The Power of Purpose in Leadership

Dear Friends!

Welcome to another week. If you missed prior ones you can catch up on them here. 

This week I am going a bit deeper around the most central of ideas in my own belief system. PURPOSE. 

A sense of belonging to something bigger than yourself is clearly the lead actor in my "interior theatre". Like all important insights in life, we acquire these ideas gradually rather than suddenly. They are "emergent" phenomenons. There have been many people, many experiences and perhaps most of all many authors that have over time shaped my thinking on the importance of purpose. Too many to list here but you can rest assured that many of them will occur in this newsletter. 

One of the more important thinkers of this idea is of course Victor Frankl. His incredible book Man's Search For Meaning has influenced much of contemporary discussions and expressions around the importance of meaning and purpose. Perhaps the most interesting paradox of purpose is that you can't pursue what you want in life directly. Our society would be so much better if politics, business, education, and health care would be focused on a more elevated purpose rather than short term outcomes. Victor Frankl says this better than anyone:

"For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side-effect of one's personal dedication to a cause greater than oneself or as the by-product of one's surrender to a person other than oneself. Happiness must happen, and the same holds for success: you have to let it happen not by caring about it."

  - Victor Frankl in Man's Search For Meaning

In the first podcast below of this week, you can listen to Shane Parrish at Farnham Street interviewing Jim Collins. This is meaningful to me at multiple levels. First, since Purpose bigger than self plays such a central role in many of Jim's concepts of enduring leadership. Second, because one of Jim's long-standing research partners, Morten Hansen, is a good friend and it was through Morten that I was introduced to Jim's work on Good to Great during its research phase and have since been both a student and an imperfect practitioner of his many incredible lessons. The world is lucky to have both Morten and Jim contributing to the world of leadership for so long. Thank you to both of them! 

It's impossible (at least for me) to summarize Jim Collins's concepts. But if you want a summary of them, his website has a terrific one-page summary where you can click on each concept for an overview. 

It's equally difficult to pick one of the concepts as more important than others. But if I had to pick one, that plays the background music to almost all of Jim's other concepts, it would be the FIRST WHO THEN WHAT concept. You FIRST put the right people on the bus, THEN you put them in the right seats and only THEN, do you decide where to go. This is not how most organizations behave. But it certainly resonates with me and I normally approach every problem in life as a WHO problem. 

In a way, you could frame the results you are achieving as a function of the elements of WHO, WHY, WHAT and HOW this way:

This is not to express some mathematical orthodoxy. Look at this figuratively not literally. (I know the Math folks out there will insert negatives and come up with all sorts of reasons why this isn't accurate. But it is intended to "illustrate" that if you have a strong why you will lead from a "higher elevation" and the power of your leadership will exponentially affect all other elements of organizational effectiveness.)

History is filled with examples of the power of purpose. From winning wars and putting men on the moon to witnessing individual achievements beating seemingly impossible odds. One of my favorite sayings is:

"If you believe more than you can do, you can do more than you believe"

Jim calls the most extraordinary leaders equipped with this elevated purpose Level 5 leaders. I think we all have felt this at times when we lose ourselves to something bigger than ourselves. Love is obviously the most potent of such feelings. Standing admiring great pieces of art, faith, or just inhaling the majestic powers of nature are others. We feel connected to something other than ourselves which paradoxically makes us feel most ourselves. And it is from that place of authenticity we can start the process of recruiting the hearts and minds of others to go do what must be done.

I have such deep conviction and commitment to the idea of purpose bigger than product that I 13 years ago named my company be-cause and the logo is obviously a reflection that anyone that has a "cause" bigger than themselves can create exponential leadership power. I simply call it the power of purpose.

There is so much more to dive in to in Jim's and Morten's incredible work. But I leave that for other newsletters. For now, I would simply encourage you to listen to the podcast. I know it is long. And if you don't have the time, at least listen to the ending part when Shane asks Jim about whether the kind of leadership we need can be taught. The quote by Eisenhower that "leadership is the art of getting people to do what must be done" and the hopeful outlook Jim has for our future was inspiring to me. Jim also expresses optimism in a way that we all need to listen to. And believe. Today more than ever!

The full podcast is here and the link to the end part is here.

Lastly, I do hope most of you realize that below every weekly newsletter are always links to articles, podcasts, or videos from the week that I found particularly useful and helpful. You simply click on the image of a person and it will take you there. Just wanted to make sure you knew!

Enjoy!

THE WEEK IN REVIEW

Shane Parrish podcast with Jim Collins

Not much to add. A brilliant interview by Shane Parrish on the Knowledge Project. Two incessantly curious people basically covering 30 years of some of the best archeological digging into what makes any organization be great and what makes them fail. So much to learn here. We are lucky to have folks like Jim, Morten and Shane in the world of teaching!

Dr. Peter Attia article on the importance of balanced perspectives

I am attaching a great piece by Dr. Peter Attia. More along the themes from my first newsletter. The importance of having a balanced scorecard with points of view from all angles. Most people only hear news and reports from their own perspective. It's amplified by social media. We, therefore, feel more divided than we are. It's really important that we meet people, read people, listen to people who come from a different angle. Only then can we find the truth!

Steve Blank on why Covid19 is NOT politically correct

Just something on COVID. Have to. I liked this piece by Steve Blank about how COVID is NOT politically correct. It's important that we embrace the brutal facts (to use Jim Collins's language). The data from all countries is quite clear on who this virus is most affecting. And we should use more targeted and surgical measures to protect the vulnerable so that the rest can get back to work.

Marina Gorbis

Marina Gorbis from IFTF on being a futurist

Ending with a piece from Marina Gorbis from Institute for the Future. I have been a big fan of them for decades. They have always been at the leading edge of how to think about the future (which seems the right place to be as a futurist) and this piece is helpful as you think about how to imagine various outcomes as we come out of this very unique period of time. Shoutout to David Mansbach for alerting me to this article.