The On-Purpose Approach attempts many things. One of the most significant is the meaningful integration of life and work. The On-Purpose Business opens with the quote below by Bill O'Brien, (photo to the left) the former CEO of Hanover Insurance Company, a pioneer in creating learning organizations.
Make no mistake about it, we are in the midst of this transformation. The tough shift from industrial age command and control management to the knowledge age of employee engagement has begun. I believe O'Brien understood that when a person's heart is in their work miracles can happen.
The problem is rarely at the personal level, however. People want to engage meaningfully in their work and they want their work to make a difference or contribute to the well-being of others. Sadly, on far too many jobs, the ability to connect the dots between the work and difference making has too much distance between dots. The big picture and greater vision is lost in the efficiency of a time motion study expert's standard measures of physical output and production.
Leaders are emerging who recognize the power to be found in systematically being organized around "the effects of work on the person," including the employees, customers, shareholders, and community. This added dimension is messy because it doesn't lend itself to the left brained measures of industrial engineering nor is this about social justice or welfare. A business must create value and capture profit or it ceases to exist. Business is not about the "objective view" or "subjective view" but the "integrated view". Rather than an either/or, this is a both/and approach.
The burden of business design falls upon the leaders of organizations to find the appropriate blend for their business. Many people are hungry to engage in meaningful work that profits society and shareholders alike. It all begins with an awareness of one's point of view.
The On-Purpose Business attempts to provide four simple "Pillars" to usher in the next generation in business design and organizational development.
Personally, should you come across an organization that is about creating "the wholeness of their people," then run to that organization.
I've posted the above slide at the request of several leaders who saw my presentation, "Minding Your Business, On-Purpose" at the Take Shape For Life Go Global leadership conference. For two years I had the honor to be a keynote speaker and influence with their health coaches.
I know why. In my decades of being a business owner and business advisory, TSFL gets the "wholeness of people" concept head and shoulders better than any business I've witnessed. Their stock price reflects their integrated approach. Dr. Wayne Andersen, Dan Bell, and Brad McDonald have created something truly special when they laid the foundations of this business... and it keeps getter better with time and growth.
When people and profits are aligned with synergy and meaning, growth is inevitable. Are you prepared to step boldly into the twenty-first century Bill O'Brien predicted? Are you ready to be on-purpose?
Be On-Purpose!
Kevin
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