Leading with Purpose: What It Really Means (and Why It Fuels Growth)
You’ve seen it in mission statements and keynote speeches. You’ve probably said it yourself: "We need to lead with purpose."
But what does that actually mean?
Too often, "purpose-driven leadership" is treated like a feel-good buzzword. It sounds inspiring but stays vague. In practice, it’s not fluff. It’s a discipline of intentionality. It’s a strategic advantage. And it’s a mindset that separates managers from transformational leaders.
For me, purpose-driven leadership means choosing to lead with intention rather than on autopilot. We can’t avoid reactivity entirely. Fires happen and plans change. But how we respond can still reflect our values. For our teams, that looks like asking deeper questions, prioritizing their development, and staying present. For the business, it’s about aligning decisions with strategy, communicating across levels, and thinking about the downstream impact of our actions.
That kind of alignment doesn't happen accidentally. And I’ve learned that the hard way.
When I Got It Wrong
Before I was a manager, I took a lot of pride in being the top bug finder on my QA team. I loved solving problems, getting into the code, and delivering results. But after I stepped into leadership, I didn’t let that go. Years into my role, I was once again recognized as the top bug finder. Except this time, it felt like failure.
Why? Because the job I was being praised for wasn’t mine anymore. It was my team’s.
I’d stayed in performance mode instead of leadership mode. I hadn’t taught them how I found bugs, shared my approach, or empowered them to own the work. I was doing instead of leading. And that meant I wasn’t aligning with what the business or my team actually needed from me.
That moment triggered a shift. I started studying what makes leadership effective. I committed to aligning with purpose, not just performance. And I began caring more about developing people than doing the work myself.
Purpose Is the Path, Not the Outcome
That experience taught me something I’ve come to believe deeply: when you lead with purpose, performance often follows. But performance alone doesn’t generate purpose. In fact, the more we chase results without alignment, the more disconnected we feel. The work becomes a grind. Our impact narrows. We start reacting instead of reflecting.
So how do you stay connected to your purpose?
Create space. That might mean taking a walk. Revisiting notes from a great book. Having a quite moment before your first meeting. Or even scheduling time to just think. The point is to reconnect with why you lead, before you get lost in what’s urgent.
“Leadership is not primarily about results. It is about the way we see and regard those we lead.”
-The Arbinger Institute, Leadership and Self-Deception
Purpose-driven leadership begins with that kind of clarity. It’s not about being perfect. It’s about being awake to what matters and leading from that awareness, over and over again.
Anchoring Purpose in Action
Purpose isn’t a concept, it’s a habit. If you want to lead with purpose, start here:
Build daily moments for reflection
Post visible reminders of values or goals
Use meetings to ask deeper questions, not just give updates
Invite someone to play the contrarian to widen your perspective
Train and empower your team instead of doing the work for them
Because leadership isn't a checklist. It's a posture. And when that posture is grounded in purpose, transformation (not just performance) becomes possible.
"You don't get results by focusing on results. You get results by doing the right things the right way with the right people."
—Stephen M.R. Covey, The Speed of Trust
What about you?
When have you found yourself leading out of habit or hustle rather than intention? What helped you realign? Join the conversation on LinkedIn!
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