A Definite Purpose Comes with a Price Tag

Earlier in this look at the idea of leading with a clear purpose, I challenged you to really consider why you do what you do and I’ve been intentional since about emphasizing that accepting leadership responsibility simply for the perks that are perceived to come with it ain’t gonna be enough to lead authentically very any substantial period of time. If you’ve been leading for a place of service for a while, you get it - but I’d guess this next piece will ring true for you as well!

While our definite purpose is sure to grow and change over time, if for no other reason than the world around changes and the things we see as possibilities grow, I’ve seen one specific thing remain constant as a prerequisite for working toward even a modest purpose: there’s always a price tag attached! For me, the initial price tag was giving up the opportunity to snag extra overtime hours to pad my paycheck any time funds got tight. When I moved from my press operator position into a role where I was rolling out a new initiative for a segment of our facility, it was a lateral move where pay grades were concerned - but even with nearly four years in the company, I was still only about half way up the ladder in my particular wage band. To compound that, the new role was (strictly) limited to just forty hours per week. And it didn’t take long for me to realize that the skills that helped me earn the position were most certainly not the same set of skills that I would need to be successful in that position moving forward, which is something I’ve seen all too many people experience as their careers progress so I pounded that drum pretty hard throughout What’s KILLING Your Profitability? (It ALL Boils Down to Leadership!)...

So here’s what that meant for me: I needed to dig into any resource I could get my hands on that would help me become more effective in that role, specifically in building stronger relationships with the people I needed support from and earning influence with the folks who would ultimately be executing the initiative I was training on. I won’t pretend that I was carrying the same weight as the supervisors and managers in the facility at that point, but I will share that the part time starting wage I saw posted in a Five Guys recently was well above what I was making, and I all the resources I was digging into with hopes of becoming better in my role were paid for out of my own pocket. At face value, accepting that position was a step backward in overall earnings!

I can’t say that I’ve ever experienced anything resembling overnight success but even those initial small steps to move my needle forward made a difference. A year or so into that role, I had an opportunity to move into the behavior-based safety role I mentioned before - which was yet another lateral move. About a decade in, I was widely recognized as one the best (if not the best) in that process with the entire company and offered a position with global responsibility. At that time, the offer came with the largest pay increase that could be made for an internal promotion and would have taken me to a whopping $50,000 per year. Although that was indeed 25% more than my base hourly pay at the time, it was less than half of what my industry peers would have started at in that same role and just over half of what was budgeted for the position. 

Make no mistake, I’m absolutely not looking for your sympathy in sharing that. Quite honestly, that occurred in 2010 and since that time, I can point to ways that I’ve been the benefactor of nearly every one of the “riches” that Napoleon Hill said would come from working to achieve a definite purpose and being willing to render more service than I was paid for. And it wasn’t just limited to me! Nearly every individual who helped me keep my head above water by picking up a piece of that behavior-based safety process at our local facility while I traveled around the continent - without any additional compensation at the time - has also had tremendous advancement opportunities since!

The first steps we take in chasing a definite purpose may seem to have a price tag that’s just too high, but even starting the process begins paving the road to things we may not see for years to come. None of it happens though without developing clarity around what that definite purpose is so that’s where we’ll pick up soon…