By Krishna C. Kalva
I came across this thought-provoking statement while watching an inspirational video and made me think: “Find your purpose” as you explore a path in choosing a job or career.
The speaker in the video was giving a speech to graduating students who were about to begin their professional lives. The key message from the speech was to create a purpose-driven journey that acts as a guiding force in making the experience meaningful and rewarding.
Isn’t this message relevant for our personal and professional lives? The unique experiences we encounter in life help us in choosing a path and, with the help of these experiences, our careers and jobs are fulfilled. The rewards we harvest from our purpose driven journeys are encouraging and it makes the whole experience meaningful. The main challenge is to identify our true purpose as we embark on our journeys.
What’s It All About?
It is important for us to understand the meaning of purpose. Purpose is the reason for which something is done or created or executed. It is guiding force behind making life decisions, influencing behaviors and shaping goals. If one puts this in context to our business world, an approach driven by purpose has the potential to bring people closer and collectively achieve the desired business results.
Purpose offers greater visibility and authenticity for individuals to follow through with perseverance in handling any given situation. By seeking to find purpose, one tends to introspect and enter a space of awareness. In the space of awareness, one obtains greater clarity on the vision through inner guidance. With the inner guidance at disposal, it will strengthen us to handle any external visiting forces in our minds.
Creating a Framework
As we introspect, we start to question the status quo and create a framework on how to improve the situation by finding insightful answers. Creating a framework helps in exploring all the required parameters to improve the given situation.
Some of the parameters of the framework include asking the right questions, involving the right people and analyzing the causes and external conditions. This will help us systematically capture all the important details. The details captured can be used to discuss the motivations and intentions behind each activity that is part of the framework.
Once the actions required to support each activity are clear and aligned, it will directly lead us toward identifying the true purpose and become successful.
In the business world, it is important for organizations to define their strategic priorities and effectively communicate the purpose. This will help in creating and environment of trust and commitment to achieve the desired results. A purpose driven strategic priority has greater impact on the individual, organization, and our community.
Wrapping Up
I want to take your attention back to the original idea, finding purpose. It is important for individuals and organizations to identify and internalize the greater purpose they are trying to communicate. As we collectively work toward a meaningful activity, we create an environment that is inclusive and purposeful.
To conclude, purpose is the outcome derived by indulging in a process of introspection and self-reflection leading us into the space of awareness. Once the desired outcome is clear, we shift our perspective by choosing a path of service that enhances our jobs and careers, thus making the experience meaningful.
Krishna C. Kalva is learning solution manager at Siemens Healthineers. Email him at krishnachaitanya.kalva@siemens-healthineers.com.
