Finding Purpose in Work

• Work remains a significant aspect of our lives, contributing to a meaningful existence and defining a purposeful life.
• Business schools should focus on developing leaders who can help individuals find meaning in various ways and experiences, beyond traditional work settings.
• To foster a sense of purpose, both business schools and businesses can engage in intentional conversations about meaning, encourage storytelling, and provide experiences that involve collaboration and problem-solving.

Transcript

Ian Williamson: [0:15] In some respects, work has not changed. It is still one of the most meaningful things that each of us do in our day-to-day.

[0:22] All of us would find it very difficult to describe a meaningful life without some type of meaningful work.

The way we seek out that meaning in our work has changed. We can do it remotely, we can do it in other countries, we can do it in other things.

[0: 28] And so I think it’s always important to remember that.

[0:31] But the way we express that, the way we seek out that meaning in our work has changed. We can do it remotely, we can do it in other countries, we can do it in other things.

[0:39] And so, I think the big challenge for us in business schools is developing leaders who are able to allow themselves, and the people they’re responsible for, experience a sense of meaning in a wider variety of ways.

Bill Imada: [0:52] One way that business schools can help students find their purpose is to be intentional about having conversations with students.

[1:02] Not just something random at a conference or an event, but actually sitting down with students on a regular basis and saying, “Tell me what you’re passionate about. Tell me what gets you up in the morning. Tell me what, you know, springs you into action. What are some of the things that when you wake up you say, ‘this is something that I need to do or that I need to experience.’”

Students really do want to hear about how other people find purpose. They want to hear the “whys.”

[1:23] But it’s also important for business school leaders, faculty, administrators, and alumni to be intentional about telling their stories.

[1:30] And students really do want to hear about how other people find purpose. They want to hear the “whys:” “Why am I involved in teaching? Why am I involved in this community service? Why do I get joy from this?”

[1:43] And the more we are intentional about those things, the better we’re going to be able to pull students into finding their own purpose.

Williamson: [1:52] I think as a society we had a pretty well-defined definition—it started with a Monday and ended on a Friday and it probably had something about a commute somewhere in there—and now we’ve blown that up.

[2:02] And that’s great because perhaps it opens up opportunities for more people to experience meaning; perhaps it means more people can experience meaning in different ways.

[2:10] But we know we have a leadership challenge in that, you know, having more tools doesn’t necessarily make life easier. It may make life more overwhelming.

In order for businesses to give that sense of purpose to employees ... they have to get away from the lecturing, but providing people experiences.

[2:18] And so, developing people who are comfortable with that, I think is the next great challenge for us in business schools. But again it goes back to, we provide more opportunities for meaningful experiences for individuals through the work they do.

[2:30] And I think that’s a good thing.

Imada: [2:32] In order for businesses to give that sense of purpose to employees, is that they have to get away from the lecturing, but providing people experiences.

[2:41] And so when people experience change, when people experience challenges and find common solutions to those challenges and problems, then they buy into it.

[2:52] Because people really do support what they help create.