Purposeful Leadership

Certainly there are leaders—senior executives included—who are cynical, manipulative, and political and who destroy the faith of others in the company and business. In our experience, despite what the media present, the vast majority don’t fit this profile. In most cases, people selected for top positions are driven, committed, and competent, and they believe in what they’re doing.

In this passage, you learn the importance of a sense of purpose. Up until this point, you may have worked hard and effectively, but you never really came to terms with why you do what you do. Losing faith in the system challenges you to discover your rationale for work. You learn that when you have an internal reason for leading others and accomplishing goals, you derive great satisfaction from your job. You stop relying on the company, your boss, or even your financial obligations to provide you with external motivation and instead summon it from within yourself.

Most of the great leaders we’ve worked with have this capacity. Whether or not they lost faith in the system, they have great faith in their own personal reasons for coming to work each day and doing the best they can. You can spot a leader with a sense of purpose from a distance, and so can other executives evaluating candidates for promotion to senior positions. The paradox of this passage is that losing faith in the system helps you gain a greater belief in yourself.