Purpose 2: Do you align your purpose to the larger purpose?

We understood the personal dharma (purpose). At the individual level it is very easy to follow if values are strong. However, when you are dealing with different people in the society, colleagues in office, it is very difficult to live with values. Every human being has a different value system. Their foundation may not be that rock strong. There are compromises and adjustments, however questions remain to whom and with? And to what extent.

Now imagine the situation, where your purpose is not aligned with those you are dealing with in your day to day life; you will be in an ethical dilemma.  

There are people who personally are very strong on their values, like being vegetarian, or following non-violence and not hurting anybody. They follow all rituals and are very religious. According to them they follow the Dharma, but they are in the business which is the total opposite of their values. The same person may have the business of gutkha manufacturing or meat processing. We have seen businessmen who have spoiled the whole generation by selling gutkha in India. People justify this by arguing that personal values are different and business values are different. Some may say that I am clean in my personal life, but my business is not clean because that is for my survival. Now imagine you working with them, what impact you will have in your personal life. The question is not about the alignment here. I call this hypocrisy. There is no meaning to the individual values in such hypocrisy.    

Research says that when there is a positive correlation and intersection of purpose between our lives and our work, the results are beneficial for both and society at large. It means when we align our individual purpose with our job purpose, or work, then there is a positive impact on both & the society at large. Millennial or Z generations are looking more towards the purpose nowadays and they strongly believe that they care for the community and society at large, including the way profits are made, the impact on the people and planet.

I believe that the business should not be viewed simply as a medium of earning or generating wealth. If work is to make a life, as famed management guru Peter Drucker once suggested, the purpose of the organization needs to shift to include a greater degree of meaning. Thus, purpose ought to be felt and achieved at work as it is in the rest of our lives.

So, corporate leaders, political leaders need to work on creating such a purpose driven ecosystem. (I may sound dreamer when I include political leaders here, but when citizens, mainly youth, become more aware, they force political leaders to change.) If this occurs, individuals’ work roles can contribute to their ability to truly then make a life.

Please read the print replica of my latest book written for leaders on amazon kindle, Vitality in Human Resource: Adding human dimensions in HR processes

(Opinions are purely personal & does not represent my organization)