How a Higher Purpose Drives Innovation: Finding Our Way to Things of Greater Value

Among the most diabolical torture techniques ever conceived is one in which a victim is repeatedly forced to dig a hole, only to fill it up again. It’s been applied in different forms and at different times throughout the millennia, and always with the sole intention of destroying morale. There’s something unspeakably painful about subjecting a human being to toil at an act he or she believes has no value. But too many of us are filling our time with things of a similarly Sisyphean nature.

Last week I was in Chicago having lunch with a friend who runs a successful design firm. Over the course of our time together we touched on what it means to do things of higher value. As we got deeper into our conversation we began to consider, even as leaders in our organizations, just how much of what we do each day is mindless, process-driven activity, pursuits that have all the creativity of steering a train straight along a single track.?

For some, minimizing mental exertion might seem like a blessing—at least on the surface. After all, who doesn’t want to work less hard? But what researchers have found is that people are happiest when their work involves a degree of struggle. How one conceives of struggle is important. Too much, and you’re suffering—obviously, that’s not ideal. But here’s the interesting thing: Too little struggle and you’re suffering as well.

Just as my friend and I were about to say our goodbyes he told me about data he’d collected in a survey on his employee’s overall job satisfaction, the implications of which were of great interest to him and somewhat surprising. His firm had been doing especially well over the past five years. Salaries were up nearly forty percent on average. But still, in blind surveys, he’d found sentiments like “malaise”, “disengagement”, “boredom”, and “dissatisfaction”.?

Satisfaction?

What he learned supports what researchers (and smart people who aren’t researchers) have been saying all along—satisfaction doesn’t come from salary hikes. It comes from involvement in purpose-driven activities that promote the growth of others. Another thing my friend learned from the survey was that his people felt they had “no time.”

Time, and in particular, the scarcity of time, is a central theme with so many of us. But what does it really mean when someone says, “I don’t have enough time?” If you examine the statement, it’s nonsensical. Everyone has time. We all have exactly the same amount. No one has more or less than 24 hours in a day. But for those stuck in roles that preclude them from reaching for what they consider things of higher value, time does indeed feel scarce.?

When our skills and acumen are underutilized we may often feel that our jobs are too mechanical, too short on meaning, and altogether too easy. But wait. Don’t we all strive to make our work easier? Isn’t that what we’ve been trained to do, to make things more efficient, more streamlined? Yes. Perhaps. But the moment our jobs become?too?easy is the moment we lose touch with our creativity. And without it we lose our sense of purpose.?

Ease isn’t what we want to fill our days with. What we truly want is for time to push against us, to pressure us, to create the sort of tension that leaves us cognizant of the fleeting nature of time itself—and then, go and do something of a higher value with our time. What we crave most are those moments when we are lost amid purposeful engagement. “Lost” is the operative word. Getting lost means that we have placed ourselves in unfamiliar territory, that we are breaking new ground, and that we are finding our way with our senses engaged, rather than on autopilot.

Higher Ground

What is that thing of higher value in your life? What is it you do that brings you and the people around you the greatest degree of fulfillment? Are you able to get lost in the work you do? People who are engaged in things of higher value are more apt to find themselves endeavoring to improve someone’s life in addition to their own. Whether you’re working in a laboratory to create a new drug, or working one-on-one with a child to teach her to read, acting for the betterment of an individual or an important cause has the single greatest influence on generating a sense of personal happiness.

While it’s true, getting to a place where more people are accomplishing things they find important is in many ways aspirational, especially given that the vast majority of people don’t have the opportunity to evince this kind of work in their workplaces. But as leaders, (and who among us is not a leader in some capacity) we need to bring these opportunities to as many people as possible. We need to understand that being involved in things of higher value, and helping others to get there as well, is not only a moral imperative but also about unlocking the very solutions that can prevent the disruption of our organizations and our society.

The way forward is an exploration rather than a recitation. It is?finding?our way as opposed to?knowing?our way. What we need to rethink is: How many of the things we do each day fit in the box of: ‘I’ve got this down to a science’? And how many of them fit in the box of: ‘This is new terrain, ambiguous territory with answers that are not well defined and edges that are not yet clear?'?

It’s only in the latter that we find engagement, fulfillment, and purpose. For too many of us, money is still the thing we reflexively equate with value. Money is important, vitally so, but its greatest significance becomes apparent only when it buys us and those around us, time to work on things of higher value—the essence and mindset of true innovation.?

This piece was recently published in www.feedyourhead.blog , one of my favorite places for gaining access to new ideas.

Be on the lookout for my newest book. Pub date is 8/17/2024