My recent posts have been about finding your purpose. People have agreed its important, but should it be the number one priority when making career decisions?
A recent conversation with Trefor Munn-Venn made me pause and think. It has been many years since we spent a week together on a fabulous leadership development course (Niagara Institute) It was at a critical point in our careers, and we were reminiscing about the great sessions and what we got out of it.
During the course we both had a few lightbulb moments which were instrumental in shaping our purpose and future choices.
For me it was all about enabling people to come together and create a common goal. For Trefor it was the value of 1:1 coaching.
Before our leadership development time at Niagara, we had various career experiences, and we were starting to identify what we did and didn’t like doing. However, we didn’t have a clear purpose. Was that because it’s necessary to experience a few roles before focusing on what matters? Or at that stage in our careers was it more important to be clear on our values so that any decisions made would lead to an environment where we could explore and realize our potentials?
Fast forward to a recent conversation I had with my fabulous mentees Eleni Menegatou Helen Bartlett Lily McNeil Andrea Parr Emma McLeod Michaela Fojtů Argine Pereda who are on their journey of exploring their purpose. Their perspective was that it was their values that will serve them well, especially in this time of uncertainty. They are what they will hang onto. Values will remain constant whilst purpose hasn’t fully evolved.
What do you think? What’s more important – to find your values or find your purpose?