Max Mckeown

Purpose is a Turning Point

We will need unshrunk people. We will need those who have a purpose beyond mechanically increasing production. That requires personal decisions leading to personal purpose. And purpose is a crucial turning point.

Here are some practical suggestions to unshrinking yourself:

BECOME ONE PERSON We need to stop wearing all of those hats, playing all those roles, and thinking that one ability or strength compensates for not developing ourselves as complete people. Reduce the complication by being only one person all of the time until you become whole.

GET OUT Get out of the house, get out of the office, grab a scooter, play with your family in the park, go see a band that you dislike, cheer the opposite team, imagine being your enemy, change political party, even if it’s just for an hour. Then bring back some wisdom to your reality.

ADOPT SOMEONE Life is about relationships. In the end that is all there is. You don’t have to adopt a child (although there are enough children who need parents) but you can attach yourself to someone else’s welfare and help them win without any direct benefit to yourself.

LIVE YOUR EPITAPH How do you want to be remembered? What do you want your life to mean? Jack Welch wanted “People Jack” to be his epitaph but it will be the people around him who make that decision not him. What difference do you make? 

All life is sacrifice. All of life is choice. But sacrifice to what objective? Jack Welch sacrificed his life and relationships (what he called “the biggest merger” in his personal life to do the “the biggest deal” of his professional career but what did he gain? George Boutros, head of mergers at Credit Suisse sacrifices a part of his humanity when he attempts to, “win and make you look stupid” , in deal after billion dollar deal but what does he gain?  Three in four of all working people[i] have sacrificed time with their children, their physical health, or their relationships but for what?

If we are going to sacrifice, then we should choose to gain something of enduring value. We will need a firm conviction of the benefits of a balanced life and the source of value creation if we are to plant now with confidence that we will reap later.

Lift others up? Create something of worth? Do the right thing under pressure? James Holub sacrificed his career in commercial land property to recruit youngsters, 90% whom are drug addicts, from Milwaukee’s roughest areas and bring them into a free web training programme and then careers earning an average of $63,000 after two years.

In the end, you have to be the your own expert. An expert in you. An expert about you! An expert in what has an impact on you? Who should be more motivated than you to find out what drives you, how you think, what you need, and how to unshrink yourself? Who else is there?

(This excerpt is from the book Unshrink by Max Mckeown and Philip Whiteley)