Leading from Purpose: Clarity and the Confidence to Act When It Matters Most

by Nick Craig

Drawing on ten years of experience working with more than 10,000 executives from companies around the globe, Nick Craig takes you on a revelatory journey to understand your purpose, find clarity and focus, and lead with inspiration. When uncovered, purpose becomes our most fundamental guiding principle. Explaining where true purpose lies and demystifying where it doesn't, Craig offers the methods through which anyone can find their purpose. He identifies three pathways that will assess where you are with your purpose and where you should be going. Illustrated by case studies of leaders from all walks of life and industries, Craig shares their unique stories to show how top leaders are energized by their purpose, finding in it the confidence they need to properly evaluate high-stakes decisions and take the optimal action. The best leaders access their purpose especially when facing the unknown, drawing on the source of it to energize themselves. Purpose also redefines their relationships to stress, allowing them to thrive where others just survived, and to postpone momentary, fleeting rewards in favor of leaving a sustained, meaningful impact. Accessible, methodical, and eminently practical, Leading from Purpose offers the comprehensive toolbox with which everyone -- whether a c-suite executive of behind-the-scenes office worker -- can live out their purpose and achieve success on their own terms. If you find yourself in an organization that is struggling to live its purpose, Craig's insights on how to bring your purpose and the organization's purpose into the same room at the same time is game-changing and will redefine your life and career.

Genres: Leadership, Self Help, Nonfiction, Business, Audiobook, Ebooks

292 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 5, 2018

Reviews

[Josh Gruninger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like many other leadership/self help books, there are ideas and concepts for a variety of people in various situations. The overall theme, is to understand what our purpose is, or what drives us on. Although this is focused on careers and the corporate world, there is application in our personal and family lives and in different relationships. In fact, the author points out that at one point he got so wrapped up in focusing on teaching others how to find and live true to their purpose, that he failed to do so with his own family and that cost him dearly.
I liked how the chapters were broken up by concepts, and felt that there were enough stories sprinkled throughout to illustrate the points without necessarily being a novel.
Overall, a good read and one worth picking up. There are even exercises to do to help stimulate thoughts on how to implement the concepts discussed in the book. Definitely recommended.

[Bilal · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disclosure: I did not finish this book; I gave up after reading about a hundred pages which left me at the beginning of Part III. What Nick describes as one’s purpose in life, I might—and some others might also—describe as one’s happy place or the thing that keeps us ticking, and so on: The source of one’s energy, motivation, enthusiasm. He has identified three sources to look for that source to become aware of it: key moments from childhood to early adulthood, the magical moments; periods of distress, or challenging experiences; and passions that stay with us or repeat throughout our lives. He posits that if we analyze these three places enough, we’ll be able to identify the true source of our strength, our purpose. That’s good. I do not disagree.

However, I found the author struggling to explain his understanding of purpose. He uses the word “purpose” about one thousand times in the first one hundred pages. Phew! His arguments are repeated several times. The examples are alright but offer no piercing insights.

In my assessment—which may be faulty, I acknowledge that—is that the author needs to develop a lot more clarity of the subject matter himself, before he can effortlessly explain it to others. He’s far from it in this book.

[Z · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 Stars, middle of the pack and the second business book on "purpose" I've read this year. This one was less evil.

The Infinite Game was about manipulating your employees around the idea of a company's "purpose." Nick Craig's book takes the same subject and narrows it down to the individual. It's less manipulative, but ultimately still rings a little hollow. How do you avoid burnout? Why, by manufacturing a purpose from early childhood memories and determining how your roles can stretch to conform to it! Y'know, simple, straight forward little mental tricks. Nothing to see here. I'm fine.

I'm reminded of the Book of Mormon's song "Turn It Off" when I find these kind of hacks. We're struggling with a religion that doesn't quite add up, it's just a secular, civil one. Ultimately, I think the deep, existential dissatisfaction that afflicts Americans is bound up in our disillusionment with careers. Work is (imo, probably) necessary, but finding our purpose in it probably isn't. This is harmless. It's fine. It'll likely help some people, but I'm not sure I'll be a better leader after finishing it.

[Randolph Breschini · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well...I guess I should have tackled this...ah...you know...40 years ago😩🤷

Now that I’ve read this book, my head won’t stop spinning😩

Purpose in life🤷...I’ve got some soul searching to do... I mean quite a lot... I mean a who,e lot...better sooner rather than later now that I’m in the fourth stage of life🤓

If you are into understanding oneself, this book is a 10/10🙏🏻

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not the best book on purpose. It had some great tidbits, got it as an audiobook from the library. It didn’t come wIth the pdf, which would have been helpful. Book is better in text as you could answer the questions. The last chapter of his experience made me question his process of going after your purpose.

[K. C. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thoughts after reading: Who pays these groups to re-write the same book every 3 years with a different title?

[Peter Soer · Rating 5 out of 5]

All you need to know about Purpose.
There is so much noise now about Purpose. But Nick Craig is the real deal. He has been the lead thinker omn Purpose for 20+ years, and has run programmes with senior leaders all around the World across sectors and types of organisation. With this book you will find what Purpose is, how our unique prupose comes about and how to harness it to love a better life. Thank-you Nick. Peter

[Laura Luzzi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had trouble with this book. I could not get a handle on where it was going and it was annoying to read. The concept of the book is a good one, but I found no purpose reading this book. Is that because I don't know my purpose? Maybe.

[widyatmiko adhi pradhana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finally after I read this book. I discovered my purpose. The purpose that unconsciously guides me through the journey of life.

My purpose is : "To explore and to find ways in the journey of the discoveries"

[Jenny Spencer · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF. Couldn’t get into this

[Kristi Becknell · Rating 3 out of 5]

The best part of this book was the forward by Brene Brown. Lol No really I liked this book but it lacked direction and some depth.

[Wan Farisan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good book on leadership

[Karthik Kamath · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author makes some strong points. But the books faces issues like the lack of direction and being repetative .

[Ashley Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read! It challenged me to think big picture and helped me to gain clarity on my purpose in life, not just on my career path.

[Sam · Rating 2 out of 5]

Audiobook

Did quick overview, wasn't a fan and didn't find anything compelling worth recommending.

[Marjorie · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was interesting and helped to consider your life in a new way. One concept stretched out into a book. Could have been condensed.

[Bas W · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nogal amerikaans, maar nuttig

[Justin Kukla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cool.

[Blomb · Rating 2 out of 5]

This read like a bloated church sermon. Repetitive, and could be cut down to a much shorter and poignant purpose.

[Amogh Navada · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book that really established my viewpoint of purpose.

[Mara Vernon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love doing purpose work with my clients and this book is one I'll be recommending. It's tangible and actionable. While the stories told are mostly for high level leaders, the principles work at all levels.

[Alexandra · Rating 2 out of 5]

since I didn't take the assessment at the beginning I was basically just listening to nice stories about other people's epiphanies. I didn't really relate to his ways to figure out purpose.

[Marie Parent · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tres bon livre de développement personnel.

[Jennifer Lucking]

Decided to put this one down. I got through the first section and partway through the second. I discovered that I really do lead from purpose already and having just completed an 18 month curriculum on personal leadership, some of this felt repetitive for me. The third section of the book may have equipped me with more knowledge and tools, but I also realized that the book was lacking conversation about how spirituality and faith might play into purpose (unless it’s in the sections I didn’t read...?), and that matters a lot to me and my leadership journey.