By the way of purpose
It is well known that language is not watertight, it evolves. The meanings of words change faster than dictionaries are updated and the uses we make of them vary. Besides, as they say, "the Portuguese language is treacherous". And it's not just for the naughty. The same word can be used in different ways, for different purposes and with different meanings. Sometimes all it takes is a comma to completely change the meaning. Just look at the title of this text as an example: there are two uses of the word purpose and if I had put a comma after the first "purpose" the sentence would change substantially. Divagations on grammar aside, there are times when language evolutions do not move us forward but, paradoxically, represent a step backwards. Is this the case with the recent fashion for the use of the word "purpose"?
In the corporate world, but not only - the "new" personal development doctrines also adopt the same guidelines - everyone seems to be in search of one or their purpose. For companies, it is often not the search for the purpose that is more work, but its definition, which requires more effort and dedication. The phrases and short texts that are now read compete with the great advertising slogans of yesteryear. So much so that it becomes complicated to distinguish advertising campaigns from some organisations' mission or purpose statements. Today, therefore, more than a business plan, more than a well-defined strategy, it seems to matter to have and offer inspirational and aspirational purposes that, in the worst cases, are synonymous with cute and appealing. And it makes some sense. In a world that desperately tries to announce that it wants to change, in a world that is constantly and rapidly changing (pardon the cliché) we all have to move at high speed.
In fact, for the generations who have recently entered or are entering the labour market, it is said, it is no longer enough to offer good salary packages, attractive benefits and fun perks. To attract and retain people they have to be offered a purpose, since talented people, like eels who, sneaking out of the meshes of old-fashioned bosses, are always after purposes more interesting and aligned with their own, if they have already found it consciously. These younger people are quicker to change their minds than their elders. Perhaps they are more adapted to the speed and fleeting nature of the times.
The purpose appears as the constant that is intended to guide actions and bring intentions together. It is the eternal becoming that one seeks to achieve. That is why purpose is attractive to those who are demanding a meaning to what they are doing and that is why companies invest so much in defining theirs. If on the one hand it seems to me a smart and adjusted move, on the other I get the feeling that one is trying to avoid a tantrum, if that is the only motivation (not many cases I know of, I confess). Like when you give a child what he wants so that he doesn't cry or scream. Much less in public because today almost nothing is private, the "talents" will not say bad things on social networks.
Another hypothesis also comes to mind. It may not be "give the child what he wants" but something closer to "leave him with some kind of screen so he can do what he has to do without bothering too much". How many of these purposes, written by skilful copywriters (nothing against these professionals, on the contrary; I admire many of them), are coherent with the practices and cultures that are built and maintained? How many of them are just "publicity stunts"? I am concerned about posturing purposes. In the same way that one insisted on the values of companies that few know and whose practice was largely the result of chance.
When the intention is just to attract and inspire, I doubt the need to have a purpose. On the other hand, the obsession with the search for ultimate meaning, if everything you do is aligned with a predefined or desired purpose where will the space and time for experimentation reside? And for novelty? And the space for not knowing what the outcome will be? The combination of the needs to have a predefined direction and to predict, as much as possible, the outcome to be achieved can be dangerous. For both organisations and individuals.
I recall and recover an idea of the psychoanalyst Leon Grinberg, which I have already mentioned in another article: the degree of (mental) health is proportional to the capacity to live with and in ambivalence and uncertainty; on the contrary, pathology will be the imperious need to control and predict. According to this idea, adopting management - in which control, prediction and occupation with results are maximal - as a philosophy of life contains the potential for the development and/or maintenance of illness.
I hope that what I have written does not lead to misinterpretations. I am not against defining a purpose, whether for people, teams, companies or even nations. On the contrary, I see many advantages in this exercise. I hope we can all be clear about what "we are here to do" and what we are doing it for. It will greatly alleviate existential angst, I believe.
What I wanted to suggest, perhaps with more words than necessary, was that in the definition and search for meaning, for purpose, that the intentions be clear and that they go beyond, without ignoring, the desires of inspiration and attraction; that they contain and promote freedom of thought and action, guiding us through flexible but resistant boundaries. All this so that the purpose does not serve to make us rigid and obtuse but more aware, attentive and accepting of what can lead us astray. Who knows, we may end up in a better place than we had managed to anticipate.
Written for Link to Leaders on 9 December 2020; published 15 September 2020.
