The Source of Power Behind All Successful People
Exceptional Leadership is the driving force, the engine, the power, behind all successful ventures. This is true in all aspects of life, not only in business.
The article The Core Qualities of Exceptional Leaders lists the main qualities that make up exceptional leadership.
One of those qualities stands above all others. This one quality is the source of power behind all successful ventures and all successful leaders:
Successful people and good leaders have a strong purpose and pursue it boldly.
Purpose is defined as
(1) one’s intentions and mission in life, toward a goal;
(2) the reason why something is done or used;
(3) the quality of being determined to do or achieve something;
(4) the aim or goal of a person, what a person is trying to do, become or achieve.
Every man-made object on this planet was conceived, designed and created because of one individual’s purpose or the combined purposes of several people.
Purpose drives people positively and progressively; lack of purpose causes inaction, illness, and unhappiness, disability and eventual death.
Purpose is possibly the most important aspect of life. Why are we here? What do we want from life? Why do we have our jobs? What does it take to be happy?
The answers have to be more than just money; because if money is the only reason we’re here or having a job, then our lives aren’t as rewarding and satisfying as it could and should be. At the same time, we all need and want to earn a good living, so how do we channel purpose to make as much money as we want?
Purpose is the greatest power within each person. A purpose strong enough can accomplish anything.
I believe purpose is the most powerful force in the universe.
Throughout history, people have accomplished amazing things and created fantastic results through the sheer power of purpose and purpose alone.
Every major advancement in society and in every civilization, every discovery, every revolution, every great religious or political movement, every invention and technological advancement, even all destructive events such as wars, all philosophies (good or bad) are the result of one thing and one thing only - the purposes of individuals.
A purpose can be either constructive or destructive.
There are purposes to help people and improve their lives in some way.
There are also purposes intended to enslave people, or control people, or profit from people with nothing of value in exchange, or oppress people.
For this discussion, let’s address the constructive side of purpose only. It is the constructive and higher purposes which have more power and which create genuine and lasting success.
Purpose that is constructive and positive contains such elements as
A clear vision and statement of a desired and specific end result - such as better living or social conditions, a problem solved well, an improved education system and so on.
Strong intention to achieve one’s vision
Belief and confidence in oneself
High Integrity
Courage
Love and affinity, especially for the leader’s own people
Desire to help others, desire to see other people do well in life
Persistence
Determination
A leader will be most successful if he or she directs all attention, all energies, all thoughts, all decision-making and planning, and all management efforts toward following the business's purpose and achieving its goals.
But first, the purpose and goals must be clearly and exactly defined, and stated completely. This is the first and most important step, because everything else comes out of that purpose.
But not as a quickie, 2-minute off-the-top-of-your-head action. Purposes are so much a part of a person’s very core, they are so basic to a person’s very nature, and the results from a true purpose are so potentially great, that it is worth whatever thought and energy it takes to fully work out your purpose.
It could take an hour, a day, a month or more to work out one’s purpose.
Here is the core and essential principle behind any constructive purpose:
The most successful and powerful purposes are those that improve the quality of people’s lives in a significant way.
Think about that: Improving people’s quality of life. What a responsibility! And what an awesome activity to engage in!
Are you and your business improving people’s quality of life? In what way? To what degree? Can you do even better?
There is nothing wrong with making money as a purpose. But the best way to make money is to have an even higher purpose - to improve people’s lives in some way - and then provide the products and services that accomplish that.
Think of the greatest, most positive and most constructive philosophers, leaders of nations and empires, revolutionaries, religious leaders, political and social leaders, inventors, explorers, researchers, artists and visionaries throughout history.
It was purpose and purpose alone which drove these people. And each of those purposes can be stated as the intention to improve the quality of people’s lives in some way.
Given the power and importance of purpose, every business owner or leader should work out the purpose and vision of the business exactly, clearly and completely. This purpose and vision should answer these questions:
How can I and my business improve people’s quality of life?
What needs and problems do people have that I can help satisfy and solve?
How can I and my business make our products and services to clients/customers even better so as to improve their quality of life even more?
How can I and my business help people genuinely and significantly, even more than we are now?
What conditions exist in society, in business, in family and so on that can be improved?
Once you have answered these questions thoroughly and honestly, once you have ignited your own purpose power, the next step is to communicate this purpose to your people. Drive this purpose home to everyone until it becomes a core component of your corporate culture.
Therefore, purpose is amazingly important to one’s job and one’s life. Every business should have its purpose clearly and completely defined. Any job description should begin with defining the purpose of that job and how that job contributes to the overall purpose of the entire organization.
You and your business will then start to soar like a rocket. Why? How can igniting a purpose cause an individual and a business to soar?
By asking and answering these questions constantly, by continuously igniting your purpose and the purposes of your people, by continuously striving to do better and better - your mind and the minds of your people will open up more and more to better and better ideas, better ways of improving the lives of your customers and clients, and ways to provide better products and services to them.
Igniting one’s purpose works like nuclear fission - creating a chain reaction of ever-increasing ideas, imagination and innovations that forward the individual and the business toward their purposes.
The products and services you deliver to clients and customers must then match and align with your purpose. Then you are accomplishing your purpose and changing people’s lives for the better.
Purpose is at the very heart and soul of leadership and management. Effective leadership and management begin and end with purpose. The fundamentals of effective leadership and management involve purpose.
People have fantastic capabilities to achieve great things. The leader who recognizes this truth and helps his or her people develop those capabilities and channel their purposes in the right direction is already more than halfway to success.
All of the above leads to some of the most fundamental and powerful leadership principles:
Leadership Principle 1 - Purpose is the greatest power within each person, possibly the most powerful driving force in the universe. A strong enough purpose can accomplish anything. Purpose is the driving force behind all great discoveries, all progress and movements in every civilization, and all societal and technological advancements.
Leadership Principle 2 - Any organization is formed as a result of and to pursue a specific purpose. The organization’s purpose and goals are the driving force and guiding star of the organization.
Leadership Principle 3 - The leader of a business is driven by the purpose and goals of that business.
Leadership Principle 4 - The purpose and goals must be clearly and completely defined, free and clear of any ambiguities, biases, disagreements, or conflicting intentions. Then this purpose is to be communicated throughout the group, known and agreed upon by every member in the group. Such communication greatly increases the power of the group and greatly increases the group’s ability to achieve its desired goals and end results.
The leader first defines the purpose and goals, and then follows them. If a leader knows, follows and stays true to his or her purpose, he or she will nearly always succeed. If a leader strays off the purpose, he or she will run into trouble and most likely fail.
There is enormous power in purpose. Every single person working for a business has some sort of purpose, or at least the potential power of purpose lurking inside and waiting to be ignited. This is such a powerful principle and force that if a leader is able to ignite, channel, and direct the purpose power within each and everyone of his or her people toward the organization’s goals and purposes, an unstoppable, powerful juggernaut would be created. A leader who can do this one thing alone wins 90% of the battle and war and will be extraordinarily successful.