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HBR Guide to Crafting Your Purpose
Stop searching for purpose. Build it. We're living through a crisis of purpose. Surveys indicate that people are feeling less connected to the meaning of their work, asking, "How do I find my purpose?" That's the wrong question. You don't find your purpose—you build it. The HBR Guide to Crafting Your Purpose debunks three common myths about that purpose is found, that you have only one, and that it stays the same over time. Packed with stories, tips, and activities, this book teaches you how to cultivate more meaning in your life and work and endow everything you do with purpose. You'll learn how Arm yourself with the advice you need to succeed on the job, with the most trusted brand in business. Packed with how-to essentials from leading experts, the HBR Guides provide smart answers to your most pressing work challenges.
240 pages, Paperback
Published January 11, 2022
108 people are currently reading
290 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
September 3, 2022
As the book clearly states, it helps you "craft" your purpose and not find one. The whole book tilts on the premise that there is no purpose in life, but you have to find it yourselves. Some of the main highlights the author makes are that purpose for an individual is ever changing, purpose is what you make of it (it can be anything) & purpose can keep changing over time.
The book is well crafted and has a very professional step by step tune to it. That said, if you are not careful, you might fall into the capitalist agenda that work is actually great for you, working for companies is actually the only way to be. But that's the HBR part of the book speaking. Still in between all this you will find the author bringing in "flow" and "energy" very skillfully.
There are subtle hints in the book which says, purpose might not bring happiness. Further, that in actuality there is no purpose at all. You can make cleaning a certain tombstone your purpose and excel in it and be happy. You can make different purposes for different parts of your life. A purpose for every role you play, purpose in being a father, a friend, an employee etc. But you'll notice that in this book, the family part is always addressed but is always addressed last.
The book helps you look at what you are already doing which can be tagged as purpose. It shows that in actuality you are carrying out a lot of responsibilities in your life which can in themselves be a purpose of your life.
The narrative also points towards mixing the professional and the personal, which is weird coming from a foreign author...
All in all, a decent book to read. Will surely make you think about your priorities. Something that can be referred again in your life. Three stars because this is all too business oriented, and it feels like an organization has written it and not an individual.
The book is well crafted and has a very professional step by step tune to it. That said, if you are not careful, you might fall into the capitalist agenda that work is actually great for you, working for companies is actually the only way to be. But that's the HBR part of the book speaking. Still in between all this you will find the author bringing in "flow" and "energy" very skillfully.
There are subtle hints in the book which says, purpose might not bring happiness. Further, that in actuality there is no purpose at all. You can make cleaning a certain tombstone your purpose and excel in it and be happy. You can make different purposes for different parts of your life. A purpose for every role you play, purpose in being a father, a friend, an employee etc. But you'll notice that in this book, the family part is always addressed but is always addressed last.
The book helps you look at what you are already doing which can be tagged as purpose. It shows that in actuality you are carrying out a lot of responsibilities in your life which can in themselves be a purpose of your life.
The narrative also points towards mixing the professional and the personal, which is weird coming from a foreign author...
All in all, a decent book to read. Will surely make you think about your priorities. Something that can be referred again in your life. Three stars because this is all too business oriented, and it feels like an organization has written it and not an individual.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 14, 2023
This book has some really good insights. Some of the big takeaways for me is that purpose is mined and made, not found. Our purpose can come from multiple things (work, family, religion, community). Purpose is not static but can change over time.
I’d definitely recommend this book to anyone trying to create purpose for their job or vocation. There’s a lot of good thought exercises and ideas to help in that process.
Also, this quote from the book is 🔥 “Your vocation in life is where your greatest joy meets the worlds greatest need.”
I’d definitely recommend this book to anyone trying to create purpose for their job or vocation. There’s a lot of good thought exercises and ideas to help in that process.
Also, this quote from the book is 🔥 “Your vocation in life is where your greatest joy meets the worlds greatest need.”
February 26, 2025
Didn’t finish and I’m happier in doing so😊
February 10, 2022
This is a great read. Short enough but comprehensive too, covering focusing on what your purpose is.
Will look for this so I can have my own copy.
Thanks to NetGalley for the arc
Will look for this so I can have my own copy.
Thanks to NetGalley for the arc
July 22, 2025
Helpful to find purpose in the third third of life
Even though I am no longer working, I volunteer and invested in many relationships. Colemans book (especially the first two sections) helped me to relax and not worry about finding “my purpose” but to pursue many different kinds of purposes in this life I have been given. i am grateful to have discovered this book.
Even though I am no longer working, I volunteer and invested in many relationships. Colemans book (especially the first two sections) helped me to relax and not worry about finding “my purpose” but to pursue many different kinds of purposes in this life I have been given. i am grateful to have discovered this book.
August 31, 2022
Crafting your Purpose neatly walks the reader through an abstract topic that has traditionally been hard to break down into clear buckets. The result is clarity around your purpose and actionable next steps. For instance, after dispelling the myth that the most purpose-driven people alive either have a single purpose or a stable purpose, on page 87 Coleman tables out how to Navigate a Changing Purpose. I found this especially to be true for me and resonated with the line, “As people mature, so do their sources of meaning.”
The witty humor and real-life examples make it fun to read too.
The witty humor and real-life examples make it fun to read too.
July 21, 2022
This book has lessons for individuals and organizations seeking to base actions on meaning. For the individual, it’s relevant on both the personal and professional planes. For businesses, it has application for new and existing organizations. It’s an easy read, and it comes with a number of ready-to-implement tools. I recommend this book to everyone- but especially to those in or approaching a period of significant transition.
February 25, 2022
Coleman offers a thoughtful take, much more than making sure you are doing the “right job” and “finding your passion.” He talks about how, why, and with whom you do your job, as well as what the jobs costs you and offers you in non financial terms. A wonderful read that will provoke every reader to consider how they spend their time.
May 27, 2022
The secret to fulfillment lies in the balance of purpose and enjoyment, in both personal and professional activies. Purpose without enjoyment is drudgery, enjoyment without purpose is superficiality, and being without either is misery.
Making work both purposeful and enjoyable relies on four steps:
1. Craft your work: turn the job you have in to the job you want. Identify what gives you meaning and attempt to emphasise these in your work. Take on new tasks that are meaningful, and try to reduce or streamline the ones that are not.
2. Make work a craft: aim for self-improvement and task mastery. Set goals and share your aspirations to keep yourself accountable. Find opportunities to compete, either against others or with yourself. Appreciate the craft of others and ask what talent, commitment, and sacrifice it requires.
3. Connect work to service: at work, at home, and in the community. Think about who you serve and how you can serve them better from each category of the 4C, 2P approach: clients, colleagues, community, capital (shareholders), partners in business, and people you love.
4. Invest in positive relationships: elevate connections with those in your network. Adopt a mindset of care and trust. Be both a mentor and a mentee. Pursue new relationships, repair broken ones, but focus the most on your best relationships.
Purpose is not something we find, it is made. It is not a single thing, but rather a plural. It is not static, as meaning shifts and changes over time.
It is important to remember there are many sources of purpose in life, of which work is just one. These can be remembered using the acronym LABORS:
- Love: investing in deep and meaningful relationships.
- Avocation: hobbies allowing us to self-improve, providing daily doses of purpose and enjoyment.
- Beauty: seeking out or crafting experiences and things that are beautiful.
- Occupation: as discussed previously.
- Religion: or philosophy, both of which provide connection with others, a moral compass, and a guide to the "good life."
- Service: using one's time, talents and resources to help others, whether it is formal volunteering or small acts of kindness.
Making work both purposeful and enjoyable relies on four steps:
1. Craft your work: turn the job you have in to the job you want. Identify what gives you meaning and attempt to emphasise these in your work. Take on new tasks that are meaningful, and try to reduce or streamline the ones that are not.
2. Make work a craft: aim for self-improvement and task mastery. Set goals and share your aspirations to keep yourself accountable. Find opportunities to compete, either against others or with yourself. Appreciate the craft of others and ask what talent, commitment, and sacrifice it requires.
3. Connect work to service: at work, at home, and in the community. Think about who you serve and how you can serve them better from each category of the 4C, 2P approach: clients, colleagues, community, capital (shareholders), partners in business, and people you love.
4. Invest in positive relationships: elevate connections with those in your network. Adopt a mindset of care and trust. Be both a mentor and a mentee. Pursue new relationships, repair broken ones, but focus the most on your best relationships.
Purpose is not something we find, it is made. It is not a single thing, but rather a plural. It is not static, as meaning shifts and changes over time.
It is important to remember there are many sources of purpose in life, of which work is just one. These can be remembered using the acronym LABORS:
- Love: investing in deep and meaningful relationships.
- Avocation: hobbies allowing us to self-improve, providing daily doses of purpose and enjoyment.
- Beauty: seeking out or crafting experiences and things that are beautiful.
- Occupation: as discussed previously.
- Religion: or philosophy, both of which provide connection with others, a moral compass, and a guide to the "good life."
- Service: using one's time, talents and resources to help others, whether it is formal volunteering or small acts of kindness.
November 29, 2022
Simply written and reassuring for those of us who worry about whether we're missing out on a grand purpose in life and work.
Things I found helpful: the idea that purpose is multifaceted and intentional ("mined") and comes from many potential sources. I also like the idea of crafting your work and finding potential for crafting in all that you do.
Things that didn't resonate with me: obviously, this HBR book review is very much focused on corporate culture and one's occupation, even as the author states that purpose can be created everywhere. I'm kinda grossed out at the prospect that an organization's employees should be expected to be fully engaged and committed to an organization's mission and values. Sure, it's worth considering as an employee, but the last couple of chapters reek of "leadership" culture - something I find generally off-putting and inauthentic. That's my own personal feeling, though, and I don't think it de-legitimizes any of the other ideas I found valuable here.
Things I found helpful: the idea that purpose is multifaceted and intentional ("mined") and comes from many potential sources. I also like the idea of crafting your work and finding potential for crafting in all that you do.
Things that didn't resonate with me: obviously, this HBR book review is very much focused on corporate culture and one's occupation, even as the author states that purpose can be created everywhere. I'm kinda grossed out at the prospect that an organization's employees should be expected to be fully engaged and committed to an organization's mission and values. Sure, it's worth considering as an employee, but the last couple of chapters reek of "leadership" culture - something I find generally off-putting and inauthentic. That's my own personal feeling, though, and I don't think it de-legitimizes any of the other ideas I found valuable here.
July 23, 2024
You can read all the rationalist, atheist, existentialist and nihilist philosophy you like (and I've read a fair bit, especially of late), but humankind craves meaning in life. After 15 years in the corporate world I've definitely lost any real sense of meaning in the work I do.
After a decade in B2B marketing, I'm usually deeply sceptical of the use of the term "purpose" - at least in a business sense. That's what I was expecting this book to be about - and it is, in part. But it's more about finding your own meaning and purpose in life.
For a cynic like me, this could sound like self-help / quasi-religious fluff - but there's actually a lot of helpful, practical stuff in here. Useful exercises to focus on what matters, and narrow down what you actually enjoy. Some handy advice to help shift your perspective and perceptions of the daily grind.
I probably should have read it before I quit my job, TBH!
After a decade in B2B marketing, I'm usually deeply sceptical of the use of the term "purpose" - at least in a business sense. That's what I was expecting this book to be about - and it is, in part. But it's more about finding your own meaning and purpose in life.
For a cynic like me, this could sound like self-help / quasi-religious fluff - but there's actually a lot of helpful, practical stuff in here. Useful exercises to focus on what matters, and narrow down what you actually enjoy. Some handy advice to help shift your perspective and perceptions of the daily grind.
I probably should have read it before I quit my job, TBH!
April 28, 2022
Put thought into your work
Part of my ongoing research into understanding what drives agency at work. This is a handy tool with practical steps one can take to craft or unearth purpose in even the most dull, monotonous, and repetitious work they do. Reads more like how to reframe the lens around purpose and take specific actions to craft it.
Skimmed through most of it - recommend skimming and isolating points that stick with you.
Part of my ongoing research into understanding what drives agency at work. This is a handy tool with practical steps one can take to craft or unearth purpose in even the most dull, monotonous, and repetitious work they do. Reads more like how to reframe the lens around purpose and take specific actions to craft it.
Skimmed through most of it - recommend skimming and isolating points that stick with you.
May 31, 2022
I liked the fact that there were action items for the reader... but... umm... that's kind of the only thing good about it. If you follow HBR or even just general 'purpose' content on Medium, TED, Reddit, or whatever, there isn't a whole lot of new content covered... This would be a good book for someone who hasn't been exposed to the concepts before, but I personally didn't get a whole lot out of it.
October 15, 2024
Not that easy to read and follow; But after all :
»Wrestling with meaning and purpose is hard. It requires you to carve out real time for reflection-not an hour here and there, but big chunks of time to think deeply. It will require structuring your thoughts and engaging friends, colleagues, and mentors to help you think them through. It may even require you to let go of the things that hold you back.«
»Wrestling with meaning and purpose is hard. It requires you to carve out real time for reflection-not an hour here and there, but big chunks of time to think deeply. It will require structuring your thoughts and engaging friends, colleagues, and mentors to help you think them through. It may even require you to let go of the things that hold you back.«
July 15, 2023
Very handy guide on how to better engage yourself and employees in the mundane everyday work. In a time where the entire workforce is labeled as “lazy,” we all benefit from understanding the WHY behind our work. This guide walks through how to bring meaning to the mundane, rather than just viewing work as something we do for a paycheck.
January 3, 2024
But it matters, often more than you know. Your work matters. Your relationships matter. You matter. Your life has purpose whether you see it or not, and it has the capacity to change the world, in ways both big and small. Even in those moments when meaning is hard to see, it's there-ready for you to seek, seize, and create.
Will you? I genuinely hope so. And there's no day like today.
Will you? I genuinely hope so. And there's no day like today.
February 17, 2023
Nice book with practical guidance.
May 6, 2023
it was ok.... not sure Harvard Business School knows much about purpose
September 23, 2023
Loved this book! Practical and useful examples, deep questions. It's about mining and creating a purpose instead of mindlessly searching or waiting for it to enter your life.
December 7, 2023
I will tip my cap to CFA in that this book just felt like a lot of reminders and not new information
June 29, 2024
“Your work matters. Your relationships matter. You matter. Your life has purpose whether you see it or not, and it has the capacity to change the world, in ways both big and small.”
September 21, 2025
This was fine. I enjoyed reading it but didn’t love it. Some good considerations of how to make work more engaging. Definitely more targeted at the white collar office based crowd.
April 25, 2022
***Note: I received a free digital review copy of this book from NetGalley and Harvard Business Review Press in exchange for an honest review.***
If I’m being honest, I approach most self-help and/or personal growth books with a healthy dose of skepticism. It’s not that I’m a Negative Ned or a Pessimistic Paul, per se. It’s just that the market is so saturated with hundreds (probably thousands) of these titles that contain basically identical content that I can’t help but roll my eyes whenever I see a new one hit the shelves. Even the anti-self-help, cool, trendy, swear word-laden titles have started to reach critical mass. At first it was cool to read these because you could be like, “Look at me! I’m bettering myself but in a cool hipster way. F$&$ yeah!”
Even worse than the typical fare one finds in the Personal Growth section of bookstores are the ones that purport to help you find your true purpose in life. Purpose. Such a heavy word. Just listen to anyone who’s achieved a modicum of success in any given field and they’ll tell you all about how they found their true purpose in life. For the rest of us, these people serve as shining examples of our own glaring mediocrity. If only we could find our purpose, maybe we too could enjoy the level of personal and professional fulfillment that these people have.
The truth, however, is a little more complex than that. I recently got the opportunity to read and review the HBR Guide to Crafting Your Purpose by John Coleman, published by Harvard Business Review Press. In it, he managed to dismantle some of the skepticism I’ve accumulated over the years through the careful analysis of his own research, plenty of evidence from other reputable sources to back it up, and more than a few real-life examples to provide illustrations for the concepts he lays out in his book. All in all, I was impressed.
Coleman begins his book by discussing the “crisis of meaning” modern society is currently experiencing. Many (if not most) people go to work simply to earn a paycheck. They find no meaning in the work they perform and their days are filled with drudgery and the overwhelming sense that nothing they do matters or provides value. Because of the proliferation of information technologies which allows them to be accessible at all times, they also have no work-life balance. When life is all work and no play, misery quickly ensues.
One of Coleman’s main assertions throughout his book is that purpose is not something inherent or static. It is fluid and malleable. More than anything, it is something that can be crafted by each individual to provide meaning and happiness in each area of one’s life. It is not always something that one finds, but rather something that can be designed to fit the needs and desires of each individual based on their backgrounds and values.
Another thing I liked about Coleman’s book are the numerous exercises he included to allow the reader the chance and space to put to work the concepts which he discusses. Whether someone is fresh out of high school or college or already somewhat (or even mostly) established in their chosen career field, I can’t think of anyone that wouldn’t benefit from Coleman’s wisdom.
The HBR Guide to Crafting Your Purpose was released by Harvard Business Review Press on January 11th, 2022 and is available to purchase wherever books are sold.
***Note: This review also appears in slightly different form on my blog The Voracious Bibliophile at https://thevoraciousbibliophile.com/2...***
If I’m being honest, I approach most self-help and/or personal growth books with a healthy dose of skepticism. It’s not that I’m a Negative Ned or a Pessimistic Paul, per se. It’s just that the market is so saturated with hundreds (probably thousands) of these titles that contain basically identical content that I can’t help but roll my eyes whenever I see a new one hit the shelves. Even the anti-self-help, cool, trendy, swear word-laden titles have started to reach critical mass. At first it was cool to read these because you could be like, “Look at me! I’m bettering myself but in a cool hipster way. F$&$ yeah!”
Even worse than the typical fare one finds in the Personal Growth section of bookstores are the ones that purport to help you find your true purpose in life. Purpose. Such a heavy word. Just listen to anyone who’s achieved a modicum of success in any given field and they’ll tell you all about how they found their true purpose in life. For the rest of us, these people serve as shining examples of our own glaring mediocrity. If only we could find our purpose, maybe we too could enjoy the level of personal and professional fulfillment that these people have.
The truth, however, is a little more complex than that. I recently got the opportunity to read and review the HBR Guide to Crafting Your Purpose by John Coleman, published by Harvard Business Review Press. In it, he managed to dismantle some of the skepticism I’ve accumulated over the years through the careful analysis of his own research, plenty of evidence from other reputable sources to back it up, and more than a few real-life examples to provide illustrations for the concepts he lays out in his book. All in all, I was impressed.
Coleman begins his book by discussing the “crisis of meaning” modern society is currently experiencing. Many (if not most) people go to work simply to earn a paycheck. They find no meaning in the work they perform and their days are filled with drudgery and the overwhelming sense that nothing they do matters or provides value. Because of the proliferation of information technologies which allows them to be accessible at all times, they also have no work-life balance. When life is all work and no play, misery quickly ensues.
One of Coleman’s main assertions throughout his book is that purpose is not something inherent or static. It is fluid and malleable. More than anything, it is something that can be crafted by each individual to provide meaning and happiness in each area of one’s life. It is not always something that one finds, but rather something that can be designed to fit the needs and desires of each individual based on their backgrounds and values.
Another thing I liked about Coleman’s book are the numerous exercises he included to allow the reader the chance and space to put to work the concepts which he discusses. Whether someone is fresh out of high school or college or already somewhat (or even mostly) established in their chosen career field, I can’t think of anyone that wouldn’t benefit from Coleman’s wisdom.
The HBR Guide to Crafting Your Purpose was released by Harvard Business Review Press on January 11th, 2022 and is available to purchase wherever books are sold.
***Note: This review also appears in slightly different form on my blog The Voracious Bibliophile at https://thevoraciousbibliophile.com/2...***
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews