time to encourage your people to grapple with the notion of living life ‘on purpose’; that is being aligned with their values, mission, and goals. This will enable them to play to their strengths and make a more powerful contribution.

Leaders too, need to know this answer for themselves and figure out what really matters to them. Living on purpose, in accordance with your deep beliefs, results in inner happiness. There is a sense of alignment in life. It helps you assess everything you do. Decisions are made easier as purpose acts as a filter and a guide. Your ability to stay on purpose will affect the fulfillment you feel in life.

David Novak, CEO, YUM Brands says this, “Why am I on earth? I’m on earth to encourage others, lift lives, help create leaders, inspire people, recognize others. When I’m spending time doing that – those are my best days.”

In an article that was written about him, Geoff Colvin, from Fortune wrote, “The deepest explanation of Novak’s success may be that the way he wins – building the recognition culture, spreading the Taking People With You program – is actually fulfilling his life’s purpose.”

Clayton M. Christensen, the innovation and leadership thought leader, says the following in his brilliant Harvard article, ‘How will you measure your life?’,

 “For me having a clear purpose in my life has been essential….The choice and successful pursuit of a profession is but one tool for achieving your purpose. But without a purpose, life can become hollow. I apply the tools of econometrics a few times a year, but I apply my knowledge of the purpose of my life every day.”

While I wouldn’t recommend the movie to my children, it reminded me of the power of purpose and left me with some questions the manager could be asking:

·       Does my team understand the mission and purpose of the organization?

·       What indicates that my team lives out the purpose each day?

·       Am I as a manager/leader living the purpose/mission of my organization?

·       Are priorities being set that emerge from the mission/purpose of the organization?

Dr. Peter Dry, June 2019.

Don’t make innovation less scary

Each year I take volunteers to South Africa to work in underprivileged communities. Most of it is hard and rewarding work. At the end of the trip, we, take time out with the group and head into the beautiful South African bush for a couple of days. On one of the mornings, we get up before sunrise to ride an African elephant.

You begin to get quite comfortable with the tranquillity and beauty of the surroundings even though you are on the largest land mammal in lion territory. You rock gently on the massive beasts who move incredibly quietly through the bush. The elephants tend to snap off a twig here and a branch there until suddenly a trunk is wrapped around a tree and a mighty pull occurs. After a few attempts, the elephant dips its head and gives the tree a mighty shove. The sounds of the tree being pulled and pushed from the ground and the might of the elephant are awesomely frightening and impressive at the same time. You are suddenly jolted from the serenity of the bush into the reality of the power of the elephants and the risk you are taking in riding these wild animals in a wild environment. It sure beats looking at an elephant in the zoo!

Innovation over the years has been dressed up as a tranquil journey by creating tools, models and cultural change programmes to make innovation easier and to reduce fear and uncertainty. But, no matter how safe you try to make it, the reality is, it’s not. (The elephant carers don’t for a moment lull us into a false sense of security). Trees come crashing down. Wild animals are lurking in the bush.

Will there ever be a point, besides in entrepreneurial firms or with people ‘hard-wired’ to innovate, when people are comfortable with innovation just to do it? Will they innovate because we, as leaders, have made it less scary? Probably not.

Our schooling system, adult training, and cultural expectations have created generations of people who seek to get the right answers, not the most creative solutions. We have robbed them of the ability to think creatively, to dream up innovative ideas and to question the status quo. They are not future-ready equipped with the mindset and skill sets to seek alternate and possibly more risky approaches. People aim for efficiency improvements and not game-changing ideas.

We are creatures of habit and seek to repeat actions and tasks. We use the same methods and processes and create products and services that look very similar to previous ones. We revel in the comfort zone and it takes a lot to move us out of it. Even when we make innovation simple and fun or give people tools, innovation is too risky for most people to step out. Many people only see the wild animals and hear the crashing trees. They aren’t interested in the journey. It’s the unknown power of the beast that frightens them. So they steer clear of innovation with its risk and uncertain outcomes.

How do we innovate? As a leader, future-proof your organization by leading for innovation. Create discomfort as a catalyst to shift people. You don’t experience the size of an African elephant until you are on its back. You don’t experience the raw power of an African elephant until it uproots a tree. We need to create discomfort around the status quo. External threats, massive budget cuts, huge market shifts create discomfort. Innovation suddenly becomes a little more appealing when things are uncertain. Let’s not try to eliminate fear and uncertainty around innovation because that may never be possible. Let’s rather create discomfort to drive innovation opportunities. Good leaders can do this by making staff aware of trends, products, potential disruptive behaviors in the market.

But more often than not we sit around and wait in the comfort and profitable state of the status quo. Suddenly a shift in regulations, a tough competitor and a new business taking customers threatens the status quo and innovation becomes an option to be considered albeit an uncomfortable one. Don’t wait for this reactive form of innovation. Rather create discomfort with the status quo and engage people in constant innovation.

Perhaps by seeking to eliminate discomfort we have crushed innovation and the opportunity to feel that rush of adrenalin sitting on the back of a massive elephant as the tree comes crashing down. If we are to innovate we need stop looking at the elephants in the zoo and to jump onto the back of one in the African bush.

By Peter Dry, 2018.

Getting ready for innovation and exponential change or maintaining the humdrum? A look down the road of education (Part 2)

Will schools significantly change or are we in danger of another generation where we tinker with an outdated model? Technology has the potential to shift the way we do school making learning has become more accessible, more mobile and more personalized. What are some schools doing now and how might schools adapt in the future?

Technology is impacting schools. Students rely more on technology than teachers for information. In fact, students tend to use YouTube more than other search engines to learn. School and learning are now highly mobile, accessible and personalized. The web and cloud computing means “school” can be accessed anywhere, anytime. Yet, schools look and feel industrial and impersonal and consequently students tend to feel disconnected and disengaged. The future will see schools leveraging mobile technology to support a more personalized approach (vs. standardized as in the old factory model)  of the learning environment.

A more personalized approach is needed so that the individual and community needs are considered. In a world that can increasingly cater for individual and diverse needs, education needs to accept that one size does not fit all. A school culture that emphasizes this will enable relevance and rigor in the classroom, and higher levels of student engagement.

For example, some schools around the country have ‘dashboards’ for each student where their personal progress is monitored in real time. Feedback is readily available and data can be extrapolated with ease. MAP testing is an example of how technology can be leveraged to build or advanced individual student’s skill sets. This allows the student, teacher, and parents to customize the learning for the child whether it be the need for reinforcement, redirection or moving on to the next topic or level. Students can create and navigate their own learning journey, tap into multiple online resources (like Kahn Academy) and use the teacher as a coach or facilitator.

Schools will continue to question the emphasis on standardized testing as the need for curiosity, ingenuity, passion, and curiosity grows. Education will move from information acquisition (the known) to knowledge creation (beyond the known). The trend is already towards the inventive use of knowledge and how people can add value to what is already know. Thus, schools will need to create intellectual entrepreneurs. Schools will need to explicitly teach the skills of collaboration, problem-solving, and communication. These are not new skills but there are greater demands now placed on the need to graduate students with these skills. Technology will be used to support these shifts to enable students to tackle real-world problems that may be occurring in their classroom, their school, their town or even globally (see an upcoming blog for what this looks like). 

Therefore, schools will need to develop an intensive and ongoing professional development program to better support teachers to deepen their understanding and expand their skill set on how to teach for the 21^st century, or in other words, nurture “future-ready students”. This is unknown territory for teachers, administrators, and parents where student learning outcomes are more about habits of mind (creativity, ingenuity, innovation, collaboration) than knowledge. That means the curricula, assessment, classes and the school day will look different. There will be greater emphasis on project- and place-based work, integration of classes, connections with the outside world and blended learning (see my next blog for insights into this topic). A school will also be more intentional about students creating connections, developing creative solutions to real problems and encouraging collaboration; skills prerequisite for employment. This will also be key to the survival and advancement of our society.

Schools may maintain the humdrum over the next few years, tinker with an outdated system, and continue to prepare students for a world gone by. Let’s hope though that schools do adapt to the changing needs of the students and the world and that courageous and thoughtful leaders see the role technology plays in this shift. Educators are passionate about developing future-ready students with the capacity to make a positive contribution to their world. Training, support, and high-quality professional development will help our teachers navigate the significant change our schools need.

Picture source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/guides/zqkjp39