Is Your Pursuit Noble?

Esteemed Harvard Business School professor, Clayton Christensen wrote:

“Management is the most noble of professions if it’s practiced well.  No other occupation offers as many ways to help others to learn and grow, take responsibility and be recognized for achievement, and contribute to the success of a team.”

I decided some time ago that my purpose was to help leaders develop self-reliance to create powerful futures.  By self-reliance, I don’t mean going it alone.  On the contrary.  I believe developing self-reliance means leaders at all levels take responsibility for their own growth and development.  This is accomplished through solitude and reflection by hearing the unheard.  It’s accomplished by embracing adversity as crucibles to test you and your team.  It’s also accomplished by learning the strengths of those who can support your efforts in the best possible way

To Christensen’s point, helping others learn and grow is one of the best ways to engage teams to assume ownership.  When ownership thinking becomes the norm, commitment and accountability naturally follow.

Does your current platform allow you to help others learn and grow in support of a noble purpose?  Said another way, does your worldview match that of your organization allowing you to live a life of purpose?

Does your platform have shared accountability, a distinctive purpose, and real work?

Is the accountability truly shared?

Was the team involved in defining the purpose?  Are individuals able to express their distinctive purpose – where they’re going and why?

Does everyone have the same amount of work to do, and is the work aligned with your stated purpose – your vision?

The litmus test is shared accountability. Is your team truly committed to the purpose… or merely compliant?  Which are you?

 If we don’t change direction soon, we’ll end up where we’re going.

–”Professor” Irwin Corey, comic