The Power of Purpose in the Midst of a Pandemic

As we continue to pray for the thousands of lives who are actually sick and fighting the Coronavirus around the world, while billions of others adapt to the inconvenience of our current social limitations, and some find themselves navigating the financial impact of lost work, there is a lesson to be learned in all of this.

Not since Sept 12th, 2001 have we seen such solidarity, compassion, and support for each other in our nation. Not since WWII have we seen such collaboration across the globe. 

• Public and private sector leaders and competitors working together.  
• Companies providing unprecedented autonomy and support to work remotely, while parents have to adjust to their kids being forced to stay at home from school.
• Schools providing meals for families who’s children are at home regardless of if they would have qualified for a meal in school. 
• Cable and phone providers providing unlimited service and WiFi accommodations across the country, regardless of if you are their customer. 
• Athletes donating portions of their salaries to staff members who are currently out of work.
• People using social media and apps like NextDoor to share household staples with each other as store shelves across the country are empty.

It seems that the divisive walls of political, racial, religious, and social differences have broken down almost over night. Popular topics such as “Diversity and Inclusion,” which dominated workplace discussions just a few weeks ago, have disappeared in times such as these. 

It may seem that the world is reeling out of control, but perhaps we are more in control of our humanity than ever before. And while there are isolated cases of those who are selfishly taking advantage of others, by and large history has shown us that times such as these bring out the best in us. 

This is the power of purpose.

As Patrick Lencioni stated in his book The Advantage, “The purpose of every organization is to improve the quality of human life in some way.” 

As I have shared before, healthy organizations invite people to join them in their purpose, they put processes in place to support their people, and they leverage profitability to support both their people and those processes to advance their purpose. That is how you positively impact humanity as an organization.

We are seeing that played out right before our eyes on both a national and global scale. This is what it looks like to prioritize people and purpose above process and profit. 

It shouldn’t take a crises to put our arms around our each other along the journey of life. And while we may not be able to do that physically right now, the leaders who are choosing to do so through the purposeful actions of their organizations will be the ones who shape the journey ahead for all of us, emerging as the leaders of their industries for decades to come. 

We choose to lead with purpose not because it is the popular thing to do, or the profitable thing to do, but because it is the human thing to do. 

I believe the history books will record 2020 as one of the finest moments of humanity. A moment in time when we just didn’t talk about purpose, we chose to live it out, together.