This completes the section planned for Chapter 3 of the book, tentatively titled Understanding Aspirants and Aspirations. Part One introduced all seven aspects of identity and their importance, and went into detail on the first three: essence, heritage, and values.
This post goes through the final four – purpose, attributes, path, and way of being – and then provides applications for what the aspects of identity mean for you as a person, and then for your business.
Your feedback at the end is always welcome; thank you.
Joe
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Purpose
Why do you exist? Because of your purpose, the reason you uniquely exist and act in the world. It is your raison d’être, your personal or corporate intention, stated or not, for everything you do.
Few things are more important in giving life and work meaning.
For many, one’s purpose is not just unstated; it is unknown. Few people, few organizations or businesses, and even fewer communities ever determine why they exist, what makes them unique, where their intent lies, what they should truly focus on and aim at. Few things are more important, however, in not only making a difference in the world but in giving life and work meaning.
There are many universal or generic “why’s” people exist, each one stemming from a particular worldview. An atheist or existentialist would say that there is no reason, period; you have to create your purpose, if there is to be any. A Christian may subscribe to the long-held statement, “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever”.[i] Even then, you must discover your personal, unique purpose within God’s plan – or, if you subscribe to the existentialist view, form your personal, unique purpose amid the utter meaninglessness of life. Whatever the case, seek and pursue your distinctive purpose to engender your flourishing as a human being.
Fostering human flourishing is, as I declared in chapter 2, the universal purpose of business.[ii] Still, in order to thrive every business must discover its own unique purpose within the general umbrella of flourishing. And it’s when a worker’s personal purpose aligns with the meaningful purpose of his or her employer that the employee finds a high degree of meaning at work, contributing to that individual’s flourishing. In your business, your meaningful purpose must “infuse meaning to inspire, guide the enterprise, and foster human flourishing”[iii] as the basis for intrinsically engaging each of your enterprise’s contributors. This shared meaning engenders each contributor’s personal flourishing in carrying out the business enterprise’s purpose.
Your own, highly individual purpose always stems from your personal worldview and the entirety of your being. It should never come out of thin air; while you determine its wording, ideally you discover what your purpose already is, at least in general terms, and then refine it in response to your essence, values, and other aspects formed by your heritage. Then it flows out through your attributes in the exercise of your agency.
Any transformation that affects an aspirant’s core identity must align with the aspirant’s personal or corporate purpose; discovering that core intention often proves to be a key part of the transformation. Moreover, many transformations specifically revolve around this aspect of identity; that’s why purpose & meaning is a sphere of the Transformation Economy. Opportunities therefore abound in helping aspirants discover their purpose and especially in living it out, transforming their lives, organizations, businesses, and communities to make it happen.
Attributes
What do you do in the world? Display your attributes, your inherent qualities or characteristics, that determine your attitudes, behaviors, and actions. Attributes flow from your values and purpose, exhibit your agency, impact the world around you, and are the primary ways others perceive your identity.
Attributes are seen in everything you choose to do or say
Attributes are seen in everything you choose to do or say, including how you act or speak, with what attitude. You therefore display attributes all the time, intentionally or not; you cannot help it. Others cannot quickly ascertain your essence, easily know your heritage, directly observe your values, or definitively know your purpose (without you saying what it is), but they experience you through the display of your attributes.
In large measure attributes are what come to mind when you contemplate your identity, where your self-awareness lies. Think of Suzy Ross’ identity construct posed earlier of completing the statement “I am. . . .”; you primarily finish it with attributes of self that describe who you are to others.
That is why attributes are the aspect of identity addressed most by aspirations, and the one affected most by any transformation: “I was X, now I am Y”. Because attributes are displayed through attitudes (how you think about things), behaviors (how you conduct yourself), and actions (what you say and do), those seeking transformations often focus on changing these three facets.
Among the attributes people have is the mindset by which they approach particular circumstances, such as parenting, work, finances, and so forth – and since organizations, businesses, and communities are made up of people, they share collective approaches to work, business, and life as well. A mindset is an ingrained set of attitudes, influenced by worldview, that makes it easy to manage frequently encountered circumstances. As such, it can be the greatest impediment to transformation. When changes smack up against an established mindset, the transformation will prove exceedingly difficult unless the mindset is changed first, for its deep-rooted nature drags people back to past thinking patterns, behaviors, and actions. In your life or for your aspirants, when you find making a big transformation tremendously difficult, it is time to examine the mindset at play, and to make that the initial focus of the transformation.[iv]
In business, a company’s attributes come out in its economic offerings, what it sells in the world. These exhibit its attitudes, behaviors, and actions throughout development, production, promotion, and sales and other such roles. When economic offerings – whether commodities, goods, services, experiences, or transformations – no longer effectively meet the needs of customers, that’s a signal for some sort of organizational or business transformation. A key task, then, is to find what attribute or attributes need to change, and how best to go about it.
Path
Where are you going? On the path to your future self, becoming who you are from this moment forward. Proceeding on your path affords you the opportunity to progress your being by achieving your aspirations, the journey of transformation after transformation extended through your existence.