This month, we continue with the Why–What–How rhythm of stewarding Good Place organizations, focusing on the Why. The Why determines our purpose, or why something exists, and ultimately informs the What and motivates the How.
I recently attended a large gathering of leaders to celebrate leadership and impact. After the event, I couldn’t help but leave the gathering a little sad. Among the very positive topics of the event, a main focus was the purpose of leadership. And, true to form, the infamous topic that seems to resonate throughout these types of gatherings (i.e., leadership events, motivational speakers, etc.) focuses on the “why.”
In this case, the question for the room was, “What is your why?”
That sounds like an awesomely profound question. It was shared that we needed to look inside ourselves to “find our why” or “find our purpose.” Then, for the rest of our lives, we are to focus on it, pursue it, find a job that supports it, etc. Even though our “why” may change with new seasons or experiences, it should be something found within.
Simon Sinek commercialized the idea of “starting with why.” I love this concept. However, it isn’t a new concept—it’s a Biblical concept, which is where it came from over 2000 years ago. We should completely buy into it… depending on where the “why” comes from and who defines it.
At the conclusion of the gathering, the audience was left with the idea that you need to look inside yourself to define your purpose. This idea of purpose resonates with me often and always leads to a few questions. First, who has the authority to define purpose in the first place? For an object, the creator, inventor, or designer gets to define its purpose as they are the ones who created and designed it. In our case—for us as people, human beings—who gets to define our purpose? Is it us, the “object” that has been created and designed? Or is it the Divine Creator, Designer, and Architect? In Christian words, is it the “Potter” or the “Clay”?
The Bible shares that we were created in God’s image with a specific purpose and design. Yes, God has a purpose for which every human being was designed to fulfill. God, the Creator, Designer, and Architect, created us with a purpose and gave us all the resources, such as time, talent, treasure, opportunities, contexts, circumstances, etc., to fulfill it. There may, however, be different “sub-purposes” to this God-given primary purpose. Perhaps that was what the group was talking about.
This idea applies not only to a leader’s Why but also to an organization’s Why.
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