Over the past five years, there's been an explosion of interest in purpose-driven leadership. Academics, business experts, and even doctors make the case that purpose
is a key to exceptional leadership and the pathway to greater
well-being. Despite this growing understanding, however, a big challenge
remains. Few leaders have a strong sense of their own individual purpose, the authors' research and experience show, and even fewer can distill their purpose into a concrete statement or have a clear plan for translating purpose
into action. As a result, they limit their aspirations and often fail
to achieve their most ambitious professional and personal goals. In this
article, the authors present a step-by-step framework that leaders can
use to identify their purpose and develop an impact plan to achieve concrete results. Effective purpose-to-impact
plans use language that is uniquely meaningful to the individual,
rather than business jargon. They focus on future, big-picture
aspirations and work backward with increasing specificity. And they
emphasize the individual's strengths and encourage a holistic view on
work and family.