Two distinguished scholars offer eight steps to help organizations discover and embrace an authentic higher purpose—something that will dramatically improve every aspect of any enterprise, including the bottom line. What does a lofty notion like purpose have to do with business basics like the bottom line? Robert E. Quinn and Anjan J. Thakor say pretty much everything. Leaders and managers are taught that employees are self-interested and work resistant, so they create systems of control to combat these expectations. Workers resent these systems, and performance suffers. To address the performance issues, managers double down on the coercion, creating a vicious cycle and a self-fulfilling prophecy. But there is a better way. Quinn and Thakor show that when an authentic higher purpose permeates business strategy and decision-making, the cycle is broken. Employers and employees see themselves as working together toward an inspiring goal, not just trying to hit quarterly targets. They fully engage, become proactive contributors, and, ironically, easily exceed those quarterly targets. Based on their widely acclaimed Harvard Business Review article, Quinn and Thakor offer eight sometimes surprising steps for shifting from a transaction-oriented mind-set focused on constraints to a purpose-oriented mind-set focused on possibility. This iconoclastic book will help any organization discover its authentic purpose and weave it into the fabric of everything it does, leading to unprecedented levels of personal satisfaction, service and product innovation, and economic growth.

As Tom Whittaker struggled to keep conscious the night of 27 November 1979, his thoughts focused on a singular plea: Please, don't let them take my legs. Earlier that evening, a drunk driver struck Tom's VW van on an isolated, snow-covered road in Idaho and shattered his legs -- and his dreams. When he awoke from emergency surgery, the 31-year-old mountaineer's right leg had been amputated at mid-shin and his right kneecap removed. Devastated, he pondered suicide. Finally it occurred to him: you don't need your lower leg to kayak. Seven months after the accident, Tom hobbled down to the south fork of the Payette River, and began paddling. In the years since then, Tom has not only taken his life back, he's taken his family, his fellow sportsmen, and hundreds of thousands of disabled and able-bodied people to the top of the world. In May 1998, Tom became the first amputee to summit Mount Everest. The climb and his inspirational story, as well as his work on behalf of disabled people around the world, have earned him the recognition as one of America's most courageous heroes.

Walter Bradley made a deal with God: he would unashamedly share his faith with students and faculty, and he would not let academic ambition prevent him from giving his faith and family the time they deserve. The day he could no longer keep that deal, he would leave the academy. He never had to. From his days as a determined graduate assistant sharing his love for Jesus with his first class, to becoming one of the most respected engineering professors in academia, Walter Bradley remained a man of integrity, dedicated to truth and love. He’s made a difference in myriad ways from leading a small Bible study for students in his home to defending intelligent design before large crowds of his academic peers. He’s equally comfortable performing ground-breaking research for NASA, serving as an expert witness in the courtroom, or empowering people in Africa with appropriate technologies. Through it all, one thing has remained true: Walter Bradley made a crucial difference for good in countless lives. In For a Greater Purpose: The Life and Legacy of Walter Bradley, authors Robert Marks and William Dembski detail the story of this remarkable man whose passion for God, science, higher education, and human empowerment provides an excellent model of someone who integrates faith and learning.

In these fascinating pages, author Luanne Zurlo shows that, contrary to popular opinion, single life is often a holy, joyful vocation lived out, sometimes in a hidden way, by souls who have had an authentic encounter with Christ. Here she sheds light on this little-understood vocation discerned and embraced by a growing number of single persons who neither marry nor enter religious life. These souls are joyfully single for a greater purpose, nourishing both the world and the Church with the unique spiritual strengths and graces that God gives to souls who deliberately remain single for Him — in the world but not of it. Read these pages to learn: Why dedicated single life is uniquely suited to our times How it builds on our baptismal vocations The special role that dedicated singles have in the Church How the dedicated-single vocation complements marriage and religious life How celibacy for the sake of the Ki

Thinkers50 Top 10 Best New Management Books for 2022 A distinguished Harvard Business School professor offers a compelling reassessment and defense of purpose as a management ethos, documenting the vast performance gains and social benefits that become possible when firms manage to get purpose right. Few business topics have aroused more skepticism in recent years than the notion of corporate purpose, and for good reason. Too many companies deploy purpose, or a reason for being, as a promotional vehicle to make themselves feel virtuous and to look good to the outside world. Some have only foggy ideas about what purpose is and conflate it with strategy and other concepts like “mission,” “vision,” and “values.” Even well-intentioned leaders don’t understand purpose’s full potential and engage half-heartedly and superficially with it. Outsiders spot this and become cynical about companies and the broader capitalist endeavor. Having conducted extensive field research, Ranjay Gulati reveals the fatal mistakes leaders unwittingly make when attempting to implement a reason for being. Moreover, he shows how companies can embed purpose much more deeply than they currently do, delivering impressive performance benefits that reward customers, suppliers, employees, shareholders, and communities alike. To get purpose right, leaders must fundamentally change not only how they execute it but also how they conceive of and relate to it. They must practice what Gulati calls deep purpose, furthering each organization’s reason for being more intensely, thoughtfully, and comprehensively than ever before. In this authoritative, accessible, and inspiring guide, Gulati takes readers inside some of the world’s most purposeful companies to understand the secrets to their successes. He explores how leaders can pursue purpose more deeply by navigating the inevitable tradeoffs more deliberately and effectively to balance between short- and long-term value; building purpose more systematically into every key organizational function to mobilize stakeholders and enhance performance; updating organizations to foster more autonomy and collaboration, which in turn allow individual employees to work more purposefully; using powerful storytelling to communicate a reason for being, arousing emotions and building a community of inspired and committed stakeholders; and building cultures that don’t merely support purpose, but also allow employees to link the corporate purpose to their own personal reasons for being. As Gulati argues, a deeper engagement with purpose holds the key not merely to the well-being of individual companies but also to humanity’s future. With capitalism under siege and relatively low levels of trust in business, purpose can serve as a radically new operating system for the enterprise, enhancing performance while also delivering meaningful benefits to society. It’s the kind of inspired thinking that businesses—and the rest of us—urgently need.

What if you could improve your physical health while deepening your spiritual life? In Running for a Higher Purpose, Most Rev. Thomas John Paprocki, Catholic bishop of Springfield--a marathon runner and hockey player--shares how the simple discipline of running can help you unlock profound spiritual benefits. Paprocki took up running as a teenager for his health; he ran his first marathon in his forties. Along the way he discovered that improving your physical health through running is a way to honor God and grow deeper in your spiritual life. Perfect for those who want to try running for the first time as well as for more experienced runners who want to set goals for a new challenge, Running for a Higher Purpose offers eight steps to reach spiritual and physical fitness. Review - Review where you are. Reform - Identify how to improve. Resolve - Resolve to put change into effect. Repeat - Don't quit. Renew - Renew your physical and spiritual wellness. Relax - Balance physical and spiritual exercise with the need to rest. Reward - Feel personal satisfaction and reward by achieving your goals. Rejoice - Integrating a sound mind in a sound body leads to eternal happiness. Each chapter includes an inspirational quotation, a personal promise statement, and a prayer.

Why are you here? What is life for? What are you meant to do? Robert Holden helps you go from looking for your purpose to living it. (Hint: It’s not just about you.) "The best book on purpose I've ever read! Accept this invitation to awaken to the very reason you're here on Earth." — Mike Dooley, New York Times best-selling author of Infinite Possibilities and Life on Earth "How do I find my life’s purpose?" In the 10-year run of Robert Holden's call-in radio show, Shift Happens!, his listeners asked that question more often than any other, by far. It seems everybody is looking for their purpose, and yet we all struggle to recognize it and live it. In the paperback edition of Higher Purpose, Holden takes readers on an epic journey of self-discovery that includes the hero’s journey with Joseph Campbell, Carl Jung's work on true vocation, Victor Frankl's search for meaning, a pilgrimage with St. Francis of Assisi, the poetry of Wordsworth and Rilke, and much more. The journey has four stages: "The Call" explores "the calling" inside you to live a more meaningful life. "The Path" helps you to realize what inspires you, what brings you alive, to follow your joy, and to do more of what you love. "The Ordeal" tackles the inner blocks, the road of trials, and challenges you must overcome to live your higher purpose. "The Victory" encourages you to not betray yourself, to "sing your whole song," and to keep on saying YES to your soul's high adventure. In Higher Purpose, Holden explores three distinct levels of purpose: your unique purpose, a shared purpose, and the greater purpose of life. He offers inquiries, meditations, and journaling exercises to help you live your purpose every day. And he shares stories from his own life and conversations with a host of remarkable people—Maya Angelou, Louise Hay, Jean Houston, Matthew Fox, Robert Thurman, Caroline Myss, Andrew Harvey, Wayne Dyer, Oprah Winfrey, and more. "I hope Robert Holden's beautiful books, like this one . . . keep reaching more and more people and aid their heart to unfurl." — Daniel Ladinsky, author of The Gift and The Subject Tonight Is Love