Life & Purpose

As a recent empty nester, and parent to a “Gen-Z” youngster who is away at college, I sit down to write this after a “quiet” and practically cracker free Diwali. (Much to the delight of our two dogs, a German Shepherd and a Golden Retriever, who don’t need to huddle under a table like the earlier years. - Woof!!) 

So what’s changed in just one generation from the pollution-laced noize-fest of yesteryears to the relatively quiet and “green” Diwali of today? Memories go nostalgically back to the “wonder years” … both ours and theirs. 

We, also termed as the “Gen-X” (born between 1960-79), are described as a generation driven by “Status, Brands, Cars and Luxury articles” in the below comparative chart from this McKinsey article. Diwali, for us, was about putting it all out there in the loudest way possible.

The “Gen-Z”, and his peers, we "grew up" with had, on barely their 5th or 6th Diwali, put their foot down on not bursting crackers because “It’s bad for the environment”!! 

Wow!! Did we, at 6, even know what the word “environment” meant? For the generation that invented plastic, we’re just about starting to understand the environment and that too when we’re nearing 60. (What a shame!!) 

The below McKinsey chart, also from the above article describes “Gen-Z” as the first true "Digital Natives" and those with behavioural traits that are “Undefined Identity, Communoholic, Dialoger, Realistic”.

Aside from being very different from us, the world they are growing up into, will be very-very different from the one we grew up in and what worked for us will perhaps just not work for them. 

So how does one decode "Gen-Z" and, more importantly, how does one advise them on life and work choices in a future world that none of us know anything about?

One of the many rewards of parenting, and watching them grow, is to relive your childhood and a classic mistake is to shape their lives with your own dreams that you couldn’t live. However, if you are willing to “listen and observe” instead of only “preach and prescribe”, there’s also much to learn about where humankind is probably headed. 

So, from listening to and being part of conversations with many Gen-Z’ers, here’s what we, them & I, collectively learnt:

• This generation, far more than any previous generation, seeks purpose over profit and as parents the sole purpose of our existence in their lives is to help them find purpose. 
• The pursuit of purpose is not only hard it is also made very confusing by articles that state purpose and passion are overrated. How many of us can articulate our own purpose, let alone that of the organisations we work for?

What’s the purpose of your life? What's the purpose of life itself?

Answers to such profound questions usually go from the religious to the spiritual to the extra terrestrial. 

Since the context of our conversations were around the terrestrial, and this one planet we live, play and work on, we agreed to limit the conversations to the terrestrial. Stepping back from the confusing and fast changing world, defined by terms such as The Fourth Industrial Revolution etc we shifted our attention to something that has been around for billions of years on our planet…. Nature!!

It is said that “The Earth is 4.6 billion years old. Scaling to 46 years, humans have been here for 4 hours, the industrial revolution began just 1 minute ago, and in that time we’ve destroyed more than half the world’s forests and species.”

Took nature 4.6 billion years to create all the natural brilliance and it took almost no time for the industrial revolution to undo a lot of that.

But what in nature “created” all that natural brilliance?

It is believed that it started with a single cell and eventually more complex life forms that worked tirelessly together in “ecosystems” that, over billions of years of evolution, created everything living that exists or ever existed.    

It then collectively dawned upon us that in a world as nature intended it to be:

“The purpose of every life form is to make life better for every other life form.”

Even mosquitoes and disease causing bacteria and viruses serve the purpose of “culling” the weak and strengthening the species. 

Everything in nature has a purpose and only us humans are privileged enough to pick our purpose over what nature genetically assigns to the rest of the species. It is a power, when mis-utilised, leads to consequences that are opposite of what nature intended. It is a power if utilised correctly, can reverse a lot of that harm.

A world of abundance creates "real wealth" for all. Irresponsible capitalism works on the principle of scarcity to corner “wealth” for a few at the expense of other life forms, not just other humans.

So, how do you choose your purpose? 

Here were some thoughts that came up from the brainstorming, that also tie-in with how Gen-Z are described:

• Start with a dream. A vision of creating a better world - for any or all other life forms. Not just materialistic “products” and possessions but specific areas in making things better for other life forms, not just humans. Vision inspires purpose.
• Find, or form a “tribe” of those who share and believe in that dream. (If you want to go fast - go alone. If you want to go far - go together).
• Shared purpose ignites passion.
• Passion fuels resilience and drives performance.
• Collective ecosystem performance delivers a better world.
• The industrial era of yesteryears took us away from a world as nature intended it to be. - Modern and emerging technologies when applied to “business models” closer to as nature intended them to be can hopefully undo the damage of the industrial era of yesteryears. (Swarm Intelligence: How Autonomous Cars Might Need to Learn from Ants)

These are ideas that come from the heads of Gen-Z and are worth using as guidelines to understand them and help them find purpose. Let's not over worry the specifics of education streams and career choices. If they find their purpose... they will find a way.

Education must trigger a fire (purpose), not merely fill a pail.

Happy Diwali folks!!