Myths: Your business is your purpose
“Everyone who works at Facebook has the same purpose. That’s why they work here.”
This statement had me stumped. It was one of the more bizarre things I’ve heard when meeting senior leaders of successful brands to talk to them about how culture helps them grow. I was pretty excited about meeting Facebook folk, and I guess I had a set of expectations of how they would see culture.
“But you don’t work here because you have the same purpose as this company” I replied. “Of course I do!” she quickly retorted.
I had peeked into the history of this individual’s career via her carefully curated LinkedIn profile, and I knew that she hadn’t always existed to make the world more open and connected (Facebook’s stated purpose). In the same way that when her Facebook colleague Sheryl Sandberg had started her career at a desk at the US Treasury, her own purpose certainly wasn’t to connect people. Employees spend only an average of 2.02 years at Facebook. When they move on, they don’t take Facebook’s purpose with them.
We each have our own purpose.
Let’s be clear — people can choose to work for you because of why you’re in business, but your company does not become their reason for being. Employees will buy in to what your business does when your collective culture authentically lives your organisational purpose and values. Very few (hopefully none) will tattoo your logo on their foreheads.
Founders often hold two beliefs about people that work for them: you’re here because you’re passionate about how we’re “making the world a better place”, or you’re here for a paycheque.
It’s a classic mistake made in every sector, and rife amongst non-profits. You’re there to fulfil the mission, so in doing so you must be fulfilled. By creating impact for the greater good, you will self-actualize and you have no need for recognition, fair pay, personal development or to work in an inspiring environment that encourages your wellbeing.
For startups and unicorns, it’s a similar beast in a different guise. In devoting everything you have to our mission, in becoming one of us, your material dreams will come true. You’re here to work hard — harder than you’ve ever worked before. So we have free lunch, slides, bean bags and drinks on a Friday to help you numb the pain of feeling like a slave to your share options.
This is purpose manipulation. I believe that people should love their work. This love does not extend to blind devotion that strips people of their identity.
We all want meaningful work (not just the “millennials”). But what I’ve come to know is that what people really need is to feel valued at work. They want to know that their contribution is important. They want to be seen and have feedback so that they can do an even better job — to be proud of what they have created. And they want to do that in an environment that supports them to learn and grow.
To feel truly valued, we must know our own value. In doing so, the feedback we receive should be in context with our personal goals and values. This feedback will propel is forward. Anything else becomes noise that is discounted and useless for our growth.
Here’s where personal purpose comes in. Knowing our purpose helps us to understand the specific role we want to play in making an impact that is important to us. It’s our greatest intention, which we drive forward through our values and beliefs that we hold about the world.
If we really want our business to be in flow, we must understand the personal goals and the impacts that our people want to personally make in the world. Our role as leaders is to help the individual put those goals in context with our business.
This leaves founders in a difficult place. Many think that since they created their business, their business must be their purpose. Believing this is a root cause of founder’s syndrome, where the entrepreneur’s identity is so dysfunctionally entwined with their business that they lose their own sense of identity. Their company becomes them, making it impossible for them to separate themselves from the decisions made in their business. The shadow side of meaningful work is the slippery slope where work becomes our only perceived reason for existing.
Leaders must encourage their employees to find their own purpose and use it as a way to navigate their career. They should also know that doing so can be very difficult for people, and that “ finding purpose” is not a task of writing something down on a personal development plan. In fact “looking” to find purpose can be a disaster — as Eat Pray Love author Elizabeth Gilbert once said:
“If you let go of your search for passion and follow your curiosity, your curiosity might just lead you to your passion.”
Purpose is a journey of clarity in who you are, belief in yourself, and confidence to grow. Imagine the potential of a business who encourages every member of its team to find their own purpose?
