Let’s Use Our Purpose to Build a Better Future

Companies and families are ecosystems whose functionality is determined by the quality of their constituents, and most importantly by the quality of the relationship between those people.

Having a purpose that ties in with advanced desires makes the ecosystems function better, since it promotes an improvement of their members and the relationships between them.

Advanced desires, and therefore purpose, are more deeply rooted in people—whether managers or not—who seek to have values govern their lives. Values are ultimately beliefs, ones that have proven to be “valuable” (causes of good consequences) for many generations.

Advanced desires are also rooted in those with the intelligence, willpower and goodness needed to avoid making decisions purely driven by short-term gratification or self-deception.

On the individual level, a purpose embedded in advanced desires makes personal happiness more likely and sustainable, and brings us closer to fulfillment as human beings. Living with purpose requires us to develop an awareness of the impact of our decisions in the long term and on the ecosystem where we work and live. Purpose appeals to our altruism and consequently enhances the motivational structure of the people in a company.

The more we are led by short-term gratification, the harder it will be to activate the long-term mechanism. That is why managers need time to think, time to correct the imbalances in both their lives and their companies.

Business leaders must not sit back and ignore the worrying indicators of where our society is headed. As a society, we do not want to see decreased social mobility, or ideological polarization or income polarization; nor the loss of trust in key institutions.

We believe purpose can play an important role in the enormous task of integrating the short term with the long term, business profitability with people’s dignity, delivering results with transformation, and many other elements whose lack of integration tears us apart as a society.

We have to work on initiatives that bring us closer to the purpose in our companies and our lives. It’s better to live for a purpose than for easy applause. Living with purpose is the secret to an exciting and passionate life. When we live with passion, we secrete adrenaline, oxytocin and dopamine; all of these hormones are linked to happiness and increased talent.