Plea for a new sense of Purpose

This past Summer, I have been deeply impressed by some people: the Community of Health Professionals at the hospital where my 97 years old step father was brought in emergency, the public sector administration at the Swiss Register of Commerce, the staff at a simple hotel, the South East Asian teams of two large European organisations (food and medical devices)… The interaction was seamless, harmonious, blending a high level of professionalism with an equal level of humanity.

Since a lot of our work is about supporting organisations in their intended transformation towards a better culture, I reflected, interviewed, questioned people of those organisations about what were the causes of such amazing cultures. I was struggling to make sense of those responses, until I scrolled through past articles of mine and exhumed this TED talk from Harvard University professor in political philosophy, Michael Sandel .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qewckuxa9hw&t=1s

In this talk, Sandel explains why our World is increasingly subject to polarisation, why rationality becomes increasingly absent from political, spiritual and even economic discourse and why excluding others frequently takes over from Inclusion.

And these, following David Brooks , a famous New-York Times columnist, are not just a US incidental moment. Brooks quotes an IPSOS research in 28 countries showing similar trends:

• Pessimism: 58 to 59% of the population in R.O.W./US respectively, feel that their country and civilisation are in decline
• Disillusion: 60 to 61% of the citizens claim that “the System is broken”
• Hostility towards “elites”: 67 to 69% feel abused, looked down at by their local elites
• Loss of faith is science and specialists: 62 to 63% of the people think that “Experts don’t know what they are talking about”
• Reliance on a “saviour”: 62 to 63% of the 28 countries’ citizens claim that their country needs a strong leaders to “take on the riches and powerful”.

Sandel’s explanation is that people feel disoriented by the failed promises of Meritocracy (invest in your education, study and work hard and you’ll be promoted), whereas his research demonstrate that, if you come from a poor background, the odds, should you, even by miracle study in am Ivy league College, are low that you’ll succeed anyway, not having the language, not dominating the unspoken code, not being part of an elite network.

Where “Sandel meets business” is in his recommendations to mitigates these dangerous negative drift. The same suggestions should apply to our business.

Synchronicity? I happen to meet/coach/ work with/interview, successful executives around the World, for the work my partners and I do. Amongst the things that disturb and often concern them is the loss of Sense of Purpose. Maybe, part of the answer lays in Sandel’s suggestions:

• Question our attitude towards “winning and losing”: For Sandel, “those who landed on top came to believe that success was their own doing, a measure of their merit and those who lost out had no one to blame but themselves”. Such a way of contemplating success is at the heart of the meritocratic model, explains Sandel. But, imagine for a second the inconvenient of such an ideology: the stress and pressure it puts on people to succeed, the guilt of the family’s “bread earner” coming back home and having to announce to their family that they were degraded, made redundant, that they were… fired. If winning or losing is purely of my own making, the pressure and guilt (Humiliation for Sandel), if I “lose”, or the arrogance and lack of empathy (Hubris) if I “win, will destroy the much needed Psychological Safety. I remember being surprised by the realism and humility of Fabio Celestini , now coach of the Swiss legend in football, FC Basel, saying: “Luck is as impactful as tactics, strategy, competences and training in football. We, coaches, need to remember this, in order not to lose our humility nor beat ourselves-up when three defeats in a row took place”.
• Renew the “Dignity of Work”: “Work is not only about making a living… It is also about contributing to the Common Good and win recognition for doing so”. When I hear Sandel speak about “dignified employment”, the “I am sending a man to the Moon” quote of the NASA janitor, in response to President Kennedy’s question about what his job was, jumps to mind. Am I simply “singing the Blues to pay the dues” when I go to work every morning or do I contribute to a Higher Purpose? Very immodestly, I don’t consider our work, at the Enablers Network as Management Consultancy. I strongly believe that our mission is to contribute making people happier in the job they do, for the company they chose and for the ideal they support. This was very clear in the Hospital team and the Public Administration people I met this Summer. Giving back a sense of Purpose, dignifying the work our people do, is definitely part of our mission, as the leaders we are!
• Redefine the “Meaning of Success”: “It is time for a moral, even spiritual turning, questioning our meritocratic hubris”… I do not have the specific answer on the how to do it, but, as far as I am concerned, those three points keep me engaged with a redefinition of my Purpose at work and how to make our World a better place.

Enjoy your leadership journey!