Working On Purpose

Many people understand purpose existing for people as an on/off switch – either you’ve discovered it for yourself or you haven’t. Yet, there is so much more to purpose, which has been described as occurring as four distinct stages expressing wildly different levels of impact. Further, purpose exists in human beings, companies, institutions, and nations. This episode takes a deep dive into purpose and its expressional impact, and explores its potential in a self-aware cosmos that is ever evolving.

It is hard to argue in today’s fluid workplace against the need for ongoing learning and development, constantly gaining new skills and stoking the ability to innovate and handle change. Some organizations are masters at providing professional development opportunities better that offer various ways to consume the content to maximize the learning experience and application ideas. This episode showcases how Cornerstone League stayed agile during the COVID pandemic to innovate novel ways to engage members with fresh content created from evolving societal and workplace needs for a vibrant learning environment for all.

Effective leaders know the value of ongoing learning and receiving mentorship and support from others. In this episode, we learn from the CEO of NAFCU about why emotional intelligence is critical as a servant leader in today, some of his recommended hiring and managing practices that fly in the face of many companies, and the importance of guarding and nurturing culture while stoking the communication channels to steward the workforce during the trying pandemic times.

Two of the biggest aspects that hold people back from pursuing their biggest, best life are their self-confidence and fear. The question is, will you learn to develop and harness those concerns in life to fuel your pursuit of your dreams, or will you let them hold you back and rob you of a fulfilling and impactful life? In this episode, we talk with Renee Cermak about the importance of stewarding our self-esteem and what she’s learned in two decades to help people realize their potential.

When John Baker was considering what to do for work, he asked himself, what’s the most important problem in the world I can help solve. The answer was how people learn, which led to founding D2L 20 years ago. Today, he’s out to upskill the workplace to raise the talents of humans working alongside technology and work strategically to re-start the economy in the pandemic era.

The power of a sincere “thank you”: Priceless. Everyone wants to know they matter and the work they do makes a difference. What if all your leaders could show they care for their team members? And what if you had a way to systematize appreciation across your entire organization, with everyone being able to express their gratitude for others? Learn how employee recognition can be implemented, scaled and unleashed to power engagement, connection and retention.

We can learn surprising things about ourselves when we practice creativity. We learn about our own biases, limitations, and fantasies, among many other useful aspects. Organizations can also solve business problems with collaborative creativity. And when individuals come together to collaborate creatively, there is a transfer of energy and a nurturing intellectual intimacy that not only gels the team but also provides tremendous fulfillment to each person contributing. Practicing collaborative creativity, then, facilitates innovation while elevating employee engagement, performance and retention – a pretty good case for putting collaborative creativity to work at your company, today!

Whether you’re a seasoned leader or just getting started in the role, there’s a good bet there are aspects of your leadership that can be strengthened when you do the hard work on yourself. After all, an unexamined life is simply not worth following and at its worst can be incredibly destructive to the followers left in their wake. In this episode with 20-year leadership veteran Tim Spiker, we learn about effective leadership that is “inwardly sound” and “others focused.” Tim founded Aperio, which is a Latin word, meaning to uncover, lay bare, make clear, or reveal, and that’s the approach he takes to helping leaders learn about themselves and become effective in their role.

Where have all the entrepreneurs gone? We seem to be producing less of them each year. Josh Spodek says this is due in part our educational system that teaches compliance at the expense of pursuing interests and passions in learning. He’s out to teach people to take initiative and pursue their passions all over their lives – and that entrepreneurship is available to virtually everyone. He’s our modern-day Galileo, with a PhD in Astro Physics and a heart for the environment, and is also on a mission to make sustainability a central concern for everyone – individuals, leaders, and companies across the world. We each have something important to teach and share to help others. Let’s find that passion and get you to work sharing it!

Archetypes provide individuals and companies a powerful way to access their own story, symbols, patterns and passions. When we know who we are at our core and have language to articulate it, our own essence thrives in the world and we derive strength, motivation and focus from living it. Using the power inherent in Archetypes, CultureTalk opens doors to a more conscious and positive way of interacting and communicating, helping people realize their greatest potential and organizations carry out their unique missions.

A couple of years into his first job at Morgan Stanley in New York, Deval Sanghavi realized he wanted to be in India, to focus on the lives of the many millions that live without dignity and equity. So the Texas-born investment banker packed up, came to Mumbai, and co-founded Dasra. Its very first workshop, for around 20 non-profit organizations working with children, was to support them in learning from each other – and this collaborative, learning philosophy remains central to how Dasra functions today, nurturing powerful partnerships among stakeholders across the spectrum – including government, donors, organizations, experts and the media. In this incredibly inspiring episode, we learn how Dasra is out to uplift one billion lives and the scaling collaborations it harnesses to realize its vision.

Part one of a meaningful life is to become acquainted with one’s purpose; Part two is to put it into action through its helpful expression and service to others. Pursuing purpose is our ultimate life nourishment and is well worth the journey to steward it along over the course of our lives. Drawing from the experiences of 30 careers and a lifetime of study and inquiry, Dr. Holly Woods has learned to help people discover purpose across their development stages and reformulate their businesses to align with that is uniquely who they are.

The COVID-19 pandemic has proven to be the great shake-up force in companies across the world. Pivoting as a company operating in these times and supporting employees in a virtual environment has elicited many necessary changes in human capital practices. In this episode, we listen in as a young start-up company shares its lessons learned and approach to pivoting operations to support the needs of a vastly changed workforce and pave the way for a vibrant future.

A conscious purpose-driven business deserves an investor that is here to liberate it to fulfill its purpose. Traditional financial services, capital markets, and investors are not aligned and thus, able, to support the needs and purposes of these types of businesses. Traditional financial firms and investors seek to maximize financial return and in doing so, constrain, control and restrict these purposeful conscious businesses from operating with a long-term perspective. In this episode, we meet Serviam Investors, a new venture built on conscious capitalism that seeks investors who want Good Returns – and who desire to invest not only their wealth, but also their time and talent to enable purpose and positive change that impacts the world in a purposeful and lasting way.

Howard Shore is on a mission to impact 500,000 people. And he wants to do so by helping business owners create businesses that are not “about me,” but rather out to change the world. He revels in helping companies and leaders play not to win but to be “different.” To achieve remarkable results, business owners need to learn how to run better, faster “circles” and infuse at least one of his four purpose movements within the business model.

What would it take for you to step out of your comfort and into the challenge of transforming to your best and highest self? The journey is well worth the work, and along the way you just might discover your purpose. People who live from their purpose are incredibly fulfilled as they positively impact the lives of countless people. They know their lives matter and each moment is precious - there is profound fulfillment in serving the world with your gifts. The world needs more of you, pulling deeply from your passion and purpose, which inspires others to do the same. We’re ready. Bring it.

Business will experience more change in the next 10 years than it has in the last 40. Every business will become a technology company, and every business will become a data company. Investments in information technology will be a strategic imperative for every organization. The gap between companies that invest, and those that lag, will widen dramatically in the 2020s. Artificial intelligence, the internet of things, automated machines, blockchain, augmented reality, and 5G networks hold infinite promise to grow business and elevate humans alongside technology. In a time of great possibility, those organizations with the strongest sense of purpose and the greatest will to drive change will prevail and make the biggest difference in the world.

The tables are turned in this episode as Alise Cortez, Host of Working on Purpose radio, is interviewed through the “essence mining” method by Danny Gutknecht. He teases out what matters most to her and surfaces her path to purpose and how it is expressed through the work she does. We learn her surprising career aspiration from her youth that thankfully got directed to a more, shall we say, suitable representation and expression in who she has become and how she uses her talents in the world.

A paradigm shift in business is urgently needed, especially on the heels of the pandemic that has served as a major wakeup call and has helped us understand the inextricability of environmental context in operational health. Having a static purpose statement is wholly insufficient to steward an organization to vibrancy. Instead, we need leaders who recognize that the organizations they lead are living, breathing, and growing organisms that must be cultivated to become agile, fluid, and adaptive. The shift will be very uncomfortable and likely painful, as growth always is.

Living to our fullest potential takes energy and effort, along with a strong and focused mindset. You’ll need to summon passion, perseverance and then, just get TO it. When you “Go All In” you give your very best. When you give everything you’ve got to make the world a better place, you are living up to your true potential. No matter what you’re working on, get to it and “Go All In.”