Find and Live Your Purpose

It starts with you and your purpose as a leader. Why do you lead? Why do you do the work you do? If you don't have a purpose you can't share it. I wrote a book, The Seed, about finding your purpose. Josh, the main character, doesn't have a purpose. He meets a farmer who gives him a seed and tells him to find out where to plant the seed. When he finds the right place, he will find his purpose. Josh goes on a journey to plant his seed, ultimately learning that he needs to plant the seed right where he is. He discovers that when you plant yourself where you are and decide to make a difference and live with purpose, your greater purpose starts to reveal itself to you.

Tamika Catchings didn't become one of the all-time great leaders and a WNBA basketball player simply because she worked hard. She became one of the greatest because of her great desire to inspire people and change the world through her sport. Rhonda Revelle didn't win more than 700 games as the softball coach at Nebraska just because she pursued excellence. She did it because she was driven with purpose to make a difference in the lives of her players off and on the field. The research shows that people are most energized when they are using their strengths for a bigger purpose beyond themselves.¹³ I can't tell you what your purpose should be, but I can tell you that every one of us can find a bigger purpose in the job we have. I met a mortgage broker at a conference who told me that her job is to save marriages. “How do you do that?” I asked, wondering how this was possible as a mortgage broker. She said during the great recession we found that if people lost their homes their marriage was more likely to fall apart. “So I made it my mission to help people find ways to keep their home so they can keep their marriage intact.” It's no surprise she was number one in her company. I heard about a janitor who worked at NASA and, even though he was sweeping floors, he felt his bigger purpose was contributing to put a man on the moon. I met a bus driver who knows his purpose was to help kids stay off drugs. I met an administrative assistant who has become the chief energy officer of her company. I met an Atlanta Airport Popeye's Chicken employee named Edith who makes thousands of air travelers smile each day. I know my purpose is to inspire and empower as many people as possible, one person at a time. We are all just ordinary people with the power to live an extraordinary purpose. In any job, your purpose waits for you to find it and live it.

A friend of mine who is a human resources executive at a children's hospital told me that once a week she sits in the lobby of the hospital to see the patients and their families and remind herself why the work she does matters. If she didn't, she said, she would get lost in all of the paperwork, HR issues, and distractions that seem far removed from the core mission of helping to heal children. But by sitting in the lobby and connecting to her purpose, she is able to do those mundane tasks knowing she is contributing to the purpose of the hospital. Your job may not be your ultimate purpose, but through your leadership you can use it to be a vehicle to share your greater purpose. Most of all, remember that if you are a leader, you have a purpose and it's to inspire others to live theirs.

Share the Purpose

When I speak to leaders I encourage them to share a vision and purpose in one statement. I believe they are stronger together. The vision is where you are going. The purpose is why you are going there. Together, they provide you with the fuel you need on your journey. As a leader, one of the most important things you can do is share and remind the people on your team and in your organization of the greater purpose of why you exist. Why are you here? What difference can you make? What legacy will you leave? If vision is the North Star, purpose is the fuel that powers you to follow it. Everyone needs a North Star and everyone needs a bigger and greater purpose. Alan Mulally told me he shared the vision and purpose before every meeting. Steve Jobs may not have been big on positivity, but he was driven with purpose and he shared that purpose with everyone in Apple. The Pittsburgh Pirates told me their purpose is to help their players become better men, and better men become better baseball players. Everyone in the organization knows the purpose and seeks to share it.

Inspire Others to Live Their Purpose

Sharing the purpose is important but it's futile unless it inspires purpose in others. As a leader, you want to share the organizational purpose with the purpose of inspiring others to join the mission and be on a mission. You want to let everyone know why your organization exists and why their work matters. Many think they have to work at a homeless shelter or go to Africa to make a difference. They think they have to find meaning and purpose outside their work. And while it's wonderful if they want to volunteer for a charity or feel called to go on a mission trip, as a leader you want to remind your team that you don't have to go on a mission trip to be on a mission. You can bring your mission, passion, and purpose to the work that you do each day. Tell your people that you may not build libraries around the world, but you can find the bigger purpose in reading to your children. You may not feed the homeless every day, but you can nourish your employees and customers with a smile, kind word, and care. And while you may not start your own nonprofit organization, you can begin a charity initiative at work. After all, charity means “love in action.” You can make a difference every day and touch the lives of everyone you meet. While these people may not be starving because of a lack of food, you can provide them with a different kind of nourishment that will feed their souls and feed your own in the process.

Purpose-Driven Goals

One of the great ways I have discovered to help people to live with purpose is to help them create purpose driven goals. For example, for years I chose Organic Valley milk over other brands in the supermarket. I had no idea why it appealed to me until I spoke at their remote headquarters surrounded by acres of farmland in the middle of Wisconsin. I discovered a company that didn't believe in sales and revenue goals. Of course they forecasted sales for budgetary, planning, and growth purposes, and measured numbers and outcomes, but they did so with the belief that numbers were just a byproduct of how well they were living and sharing their purpose. Instead of focusing on goals with numbers, Organic Valley passionately focused on their purpose-driven goals: providing opportunities for farmers to make a living; sustainability of the land; and providing families with healthy dairy products that were free of hormones and antibiotics. The result: Organic Valley's numbers kept growing and growing. They had a mission people could taste.

While speaking to an NFL team a few years ago, I had each player write their goals on a piece of paper. After a few minutes, I had them rip up the paper they had just written on. (I was inspired by my friend Joshua Medcalf's book Burn Your Goals, but didn't want to be the guy known for causing a fire in an NFL meeting room, so I had them rip up the paper instead.) You could hear the complaints and feel their anger and frustration while they ripped up the paper they had just spent time and energy writing on. I then asked, “How many of you wrote down win a Super Bowl, win x number of games, achieve x number of yards, have x number of interceptions, etc.?”All the hands went up. I told them that every person in every NFL meeting room has the same goals. It's not the goals that will make you successful. Otherwise everyone and every team would be successful after writing down their goals. Instead, it's your commitment to the process, your growth and your purpose that drives you to reach these goals that will determine what you accomplish. I then had them write down their commitments and purpose for playing and had them share with the rest of the team. It was powerful.

The truth is that numbers and goals don't drive people. People with a purpose drive the numbers and achieve goals. Research clearly shows that true motivation is driven by meaning and purpose rather than extrinsic rewards, numbers, and goals. A study of West Point alums showed that those who had intrinsic goals, “I want to serve my country and make a difference” outperformed those with extrinsic goals “I want to rise in the ranks and become an officer because it's prestigious.” Goals may motivate you in the short term but they will not sustain you over time.¹⁴ Without a good reason to keep moving forward during challenges, you either quit or go through the motions.

Now this doesn't mean you shouldn't measure numbers or have goals. You need to measure the numbers. In many cases you need to have revenue targets. Numbers are to your purpose what a scale and measuring tape are to a diet. It's in indicator of how you are doing. In the case of Ford, Alan Mually had clear performance goals that were a key part of the plan and process. Every organization wants to surpass last year's number. Every nonprofit wants to help more people. Every school wants to empower more children. Every hospital wants to reduce patient deaths and save more lives. It's great to have a goal you want to achieve, but once you identify a goal or outcome, you will be more powerful and energized if you are tapping into a bigger purpose in order to reach your numbers and goals. Your greater purpose will lead to greater performance! Yes, count the fruit, but know it's just a byproduct of how well you are nurturing the root. Purpose-driven goals sell more milk, win more games, enhance performance, and lead to outcomes that far surpass your numbered goals alone.

One Word

A powerful and practical way to live with purpose throughout the year is to pick a word for the year that will inspire you to live with more meaning and mission, passion and purpose. My friends Dan Britton and Jimmy Page have been doing this for over 20 years, and the words they choose each year have shaped and inspired their lives in many ways. About six years ago, they told me how each year they, along with their family members, pick a word and, on New Year's Eve, each member of their family makes a painting of their word. They put the paintings in the kitchen as a reminder to live their word. I thought it was really powerful and started doing it as well with my family, and then shared the idea with the various leaders and teams I worked with. It was catalytic and life changing. Leaders shared words with me like, “love” and “dream” and “invest” and “go” and “execute” and “fearless” and “life” and “relationships.” Dabo Swinney even said in the interview immediately after winning the National Championship, “My word all year was love and I told my team that their love for each other was going to make the difference.” It's an idea that has taken off and now hundreds and thousands of leaders and their teams pick a word each year to inspire them at work and home. Hendrick Auto even created a one-word car in their headquarters with all the words of all the employees on the car. When employees walk into the building they see their words and are reminded to live them. I've also had schools make one-word t-shirts and create one-world walls, and businesses and hospitals post words in meeting rooms and offices. When speaking about this idea, I ask people to pick a word but also to identify why they choose it. It's the why behind the word that gives it meaning and makes it a powerful, purpose producer. It's also a powerful exercise for leaders to do with their teams. Imagine if you and everyone you work with had a word for the year and truly lived it. How much more powerful would you be? How much of a greater impact would you make?

Life Word

In addition to choosing a word for the year I also encourage leaders to select a Life Word. When the One Word concept took off, Dan, Jimmy, and I, kept talking about ways to leave a greater legacy. While engaged in a meaningful conversation one day, we asked each other, “What word would you put on your tombstone?” We found it was a totally different thought process than coming up with a yearly word. Dan chose passion. Jimmy chose inspire. And I said positive because I know it's my life's work and legacy. Then we wondered what words would capture the essence and legacy of some of history's heroes. Perhaps Abraham Lincoln's Life Word would have been unity. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s, equality. Mother Teresa's compassion, Susan B. Anthony's vote. We realized that if we could help people identify their Life Word, it would inspire them to live their highest purpose and leave their greatest legacy. We have taken a bunch of leaders through the process of finding a word for the year and a Life Word, and it has been exponentially purposeful and powerful. Think of each yearly word as a chapter in a book, and your Life Word as the book's title. Together, they help you define and write your life's story and leave and share your greatest legacy.

Leave a Legacy

Researchers conducted a study and they asked a group of 95-year-olds if they could live their lives over again, what they would do differently. The three things that almost all of them said were:

1. They would reflect more. They would enjoy more moments, more sunrises, more sunsets, more moments of joy.
2. They would have taken more risks and chances. Life is too short not to go for it.
3. They would have left a legacy, something that would have lived on after they die.¹⁵

The most important legacies you will leave as a leader are people and a world that have been impacted by your leadership, life, and presence. To live a life of purpose, think about how you want to be remembered. Think about what legacy you want to leave, because knowing how you want to be remembered helps you decide how to live and lead today.

Tim Tebow is a great example of someone who is living his life to leave a legacy. He could just be enjoying his celebrity but instead he's using his fame and life to make a difference in the world through The Tim Tebow Foundation. Tebow told me that when he was cut from the Broncos, Eagles, and Jets, he didn't let it shake him because his identity was rooted in something much greater than being a football player. He knew his life's work wasn't just to be a great athlete but also to be a game changer in life, and a life changer for others. Most people know him as a Heisman Trophy winner pursuing his dream of being an NFL quarterback, but what they don't know is that he's building greatness by providing orphans in four countries with medicine, food, clothing, education, and housing. Through his foundation, he builds Timmy's Playrooms in children's hospitals, and provides medical care to countless children who can't afford it through his Tebow Cure Hospital in the Philippines. His foundation also creates an unforgettable prom night experience, A Night to Shine, for teenagers with special needs. The teenagers, who have to be 14 and older, walk into the event on a red carpet while the crowd cheers as they enter the building. Inside they are treated like kings and queens, with hair and makeup stations, encouragement and love, and a fun night of dancing! Tebow Time used to mean Tebow making plays on the field to help his team win, but now it's all about Tebow using his time on earth to leave a legacy for others.

Give People Great Stories to Tell

Lisa Rose, the creator of First Fridays in Dallas, met a woman named Deborah Lyons, who had created a program to help women and children in abusive relationships to leave the situation and become independent. Deborah had the program but needed the resources and a location to make it happen. So Lisa recruited her husband Matt, the executive chairman of BNSF Railway, to join her in this mission. Together they raised enough money to build The Gatehouse, consisting of 96 luxurious apartments on 60 acres of land in Grapevine, Texas, where they house, feed, encourage, mentor, counsel, and invest in women and their children who are escaping abusive situations. Residents, who are called members, have to work in jobs outside the community while living there, as they learn to provide for themselves, save money, and live independently. The average stay is about two years. Lisa said it's a place and a program for permanent change. “Everything we do is designed to provide them with a safe and comfortable place and then our program is designed to help them grow and create permanent change in their lives. It's not a shelter. It's a community. It's not a hand out. It's a hand up.” I asked her if she modeled it after another program and she said, “There was nothing like it, so we had to create the model.” They don't seek government funding. They raise all the money from businesses and private donors.

When Lisa showed me around the community, the education center, the chapel, the general store, the walking trails, and so on, she shared how they were currently raising an endowment that would help fund their yearly budget to ensure that The Gatehouse would continue long after she and Matt were gone. I was blown away. They are not only investing their lives to help people, but they are making sure they will still be making a difference after their death. When I left The Gatehouse, humbled by the experience, I couldn't help but think of all the children and future children living there and how, when they are older, they'll be telling their children stories about how Lisa, Matt, Deborah, and The Gatehouse changed the course of their lives. You won't live forever, but your impact on others lives on after you are gone. You don't have to build a physical community like Lisa, Matt, and Deborah, but you can create a community wherever you are. One's legacy is carried on through love shared, lives touched, and stories told. The people you lead will be telling stories about you years from now. You can't escape it. They will be telling stories, so give people great stores to tell about you.

Life and Death

Nothing clarifies your purpose like a near-death experience. I don't recommend one, but it does work. A few years ago my family and I were on a plane from LAX Los Angeles heading to Atlanta. Shortly after taking off and soaring above 10,000 feet, the plane abruptly slowed down and the power went out as the pilot spoke over the sound system, “We're experiencing a mechanical failure and heading back for an emergency landing.” The next moment the plane descended so rapidly that my head hurt and I thought we were going down. I looked at my wife and son, who were sitting to the left and a few rows back because we couldn't get seats together, and I saw the fear in my wife's eyes. I grabbed my daughter's hand as she sat in the seat directly in front of me.

This can't be happening, I thought. We're not ready to die. I still have three more books that I know I'm meant to write (this being one of them). A few minutes later, the plane leveled off as I watched off-duty airline employees, who were sitting in passenger seats, get up and run to the back of the plane. The pilot announced that we were going to make the emergency landing and to brace for impact. He said there would be emergency vehicles there to meet us and that the flight attendants were trained on what to do when we landed. While everything seemed eerily calm and quiet, I couldn't stop thinking about the plane catching on fire or splitting in two when we landed. Miraculously and thankfully, we made a safe landing. The pilot said there was a fire in one of the engines, so he descended rapidly to extinguish the fire in the same way that one breathes to blow out a candle.

When we walked off the plane, my 14-year-old son put his arm around me and said, “God's not done with us yet. It means we have more work to do.” He was right. I left that experience more inspired than ever to live my purpose and leave a legacy with my life. I had more work to do and, if you are reading this, so do you. As a leader, you have more people to inspire, help, encourage, mentor, love, serve, and care for. You have more teams to lead and more people to impact. You have a world to change because the world needs a leader like you to change it.