Aspen IDEAS: Life breaks your heart

I was brought up to believe that if you do good, then good will come to you. Life somehow is not always so simple. Many questions in life remain unanswered.

How do we make sense of life and indeed of this vastly changing world we live in?

At the recent Aspen IDEAS 2019 Festival in Colorado, one of the key refrains that stayed with me were the notions of Emotions and Purpose and their place in the world today.

“Understanding Emotion”

Whether we care to admit it, emotions are intrinsically linked to how we reason and make decisions. At the highest levels of bio-regulations, emotions influence our well-being.

Surprise, sadness, fear, anger. pride, loneliness and joy all trigger unique psychological responses. Where do emotions come from? How do the trappings of modern life – technology, social status, money – influence our inner lives?

The search for meaning and purpose is becoming an urgent marching order for both companies and cultures, and leaders play a key role in finding a “moral compass” that will set the direction and purpose of a company or group.

“The Purpose-Driven Leader”

How must a business react to or align with the complexity of geo-politics and environmental factors?

Corporate purpose has become an urgent agenda given regulatory ESG Requirements. A purpose-driven leader is one who is not afraid to take a stand on the pressing and penultimate issues of our time. 

Where do we stand and how do we stand on the burning questions that impact our future…

• How do we build a purpose-led company?
• Who in the company decides this purpose?
• How can CSR be a CEO’s strategic imperative, not just a nice-to-have handled by a separate department?
• How do we find the courage to step forward and stand up for our values, even if it hurts the bottomline and shareholder value in the short term?
• How can we drive profits through principle?
• Where does money fit into our moral compass, guiding us to do the right thing not just the profitable thing to do?
• How do we instill our morals on others, within companies and across countries, without overstepping the boundaries and others’ right to self-determination?

There is probably no debate that companies have the responsibility to the societies we live in.

A company’s purpose must be aligned with boards and shareholders, and the purpose of the CEO must be aligned with company purpose – but who comes first?

A key criteria is hiring or appointing a new CEO is to ask whether his or her purpose is aligned with that of the company?

Can a private company be more of an ESG company than a public company? Some examples of companies with a well-defined purpose include Levi’s (authenticity) and PayPal (inclusion). These companies invest and spend money on instilling their purpose into their culture on the belief that employees with a clear and aligned purpose are happier.

On a personal note, can we spend our way to happiness? Many have tried and few have succeeded. So what are we doing here? Is there a higher purpose to the lives we lead? What does it mean to have a good life?

The emergence of a younger population is bringing a lot of optimism, passion, ideals and renewed dreams. A good life is linked to freedom and the ability to experience life, to live in the moment, rather than in our fears and worries.

I’m curious, though, does life break the hearts of the young the same way it breaks the hearts of the older generation?

The truth is, life is going to break your heart at some point. When it does, we must fight the anger and accept that we may never find the answer to the single most important question of our life. We must also believe that there are mountains and clouds above which life is kept eternal and that there is goodness in life. Being good and doing good no matter what...

Lots of Love,

Louisa

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