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Purpose, Meaning, and Passion

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Find your purpose at work.

In an ideal world, our work lives would be completely fulfilling and intrinsically motivating.

But what if you're stuck in a job and your heart isn't in it anymore? Or what if your company's mission seems unrelated to the work you do day in and day out? This book showcases the power of passion--and how you and your team can find it at work.

This volume includes the work

Morten T. HansenTeresa M. AmabileScott A. SnookNick Craig

This collection of articles includes "Finding Meaning at Work, Even When Your Job Is Dull," by Morten Hansen and Dacher Keltner; "What to Do When Your Heart Isn't in Your Work Anymore," by Andy Molinsky; "You Don’t Find Your Purpose--You Build It," by John Coleman; "How to Find Meaning in a Job That Isn't Your True Calling," by Emily Esfahani Smith; "You're Never Done Finding Purpose at Work," by Dan Pontefract; "From Purpose to Impact," by Nick Craig and Scott A. Snook; "Five Questions to Help Your Employees Find Their Inner Purpose," by Kristi Hedges; "How to Make Work More Meaningful for Your Team," by Lewis Garrad and Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic; "The Power of Small Wins," by Teresa M. Amabile and Steven J. Kramer; and "The Founder of TOMS on Reimagining the Company's Mission," by Blake Mycoskie.

HOW TO BE HUMAN AT WORK.

The HBR Emotional Intelligence Series features smart, essential reading on the human side of professional life from the pages of Harvard Business Review. Each book in the series offers proven research showing how our emotions impact our work lives, practical advice for managing difficult people and situations, and inspiring essays on what it means to tend to our emotional well-being at work. Uplifting and practical, these books describe the social skills that are critical for ambitious professionals to master.

105 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 17, 2018

122 people are currently reading
874 people want to read

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Harvard Business Review

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5 stars
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews
Profile Image for Jeainny.
128 reviews2 followers
April 6, 2020
The book helped me make sense of purpose, how to find it, and why we should find it. Searching for my purpose now feels less stressful and appears less elusive.

From reading this, it seems as though having a purpose adds great benefits to your life such as longevity and good health. There exists both practical and emotionally satisfying drivers to finding your purpose.

Unlike most self-help, discover-thyself books, which tell you how to follow your passion and purpose (which assumes that you already know what you want) this book offers you tools to find out what it is you want.
Profile Image for Anis.
34 reviews12 followers
October 20, 2020
La historia de la empresa TOMS me encantó, un propósito de ayudar y contribuir a los más necesitados, excelente!! Consejos y ejemplos de mucha utilidad.
Profile Image for Haur Bin Chua.
299 reviews7 followers
February 16, 2020
Three myths of purpose:
1. It’s not that one thing
2. One don’t just find it, one has to build it
3. It’s ever changing

Five questions to find one’s purpose:
1. What are you good at?
2. What do you enjoy?
3. What feels most useful?
4. What creates a sense of forward momentum?
5. How do you relate to others?

Leaders’ personality characteristics that help others find jobs more meaningful:
1. Curious and inquisitive - create a sense of exploration and continuous learning amongst the team; open to new ideas
2. Challenging and relentless - make employees feel a sense of progress vs inertia and status quo
3. Hire for values and culture fit - can’t agree more. Best fit people might not be the most competent or experienced
4. Able to trust people - empowerment leads to sense of autonomy & higher level of accountability
5. Celebrate small wins - plant a flag to mark and recognise progress. While sounding trivial, plays a huge role in improving teams’ motivations. Be the catalyst and nourished to support progress and not toxins or inhibitors
24 reviews1 follower
October 29, 2018
Useful viewpoints on avoiding jobs that feel like 'washing dishes' or 'hanging coats' and finding a job with meaning.
Profile Image for Ashley Lhérisson.
87 reviews5 followers
May 21, 2019
Enjoyable read about finding meaning in all things. Insightful questions to help you determine your higher priorities for life and how work fits in. I especially liked chapter six: "From Purpose to Impact," on defining a leadership purpose for yourself and for your organization. The three main questions the authors encouraged readers to ask were:

(1) What did you especially love doing when you were a child, before the world told you what you should or shouldn't like or do? Describe a moment and how it made you feel.

(2) Tell me about two of your most challenging life experiences. How have they shaped you?

(3) What do you enjoy doing in your life now that helps you 'sing your song'

A helpful exercise the book included was to consider additional questions such as: What are you good at doing?; Which work activities require less effort for you?; What do you look forward to doing?; If you could design your job with no restrictions, how would you spend your time?; Which work outcomes make you most proud?; How is your work getting you closer to what you want for yourself?; and How does your work enhance your family and social connections?
Profile Image for Nasran.
41 reviews1 follower
January 27, 2020
I give this book a 4.3, therefore doesn’t really warrant a 5. It’s not really a book but rather a compilation of articles in regards to passion and purpose. A lot of them are somewhat anecdotes and not really practical approaches but it does outlines some ideas that may help one find purpose and passion.

From the first article (or chapter) in the book it laid out short points on how one finds purpose particularly in the working area, and the rest of the book talks about managerial roles and how a leader may inspire passion and how a follow my create their passion and purpose.

It’s a good book for those who want a short and light read and some insightful ideas about life!
Profile Image for City Girl.
123 reviews
December 11, 2021
Jammed packed with information. A person should read it one chapter a day, take notes, and reread to fully understand it this book. It may be small, but there’s plenty of information in within the pages.
Profile Image for Priyanka.
168 reviews16 followers
August 29, 2020
I started this book with a bit of skepticism but it turned out to be a great read. It has lot of useful articles to derive meaning and purpose. There are a couple of articles that have actual steps and practical tips on how to reach one's purpose. So a great read!
Profile Image for Boon.
370 reviews8 followers
June 6, 2019
Consists of many articles from HBR. Some are quite good while some are quite difficult to read.
30 reviews
January 21, 2020
Solid foundation of research to back up workplace leadership claims that sometimes contradict general consensus. Read it again before starting work/getting promoted/taking on more responsibility.
Profile Image for Livinda .
11 reviews
June 6, 2021
The book is beyond my expectation! Instead of theoretical, the book also provides real life cases of purpose, meaning, and passion. The real life cases mostly come from the established companies. Personally, the content is well-written, well-structured, and easy to digest.

You will also find practical advice or exercise, for instance, there's a sample plan to put your purpose into actions on chapter 6. Frankly, I've been in deep contemplating for finding the purpose and meaning of my existence through my passion, job, and the people in my environment. I think this book has helped me in directing my thoughts toward the present time and how can I optimise my skills to create positive impacts on people's lives.

Chapter 8 on How to make work more meaningful for your team by Lewis Garrad and Thomas Chamorro-Premuzic has got my attention. They put forward that research consistently shows that people who experience meaningful work report better health, more well-being, and clearer sense of teamwork and engagement. People bounce back faster from setbacks and more likely to view mistakes as learning opportunities rather than failures. In other words, people at work who experience their job as meaningful are more likely to thrive and grow. This is why businesses with a stronger and clearer sense of purpose tend to perform better financially.

Over the past few decades, a great deal of research has shown that leaders play a significant role in helping employees understand why their roles matter. Furthermore, the leadership characteristics that enable these cultures of meaning and purpose to engage employees are a reflection of a leader's personality which has been proven to have a strong impact on team and organizational performance.

Research suggests four key personality characteristics that determine leaders' ability to make other people's job more meaningful, namely:
1. They are curious and inquisitive
In a way, curious leaders help employees find something meaningful by providing a wider range of possibilities for how work gets done, as opposed to being very prescriptive and micromanaging people.
2. They are challenging and relentless
One of the greatest problems organizations must solve is the inertia and stagnation that follow, or even anticipate, success. Leaders who remain ambitious in the face of both failure and success, and who push their people to remain dissatisfied with their accomplishments, instill a deeper sense of purpose in their teams and organizations. As a result employees feel a sense of progress, reinvention, and growth, which in turn results in a more meaningful and positive work experience.
3. They hire for values and culture fit
Research shows that people only find something valuable if it aligns with their core needs and motives. This is why the fit between an individual's personal values and the culture of the organization they work in is such an important driver of their performance. In fact, you're better off not hiring the "best" people but instead looking for those who are a good fit for your organization. Leaders who pay attention to what each individual values are more likely to hire people who will find it easier to connect with their colleagues and the wider organization, all of which help to drive a sense of meaning.
4. They are able to trust people
Overpowering and controlling bosses are a serious source of disempowerment for employees. They drain value from the work they do and make employees feel worthless. In stark contrast, leaders who know how to trust people are more likely to give them room to experiment and grow. To be a good leader, focus on helping employees find meaning in their achievements, rather than just enjoy their time at the office.
Profile Image for Catalina Jimenez G.
51 reviews3 followers
June 5, 2022
Purpose, Meaning, and Passion, as part of the HBR’s Emotional Intelligence series, is a thoughtful curation of published articles about these topics exactly; although I would say it focuses much more on purpose and meaning, and leaves passion to the reader’s responsibility.

It’s a very well-put-together compilation that follows a helpful structure, besides having an appealing design that makes it easy to read it all in one sitting. The book starts off with what seemed to me like a very pessimistic point of view. The first articles define purpose, its sources, and then state that it’s on you to make whatever job feel meaningful. Although I agree, it felt a bit harsh for a piece that is mostly directed toward people who are feeling miserable with what they currently do.

But… it takes a surprising and uplifting turn! The articles that follow focus on the importance of meaning; how to define your purpose, which will bring truly meaningful work; and research-based characteristics of a person who encourages this in their teams. The second half of the book is mostly directed toward managers, but what I love about these topics is that it applies to everything, even if it’s not work-related. After all, the ultimate goal of a manager is to help your team be the best they can be (and isn’t that what all humans should aim for?).

Definitely a good read to find valuable managerial insights and reminders. One I loved is the relationship between purpose and being clear on who you are; how being clear on this will extend to your goals and ways of achieving them. And although it states the obvious behaviors of an ideal manager/person, and acknowledges it, the various writers offer clear examples of how these sound, look, and apply in different scenarios. To sum up, let’s try to be curious, non-judgmental, trusting, and offer our support with work itself as well as interpersonal relationships. Most importantly, the book encourages us to endow everything we do with purpose.

My favorite chapters/articles:
- Chapter 6. From Purpose to Impact by Nick Craig and Scott A. Snook
- Chapter 10. The Founder of TOMS on Reimagining the Company’s Mission by Blake Mycoskie

And favorite quotes:
- “The key to engaging both the dreamers and the skeptics is to build a process that has room to express individuality but also offers step-by-step practical guidance.”
- “Even the best strategies will fail if managers ignore the people working in the trenches to execute it.”
- “When you have a clear sense of who you are, everything else follows naturally.”
Profile Image for Mar de  Luces.
125 reviews11 followers
November 11, 2025
He ido leyéndome este libro durante mis ratos libres en el trabajo, pues está estructurado de una manera muy cómoda y visual, que hace amena y ágil la lectura.
No es un libro que me vaya a cambiar la vida, pero me ha resultado interesante, en tanto en cuanto, describe el proceso de creación de algunas grandes empresas o la manera en que sus CEO les han dado un giro para adecuar las empresas a su propósito.

Tiene frases manidas, como todo libro de autoayuda/desarrollo personal; por lo que creo que esta serie de Inteligencia Emocional pretende tener un enfoque más buenista sobre las relaciones laborales, que no se ajustan a la realidad por ambas partes (empresas y trabajadores).

En un mundo utópico, el ideal del trabajo sería tener unas fantásticas relaciones en nuestro entorno laboral, vivir nuestro trabajo con determinación y pasión, y permitir que seamos un poco más felices en el desarrollo de nuestro trabajo.
Es difícil alcanzarlo, porque no siempre todas las partes están de acuerdo en sus relaciones laborales, surgen conflictos, discrepancias y tensiones por el reconocimiento de los derechos en este ámbito.

Por tanto, hay cuestiones del libro que, desde una visión empresarial pueden servir; en cambio, si la lectura se lleva a cabo por un trabajador, creo que le va a interesar mucho menos o va a restar valor al contenido.
Profile Image for Caro Raciti.
195 reviews2 followers
January 12, 2024
This little book, or short AudioBook (a little over 2 hours) is a summary of different examples of people that found or built their purpose by using positive thinking and finding value on activities, no matter the task at hand that the person is performing.

By all means, everyone who works in a business has an impact no matter what their role is. I loved the example of the Nasa employee who was in charge of keeping the floors clean, and his positive attitude because he knew that everyone plays an important part of the whole.

I also loved the concept of multipurpose, because we as humans have many angles, so there isn't just one life purpose, there are many, and some of those, we can build ourselves, by growing and evolving, since we will acquire new skills and could be of service to more causes!

There are also some examples of when things can turn disappointing, depending on how managers react to certain challenging situations, but if they can see how their attitude has a big impact on the overall team, they could reflect and adjust to lead better.


Profile Image for Laura Hernandez.
23 reviews
August 24, 2024
Propósito, sentido y pasión: una pausa necesaria

Con un estilo claro y accesible, Morten Hansen nos invita a reflexionar sobre un aspecto fundamental de nuestras vidas: el trabajo. ¿Estamos realmente satisfechos con lo que hacemos? Muchas veces no, pero hay formas de solucionarlo más allá de renunciar.

Hansen nos guía a través de un viaje introspectivo, ayudándonos a identificar nuestras pasiones, valores y aquello que nos da un verdadero sentido de realización.

Lo que más me ha gustado es que el autor ofrece herramientas prácticas para aplicar estos conceptos a nuestra vida laboral. Ya sea que busquemos darle más propósito a nuestro trabajo actual o que estemos considerando un cambio de carrera. No miento ni exagero cuando digo que son muy prácticas.

Ojo, tampoco es el libro más revelador del mundo ni te ayudará a entender por qué estás en este plano universal.

Se lo recomiendo a cualquiera que sienta que aún no termina de conectar del todo con su propósito o motivación laboral.
23 reviews
September 24, 2024
Esperaba otro tipo de contenido, se enfoco más en lo laboral, aunque se puede trasladar uno que otro aspecto a la vida acádemica. No completó mis expectativas, así también para ser un libro corto redunda mucho en uno que otro punto que resulta obvio. El mensaje, en general, es bueno, pero te deja una sensación de que te debe más contenido. De la serie inteligencia emocional, era al que le tenia más ganas de leer, tal vez eso afectó mi opinión sobre este.
Profile Image for Jhon Fredy Guapacha.
21 reviews1 follower
January 10, 2025
Este es el primer libro que leo de Harvard Business Review y definitivamente cumple con lo que promete: es concreto, práctico y directo al punto. Explora el propósito personal desde una perspectiva sencilla, pero poderosa, y también ofrece herramientas claras para ayudar a los equipos de trabajo a encontrar su propósito colectivo. La lectura es fluida y fácil de seguir, lo que hace que sea muy disfrutable.
Profile Image for Jim.
1,138 reviews
January 7, 2023
Insights on how we all can find our meaning in our work and lives. This book does not read like a self help manual but it does provide steps on how we can regain our passion for our work. Worth the time investment to read and put into action.
60 reviews
May 1, 2023
Good collections of HBR articles on Purpose and Team Motivation. I liked the articles
5 Questions to Help Your Employees Find Their Inner Purpose
You Don’t Find Your Purpose — You Build It
Finding Meaning at Work, Even When Your Job Is Dull
The Power of Small Wins
Profile Image for Emily Fryer.
26 reviews
January 11, 2024
Definitely would recommend discussing this one with a friend (there are prompts/ questions). I really liked the beginning but ending got a bit intense. Half the book was about how to inspire your employees / people under you so not the best book for people early in their career!
Profile Image for leidy Quintero.
14 reviews
October 27, 2024
Consejos practicos para encontrar el propósito en el trabajo de cada uno como de nuestros equipos de trabajo.
Lo recomiendo para obtener aprendizajes tanto para aplicar en nuestras propias acciones como para potenciar las de las demás.
6 reviews
May 13, 2021
Una buena introducción al propósito.

Con ejemplos claros se ilustra el concepto del propósito de vida atado al propósito laboral. Una buena guía introductoria al tema.
Profile Image for Balkan Şencan.
185 reviews19 followers
November 30, 2021
Serinin en kötü kitabı olabilir; vasat, yeni bir şey söylemiyor, söyledikleri de öyle aman aman şeyler değil; pas geçebilirsiniz.
441 reviews
April 18, 2022
I liked it! Some were good, some were meh. I was able to use the guidance to write my own purpose statement, which was very encouraging.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Maritere Domínguez.
250 reviews14 followers
July 9, 2022
Consejos y experiencias para encontrar el propósito en tu trabajo y motivar a tus reportes a encontrarlo también.
Un poco repetitivo, pero el mensaje se transmite bien.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews

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