Double Lighthouse – ElPropósito3 min de lectura

Can we have two purposes?

Can we have two purposes? No. Can two purposes coexist? No. Are there cases where two purposes exist? Yes. And what happens when they do? Effects that look good in the short term and turn disastrous in the long run. A person’s purpose is unique, and so is an organization’s or a team’s. What can exist are many objectives or goals aligned with one purpose. The real problem with a double identity built on two purposes is that one of them is good and the other is not. Let me go a little deeper.

I call a life purpose unique because almost nothing about it changes over a lifetime. A person’s life purpose is their identity, their reason for being, and the great gift of knowing it is that it opens our eyes to why we are in this world. An organization whose founder is still alive has a great opportunity to bring to light the purpose behind its creation, which usually comes down to offering a product or service that improves other people’s lives. Many organizations pass up that opportunity, sometimes out of ignorance and sometimes by choice. My advice is to turn around and ask the founder, or founders, the key question: what is the purpose of this company?

Back to the main point: what happens when there are two purposes? There simply cannot be two, for a basic reason: there is no such thing as a legitimate double identity. Even so, many companies and organizations hold a fairly firm purpose on paper and do the exact opposite in practice. Underneath, the values that drive their actions turn into anti-values, and their actions become fraudulent and wrong. How does this happen? On one side, for credibility’s sake, they need to show a face that looks good. On the other, out of distrust and a limiting belief, they may think the expected results are out of reach without this double standard, that without a second purpose they cannot hit their goals and objectives.

The good news is that a single purpose and a single set of values can deliver results and exceed them. How do we get there? Bad practices are hard to root out because it takes strong commitment, discipline, effort and, above all, the will to change. It also takes a higher level of awareness and a long-term view, together with the conviction and confidence that doing things right can also bring the results we expect.

Today more than ever, our great challenge is to stop living with two or more purposes. Purpose is unique, and to live it fully we first need to know it and then be willing to live by it. That simply means setting aside any relativism between good and bad. What is good is good in the light of truth, and what is bad is bad in the light of truth. Any decision made in keeping with a single purpose will always be the best one.

Warm regards and all the best,

Rodrigo Baccaro

Author: Rodrigo Baccaro

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