POWERED BY PURPOSE
Leadercast Live is the world’s largest one-day leadership event, with more than 100,000 attendees at 500+ locations across 20 different countries around the world. This simulcast event is targeted at those who desire to learn and grow in their leadership aptitudes.
Over the next week I will post my notes from Friday’s Leadercast event I attended in the Atlanta, GA area this past Friday. Today’s post is from Andy Stanley.
POWERED BY PURPOSE
Perhaps the starting point for purpose is “Who am I here for?” not What am I here for?”
“As a leader, you will be called upon to go first. That will require courage. But in stepping out you will give the gift of courage to those who are watching.
Andy began his talk by sharing a lesson from one of his life long mentors. This mentor talk him that there are two immutable laws in our lives: everybody has to eat and live indoors. For those people in our world who don’t have these basic needs met they are not really concerned about purpose. If you don’t have these in your life you don’t have the margin to worry about your purpose. All of us here have those needs met and therefore have the margin to examine our purpose.
At some point in our lives we all will be interested in purpose. For some of us a funeral will spark that interest. For others it will be a birthday in our 50’s that will spark a deeper look into our purpose. We all have within us to have a meaningful purpose in life. There is something in you that want more out of life. All of us desire for people to be able to talk about our lives as having had meaning and purpose at our funerals.
We all have it in us to find meaning and purpose, but most people are never powered by Purpose! I have never met someone who has been doing something meaningful and full of purpose their entire lives and turned to me and said, “Andy I’m sick of it”
Definition of Purpose: The reason for which something exists or is accomplished.
Purpose is a means to an end!
Most people don’t want to be a means, most want to be an end. Many of us spend time wondering if there is something more. Nobody wants to be “the reason”. Everybody wants to be “the something”. You will find most people have a desire to the end and not the means to the end.
We end up asking the wrong questions like:
- What’s my purpose?
- Why am I here?
- What’s in it for me?
Purpose is always found just across the border from what’s in it for me!
It begins by saying no to you, so you can say yes to something bigger!
Purpose has a price!
- Larry Merlo-CVS CEO led his company through a wrestling match over purpose and profit. They ultimately chose their values over billions of dollars in sales and stopped selling cigarettes and tobacco related products.
- They stated that the sale of tobacco conflicts with our values and purpose. It is inconsistent with our purpose!
- There was a tension between purpose and profits. They chose their values and purpose over profits.
Purpose is a path to meaning
Purpose requires us to be a means to an end. When you become a means to an end and you will then find meaning. The only way to have meaning in life is to be a means to an end. This is the path to finding your meaning and purpose.
We often start by asking questions like:
- Isn’t there more to this life?
- There’s got to be more to this life than me?
You have to become a means to an end, that’s how you find meaning, this is how purpose is discovered. Finding meaning is the result of you being a means.
Those who devote to themselves to themselves will ultimately have nothing but themselves to show for themselves!
Your own glory is too small a thing to live for.
You were designed with purpose in mind. That’s why you admire it. That’s why you desire it and long for it. This is why it is so inspiring to us.
Why is there something that resist us from stepping into that space?
“The point of purpose is to determine how you will serve others. If you don’t have a plan to serve, you don’t need a purpose.” Cheryl Bachelder, CEO Popeyes, “Dare To Serve”
If you devote yourself to more than yourself, you will ultimately have more than yourself to show for yourself!
Remember:
- Purpose is a means to an end
- Purpose has a price
- Purpose has a path to a meaning
- Would you rather be the shovel or the hole?
- You have to decide for you if you will become a means to an end
- You can’t divorce purpose from service
3 Things You Can Do Today To Discover Your Purpose
1. Begin looking at everything you are currently doing through the lens of means. (we normally look through lens of end)
- Most great things you accomplish in life began with a shift in your thinking.
Your greatest contribution to this world may not be something you do but someone you raise!
2. Pay attention to what stirs you heart
- What breaks your heart?
- What would you like people to line up at the end of your life and thank you for.
Purpose is often found at the intersection of a broken heart, opportunity and skill!
2. Surround yourself with on-purpose people, people who aren’t afraid to give themselves to something bigger than themselves.
- Self-centeredness and selflessness are both contagious.
Your friends determine the directions and quality of your life!
In conclusion:
- Embracing purpose begins with a decision
- Are you willing to position your company as a means to an end?
- Will your company be about more than just the bottom-line?
- Are you willing to be a means to an end?
A number of years ago one of the members of his church stepped up to answer a call to serve the special needs ministry in their church. Tom Rhodes has had a very successful career and doesn’t have any special needs children of his own. Once he got involved his love for the ministry grew and grew to the point he went overseas to help special needs ministries in other countries. Andy interviewed Tom about his work in this area of the church and Tom gave the following response.
It’s difficult to go back to a normal every day Sunday after you have tasted purpose. Tom Rhodes
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