One of my clients just took on a much bigger role (he is being groomed for the top job), and he has inherited a team that has a few “problem children.”

We came up with a way to build engagement with these folks—and I’d love to hear your feedback on what has worked for you. Here are the three steps.

1. See what the person most needs from you. For many, they want to feel like their contributions, or expertise, are valued. Their name-dropping and talking about themselves is a simple cry to be seen. Others might need certainty, or predictability, or something else. Take some time to figure it out.

2. See what the person’s unique contribution is. The thing that only they can do in your organization. Praise them for it. In front of others. (This often helps with number 1 as well).

3. Ask with specificity for what you need from them. If they feel seen and valued, perhaps in a way that no other leader has seen and valued them before, they are much more likely to do what you need them to do.

Give it a try and let me know what you think. And I hope you are having a safe and joyous holiday season.

So often, we think about the future as an extension of the past. A continuation. An evolution.

But life is not continuous. If there is anything that 2020 showed us, it is that life is discontinuous. Things are the same, until they are not. Some people succeed in that and others do not. Even if they otherwise have the same circumstances.

This is always true.

The question is why? Why have some done so well in the pandemic, and some have struggled? Even in the same industry?

My experience is that a big factor in why some succeed while others fail is that some have created a clearer vision of where they want to go.

They start at the end.

They think about what they are driven to do.

About their bigger sense of purpose.

And then they ask themselves—Who do I need to become to create that?

What habits and routines and mindsets, established today, will lead to that result in one or five or ten years?

How do I build the organization that I want, to have the impact that I am called to have?

It’s one thing to have good habits.

It’s another to know why you have them. And to live from that sense of purpose every day.

What do you want to create in 2021?

And who do you need to be to create that?

It can feel so overwhelming right now. As I write this, we are in the midst of a global pandemic, wildfires, hurricanes, a questionable economy, demonstrations on racial injustice, and a bitter and monumental presidential election. My wife said some days she feels like the world is ending.

Trying to manage through the uncertainty can be intense.

I’ve found that especially during uncertainty, Purpose is the key that unlocks everything.

That when Purpose is clear, a personal purpose aligned to a corporate purpose aligned to a societal purpose, that miracles can happen.

Fear drops away. Commitment skyrockets. Seemingly impossible things happen with ease. Because people feel connected to, and supported by, something bigger than themselves. Do you see that in your life? At your company?

If so, congratulations. I want to hear more! Leave a comment below and tell me what you are up to!

And if you are struggling with that, I have a gift for you. Sign up for my free book in the sidebar at right.

When you lead from purpose, you are allowing something beyond ego, beyond the small self, to emerge through you.

As I’ve written (and discuss in my book, below), when you able to find and lead from your purpose, things that used to be hard, to even feel like drudgery, suddenly become easy.

Sometimes, your purpose goes beyond just a personal mission. Sometimes, it calls you, it requires you, to create an organization or a business to bring that purpose into being.

You find yourself enrolling others in your purpose, and organizing them to deliver it.

How to do that? That’s the next stage of my own work. To align with organizations that have done that. To unpack what works and what doesn’t. To study and distill and disseminate the principles behind the purpose-built organization. To build such an organization to create a broader footprint for my own work, helping to unleash the potential of individuals and groups to create a better world.

If you want to take the first step toward learning more about this, sign up for my new book at right.

More to come.