What all starts with purpose-driven leaders?
The answer is simple: a successful home, a successful school, a successful business, a successful generation, a successful world.
Wherever success is, purpose stands closely behind it.
As the title entails, this blog post is dedicated to purpose-driven leadership, but, will be explored within the context of businesses.
What is Leadership?
It is arguably conceivable that purpose-driven leadership forms the seminal bedrock for purpose-driven businesses. Before understanding what purpose-driven leadership is, why don’t we take a moment to cognize leadership itself.
Ever heard the saying “leadership is not a position or a title, it is action and example”?
Here are a few definitions of what leadership could sufficiently be interpreted to mean:
“ The process of social influence, which maximises the efforts of others, towards the achievement of a goal.”
- Kevin Kruse – CEO of LEADx
Kevin emphasises that in order for leadership (and an effective one, to occur), there has to be some degree of influence which hones the efforts of a leaders’ followers to their maximum potential while in the pursuit of a particular goal / objective. It is worth buttressing that his definition points to the idea that leadership is confined to a particular purpose or purposes as the case may be.
Another definition holds:
“ It is a set of behaviours used to help people align their collective direction, to execute strategic plans and to continually renew an organisation.”
McKinsey’s definition encourages the idea that leadership speaks and influences through a web of behaviours or actions. It shares similarity with Kevin Kruse’s definition on the aspects of guiding others on a particular path for a particular end target.
This end target or accomplishment of a goal are recognisable elements of leadership.
We can then say leadership is influencing others through a conglomeration of behaviours which guide their efforts to produce the best possible outcome of a predestined goal.
Countless articles and conversations have been written and had concerning the topic of leadership and that is because it plays a central role in the overall outcome of a business. Nonetheless, what manner of outcome desired needs to be investigated as there are millions of outcomes obtainable.
As the world shifts deeper into inclusivity, giving back, becoming more socially responsible and purposeful, businesses are urged to follow suit.
What then is Purpose-Driven Leadership?
The question remains: How do our now and future leaders respond to this purposefulness and become purpose-driven leaders?
Before answering the how, let’s debunk the what.
Purpose-driven leadership can be simply elucidated to mean:
“Influencing others to perform at their maximal level by way of guidance either through conduct, behaviour or words – in order to achieve a goal or set of goals which were formed from an overall understanding of what impact said goals are intended to achieve in the long run.”
Thus, purpose-driven leadership as other definitions of leadership highlight, requires direction. But more than direction, it requires impact realised through those actions and the cautiousness of the role the leaders play.
It can also be seen as a leadership approach where the leaders are mindful of the core values of the organisation and how it marries with each strategic action. Of course, always having the organisations’ purpose as the foundational base.
We’ve understood what leadership is and what purpose-driven leadership can be defined as. The common denominator here is the individual whose head carries the responsibility to lead and lead purposefully. Understanding who a purpose-driven leader is, is the very first step.
Who is a purpose-driven leader?
Each leader needs to understand his or her personal purpose (read here our article about personal purpose) and what purpose in business (link our previous article here as well) is in order to lead purposefully. A Harvard business review found that only 20% of leaders had a conviction of their own individual purpose with less of that number being able to translate that purpose into action.
We’ve established that purpose in business is your why for doing business, so purpose-driven leadership means leaders having their why at the focal point of their leadership.
Having this background helps purpose-driven leaders to consider their:
- Employees
- The health and longitude of the organisation
- Customers
- Society / community
- The environment they operate in and beyond.
This is because the question of why cannot be effectively answered without the consideration of the world beyond the business. When leaders grasp this, their actions and behaviours within the organisation will shift. Employees will follow closely behind.
It has been argued that purpose-driven leaders are not born that way, they are made. Here are some traits of a purpose-driven leader:
- They look at the big picture.
- They avoid abstraction.
- They have an ethical filter.
- They surround themselves with other ethical leaders and set a positive example
- They talk about their purpose regularly.
Embracing purpose-driven leadership.
Purpose-driven leadership, the real one we mean, not the faux, will unveil that when done properly does not expunge the companies’ realisation of sizeable profits. Therefore, it is at all, not something to avoid but to embrace.
Academic research on purpose in individuals revealed that individuals with purpose tend to live longer and stay healthier during their time alive.. The same can be said for businesses. Being purpose-driven and leading with purpose all the more benefits the business.
The challenge remains how managers and top leaders can detach from old leadership ways and conform to leading with purpose.
We at Purpose Club understand that it might be confusing to grab a hold of, that is why we are here to help navigate this road with you.
We are running our Purpose-Driven Leadership course starting this summer. It promises to be packed with a lot more goodies than we could fill in this article, practical steps, and coaching opportunities for our leaders.
Sign up with this link below to be the first to know when the doors open.
Remember! Purpose-driven leadership is the new wave. Embrace it. Become it. Make purposeful profits. Succeed.
Book a free consultation with us, let’s see how we can be of help to you.
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