What on Earth is Purpose?

00:00:01: Question.

00:00:02: If you were offered a job that you consider more meaningful, how much of a pay cut would you accept?

00:00:21: Hello and welcome to this episode!

00:00:26: This usually comes from putting a value like money on something that's hard to measure and even harder to define.

00:00:50: Please hold their attention a little longer because when we talk about purpose, We rarely speak of the same thing – we mix individual with business perspective And many think Purpose is about idealistic missions reserved for non-profit organizations or founders with visionary ideas.

00:01:09: It's not!

00:01:10: The purpose of any business is the value it brings to people its serves.

00:01:15: Creating a product or service that solves problems, developing technology that extends our capabilities entertaining people and bringing joy into their lives.

00:01:26: These are real-business purposes not idealistic missions.

00:01:30: Profit is what a business usually makes when it serves its purpose well.

00:01:35: For company this means purpose has to be real And it has to be translated into work.

00:01:41: people can connect.

00:01:43: Of course, that's harder the bigger an organization gets.

00:01:46: complexity hierarchy and segmentation of work break connection between what they do and value create.

00:01:55: Leaders have to rebuild it and connect why a company exists with how works get done and what is meant achieve.

00:02:02: That connection shapes whether work carries meaning or just tasks.

00:02:08: It brings purpose and direction together.

00:02:10: Because purpose without direction is like having a great idea, And no plan for how to bring it into life!

00:02:17: While direction without purpose Is the execution of a task with no sense Of what its'for'.

00:02:23: So today's about both building The line-of-sight that makes purpose real... ...and giving the kind of direction That guides people To do their best work Together.

00:02:33: they're one of the most important but also challenging leadership responsibilities.

00:02:38: And looking at day-to-day work from many managers, I'm wondering how much we really invest in this?

00:02:45: When i talk to people about their work... ...I often get a feeling that something's missing.

00:02:50: They can tell me exactly what they do But when asked how it connects with bigger picture and value company brings.. ..they often stumble.

00:02:59: The people who talk most about purpose tend to be founders, CEOs and people who turn their passion into a living.

00:03:07: Are they the only ones that care?

00:03:09: Psychology says no.

00:03:11: Seeking purpose is part of human nature And it shapes far more than how we feel our work on Monday morning.

00:03:18: People with strong sense of purpose are consistently found live longer.

00:03:24: This has been researched across large populations over decades.

00:03:28: Think about how much time we spend at work.

00:03:32: Whether that work drains us or sustains us, reaches into our health and into how long we live.

00:03:38: Organizational psychology explains the implications for business.

00:03:43: Purpose drives engagement.

00:03:45: Engagement drives performance.

00:03:47: So whether it impacts people AND business isn't really a question anymore.

00:03:52: And yet for many its still a philosophical buzzword Hard to define hard-to measure and even harder to translate.

00:04:00: Which is why it usually lives on posters & company websites, And rarely in the reality of how organizations work.

00:04:08: Maybe The following glimpse into management history explains Why?

00:04:12: Let's look at two its most prominent thinkers.

00:04:15: You almost certainly know first name Peter Drucker.

00:04:18: I talked about him before In The Lazy Human.

00:04:21: He's often called the father of modern management, and credited with turning it into a serious teachable discipline.

00:04:28: What is less known is that although he presented himself as a highly rational thinker... ...he was strongly influenced by philosophy, ethics & humanism.

00:04:38: When Drucker looked at a company….

00:04:40: …he didn't see it as machine for producing output!

00:04:43: He did not describe management as the discipline of squeezing efficiency.. ..and productivity in every part of human work.

00:04:50: Instead, he saw an institution made of people and the work of management to be guiding them so they could do their best work.

00:04:58: His original idea of Management by Objectives published in nineteen fifty-four reflected this quite well connect each person's objectives To The Purpose Of The Whole.

00:05:10: Help Them See How Their Part Serves The Larger Why And Then Trust Them To Manage Themselves Towards It.

00:05:17: He defined the concept as practices that give people clear objectives and allow for self-control.

00:05:24: But it never became known as management by objectives AND self control.

00:05:30: In Drucker's sense, Self Control wasn't about willpower.

00:05:34: It meant governing our own work Steering towards goals By ourselves.

00:05:39: Most call is self direction or self management today.

00:05:43: Now one might think The second part was cut to make the concept sound better, but it wasn't about the name.

00:05:50: How the concept got translated in business reflected the beliefs that most organizations held at that time and many still hold today.

00:05:58: People need to be managed measured and controlled to perform.

00:06:02: If you were ever given any objectives with no idea what they are for.

00:06:07: That's where comes from Taylorism, with its separation of thinking and doing had shaped generations of managers.

00:06:15: And the way they were trained.

00:06:17: so for most management by objectives became targets set from above controlling output in people performance measures placed wherever possible.

00:06:27: Management was turned into structures rules and mechanics So it could be applied to People The Way It Was Applied To Industrial Production.

00:06:35: Why?

00:06:36: because it gives us a sense of control, and its the easier part.

00:06:40: Easier to teach ,to learn & deliver.

00:06:43: The part that got left behind is harder one.

00:06:47: Relational and Transnational work.

00:06:49: The ongoing effort building an environment where people can see how their world connects with bigger picture and steer themselves towards self-direction is not character trait or something you order.

00:07:02: People can only manage their work when they understand what it's for, What their responsibilities and contributions are.

00:07:08: And When They Feel Capable Of Doing It!

00:07:11: It is what makes self-management possible.

00:07:14: Drucker gave a clear warning that management isn't just tools & techniques for execution.

00:07:20: He stressed self direction as an integral part of management by objectives.

00:07:25: Still...it was left aside…and the concept turned into control tool.

00:07:30: Now here's the second part of this story.

00:07:32: Around that same time, a Second Man was working on the same question What does good and effective management look like?

00:07:40: His name is William Edward Stemming.

00:07:42: Unlike Drucker he mostly ignored in US around nineteen fifty when American companies weren't interested in his thinking.

00:07:50: He went where people would listen Post-war Japan A country rebuilding from almost nothing.

00:07:57: There, he taught a generation of managers that quality wasn't an outcome of control but something to achieve through how an organization was run and how the people inside it were treated.

00:08:09: The Japanese listened.

00:08:11: what followed became one of the great industrial transformations of this century.

00:08:15: Japanese products become known for their great quality value-for money especially cars which explains why Ford is first US company to reach out to Deming.

00:08:26: after Japanese carmakers had taken a substantial market share.

00:08:30: By the early eighties, The company was losing billions.

00:08:33: Poor quality and high fuel consumption made their customers look for alternatives.

00:08:38: When they consulted him Ford managers were surprised that Deming barely mentioned Quality.

00:08:44: He talked about management And he told them That overwhelming majority of problems by his estimate around eighty five percent weren't caused by workers on production line.

00:08:56: He said they were caused by the environment that management had built around them.

00:09:00: Now think about last time something went wrong in your organization, where did management look first?

00:09:07: By adopting Deming's principles Ford became most profitable car company in America within five years.

00:09:14: so what are these principles?

00:09:16: when you read today?

00:09:18: all fourteen are still highly relevant but there are five I want to highlight removing fear working towards continuous improvement, cultivating the value and results of cooperation and collaboration.

00:09:33: Creating opportunities for continued lifelong learning –and the most telling one– transforming managers into

00:09:40: leaders.".

00:09:42: That transformation meant seeing the role leadership as a responsibility toward people….

00:09:48: …as serving them to do their best work!

00:09:51: When Deming's principles finally reached a Western audience, some read him as Drucker's opponent because by then he openly rejected management by objectives.

00:10:02: But what he rejected wasn't Drucker original idea – He rejected what it had become the hollowed version of Management By Numbers.

00:10:11: Interestingly The two men were never on opposite sides.

00:10:15: Druckers' management by Objectives got stripped off an essential part.

00:10:19: Deming was ignored until the value of his work became visible in an entirely different country and culture.

00:10:26: The part they both pointed at, –the leadership-work–was simply not given the focus it deserved.

00:10:32: Management by numbers and corresponding frameworks tried to make managing people easy & measurable.

00:10:39: They did so by continuing to treat us like cocks on a machine.

00:10:43: But let's move past history and look at the state today.

00:10:48: What are the reports saying?

00:10:50: Engagement is at an all-time low across the globe.

00:10:53: We hear every day how replaceable we are, trust in leadership is in decline.

00:10:58: Does this say that we've become much better at connecting work with meaning and giving people guidance instead of controlling them?

00:11:06: For many work feels transactional because we still make it transactional.

00:11:10: Despite people seeking meaningful work wanting to be appreciated for the value they bring We're still treating them like any other resource, something to be used a cost-to-be optimized and managed efficiently.

00:11:26: And for some companies ideally replaced by AI.

00:11:29: that's the extraction logic running entire industries.

00:11:34: consulting company McKinsey asked people whether they are finding purpose in their day.

00:11:39: today work only fifteen percent of front line managers.

00:11:43: an employees said yes.

00:11:45: Among executives and upper management, it was above eighty percent.

00:11:50: Doesn't this read like purpose is just another benefit for the top one that thins out further down the line?

00:11:57: In the beginning I asked how much of a pay cut you would accept for more meaningful work.

00:12:02: did You come up with a number most people do when researchers ask This question?

00:12:08: People said they Would be willing to give Up close To third Of their salary For Work That Felt Meaningful.

00:12:14: A third, just think about that.

00:12:16: We can name a price for purpose although we cannot measure it which is why it keeps getting ignored.

00:12:22: yet we all know how it feels when its gone.

00:12:25: When our work starts to feel meaningless Shouldn't this finally tell us that Purpose was never nice-to have or luxury reserved for few?

00:12:34: When most people seek meaningful work and say It's big part of where their personal sense of purpose comes from The key questions are Why are fewer employees finding it at work?

00:12:45: Who and what is supposed to carry through an organization.

00:12:49: How do we build the connection between business, individual purpose?

00:12:54: certainly not by announcing in town halls or printing employee handbooks.

00:12:59: Individual Purpose differs from what an organisation is aiming for but that doesn't mean they don't connect.

00:13:07: And That Connection can be made in most jobs Not just a few.

00:13:11: Adam Grant gave us one of the best examples.

00:13:14: In two thousand seven he studied a university call center.

00:13:18: The people there called alumni to ask for donations that fund scholarships.

00:13:23: Highly repetitive work with constant rejection, but kind-of job that drains people fast.

00:13:29: So what did they do?

00:13:31: He split people into groups and For One he only changed small thing And Called it A Purpose Intervention.

00:13:39: Grant let the callers in this group spend a few minutes with a student who had received one of those scholarships.

00:13:46: That was the whole change!

00:13:47: They weren't given any new tactics, no new targets or incentives – all they got were connection to someone their work served.

00:13:56: and what's the outcome?

00:13:58: Weeks later people here spent more than twice as long on phone raising far-more money even for highly repetitive call center jobs.

00:14:08: Building the connection had a significant impact.

00:14:12: Raising money was just to go!

00:14:14: Helping people who couldn't afford tuition, Was The Purpose.

00:14:17: But he is an important distinction.

00:14:19: Adam Grant didn't hand those callers their purpose.

00:14:22: He built A Connection by giving them something To make sense of….

00:14:27: The Intervention helped Them find meaning in what they did Which means we can't project Purpose onto someone... The Important Part Alita has to understand is that there are two different acts coming together.

00:14:39: The first is leadership work, taking the organization's purpose and translating it into something people can connect their work to.

00:14:49: Researchers call this sense-giving.

00:14:51: Leaders aren't handing people purpose – we're giving them a line of sight on who or what they're working for.

00:14:58: The second act is individuals' work — its responsibility to take information from it.

00:15:06: That is called sense-making, and no leader can do it for someone else.

00:15:11: But the part we CAN provide IS THE TRANSLATIONAL AND RELATIONAL WORK Carrying the purpose of a business through to work.

00:15:19: our team is translational.

00:15:21: Connecting with people & their desire To find meaning in what they DO Is relational.

00:15:26: McKinsey also looked at where People Find Meaning In Their Work.

00:15:30: They found five key sources And people Can draw from more than one.

00:15:35: For some, it's serving customers well.

00:15:38: For others – It is the team they work with.

00:15:41: People also connect to mission of company.

00:15:44: Others look for social impact And many its about personal growth.

00:15:49: The different sources tell us that we cannot guess which one matters for person in front.

00:15:54: We have talk people find out.

00:15:57: Now as mentioned earlier purpose only half works.

00:16:01: Direction other half Purpose and direction are meant to go hand-in-hand, but in many organizations they don't.

00:16:09: And direction often continues to live in command & control.

00:16:13: only now it's done through KPIs and dashboards targets set from above reporting cycles and numbers to hit.

00:16:20: Unsurprisingly that is not meaningful for most people and both Drucker and Deming warned about metrics obsession.

00:16:29: Peter Drucker never said what cannot be measured can't be managed.

00:16:33: It's a false quote turned into business myth, a misreading of his work because he actually argued was almost the opposite.

00:16:42: He said many things that matter for success.

00:16:46: like people development and health are exactly the thing we really cant measure.

00:16:56: The men who warned us not to let the measurable crowd out meaningful got turned into a phase of measure-everything management.

00:17:05: And today, some companies are taking that logic about as far it can go – recording every keystroke and action people take on their computers to capture exactly how work is done…and use for training AI instead!

00:17:22: Think what this means?

00:17:23: Everyone's reduced to a pattern of actions detailed enough to be copied.

00:17:29: Humans turned into the blueprint for their own

00:17:31: replacement.".

00:17:33: Deming equally warned about this logic, he said not to reduce people what we can count.

00:17:39: so giving direction is something different.

00:17:42: it's leadership work that serves employees self-management helping them see how they achieve goals set right priorities agreeing on good outcomes look like matching their strengths and what they care about to the work.

00:17:58: That's leadership work, and it clearly requires time!

00:18:02: If leaders spend most of day in meetings have run reports or produce slide decks that time is missing.

00:18:09: It's why so many managers default on command-and-control.

00:18:13: None of this is a personal failing – its simply what we're trained to do.

00:18:18: Thats efficiency bias management because it costs us less time to set a target than to guide someone towards achieving it.

00:18:27: It's less effort to track what a person produces, then know them well enough to build their capabilities and its easier to pass the report up the chain that translate direction of company into meaningful work.

00:18:42: but just becaus we can do.

00:18:43: management efficiently doesn't mean effective leadership.

00:18:47: Setting targets tracking output passing reports, all of it can be done without really seeing and leading a single person.

00:18:56: It's the work that should worry any manager today because that is definitely something AI can take over.

00:19:03: but before we get to AI there are one more reason for connection between purpose and direction.

00:19:09: Edward DC & Richard Ryan spent decades studying what people need to be motivated from inside.

00:19:15: Their work on self-determination theory explains how people do their best work when three needs are met.

00:19:22: First, we need to feel capable that we can actually do the work and know how to get there.

00:19:28: second We need to Feel connected to others into something larger.

00:19:33: third We need a sense of ownership over How?

00:19:36: Do our work?

00:19:38: it still strikes me how much we invest in hiring smart People And then treat them as if they don't know how to deliver their work.

00:19:46: How many people do you know who say, oh!

00:19:49: I love being told what to do every day?

00:19:52: Still micromanagement is one of the most mentioned negative behaviors when people talk about bad leadership.

00:19:59: Management by numbers is easy.

00:20:01: Guidance is a part that requires us focus on people.

00:20:05: it also starts with translation Taking bigger goals and turning them into doable, meaningful work that matches the skills of your team.

00:20:14: When everyone has a clear understanding of The What we can leave the How to Them Clarity on the destination Freedom On the path People often fail to understand That micromanagement isn't just A bad management style or personality flaw.

00:20:30: It's a symptom Of fear.

00:20:32: Just picture the following requests.

00:20:34: Please copy me on that email.

00:20:36: Let's add a quick check-in tomorrow morning.

00:20:39: Send me the deck before it goes out, just to be on the safe

00:20:42: side.".

00:20:43: None of those requests is unreasonable in its own but taken together and done continuously they read like manager can't tell whether work going well unless they checked what happening.

00:20:56: most people would say know someone that almost nobody thinks are person?

00:21:02: A lot of the people who micromanage do it because they either have no time or don't know how to give direction.

00:21:09: They haven't translated The Bigger Goal, there's no clarity on what good looks like – they didn't explain where people are free to decide and why they need to align with others… And they haven't matched capabilities in their team well enough for work that needs to be delivered!

00:21:24: This is How Managers Lose Their Sense Of Control …They Check On Everything & Everyone To Get It Back.

00:21:31: If they invested that time in giving direction, They wouldn't need the level of control.

00:21:36: They would have built a trust That lets people manage themselves.

00:21:40: Purpose and Direction are Trust Building Practices.

00:21:44: They're kind leadership work That can be substituted by any management framework.

00:21:50: Dashboards on KPIs don't establish that trust People do.

00:21:55: Now With AI, we're given the most powerful technology to actually free humans from meaningless work.

00:22:01: But here's where I see the biggest risk.

00:22:04: Drop such a powerful tool into an organization that already runs purpose as a statement on a slide... ...that gives direction through metrics and dashboards only….

00:22:14: …and AI becomes management mechanics on steroids A faster way to set targets in measure output An accelerated numbers game the opportunity to get rid of people and work having lead them well.

00:22:28: That logic won't change unless mindset changes.

00:22:32: If People are seen as a cost to optimize, And Work is an output to extract AI just runs that logic at speed.

00:22:39: no human manager ever could.

00:22:41: Which makes AI adoption stress test for any organization.

00:22:46: Because technology doesn't decide whether human works stays meaningful.

00:22:50: We Decide Companies that run on the belief, people are reason their business exists will see AI as an extension of human capabilities.

00:23:00: So it all comes down to how we use and the right mindset because better our tools get more matters.

00:23:08: asking what human work is for where real value sits and meaning in life.

00:23:15: Those questions always matter.

00:23:17: AI just makes them important answer.

00:23:20: Now before we close, think of one person you lead.

00:23:24: Maybe someone who doesn't show the highest level of engagement?

00:23:28: Could they tell you in their own words why there work matters?

00:23:32: Do you know how they find meaning and what they do.

00:23:35: if The answer to both is yes You've been doing the harder work all along And I hope this episode was able to show you Why it's so valuable.

00:23:45: If you aren't really sure It's something to check ask your team.

00:23:49: The gap to close is between giving people tasks and goals, And giving them something they can make sense of.

00:23:56: Let me finish today with a short story.

00:23:59: It's the one Peter Drucker also shared in his book.

00:24:02: A traveler comes across three stone cutters at work.

00:24:06: He stops and asks the first What are you doing?

00:24:17: I'm doing the best job of stone cutting in the entire county.

00:24:21: When he asks The Third, the man stops looks up at him with a visionary gleam in his eye and says... Same work three different answers.

00:24:33: We all have a different perspective on our work And the meaning of it in our lives.

00:24:38: Translating purpose into meaningful work is the difference between people feeling like they're just cutting stone or building a cathedral.

00:24:48: And the way we direct people is the difference between management and leadership.

00:24:53: That's it for today.

00:24:54: In The Reflection episode, We'll take purpose in direction into practice.

00:24:59: Stay curious!

00:25:01: Stay tuned.

00:25:02: Thanks for tuning-in to New Work Playbook Where work gets better because People Matter.