[APPLAUSE]
ROBERT QUINN: A couple of
weeks ago I was in Barcelona.
And we were just finishing a
week in training executives
in leadership.
And I was having
dinner with a man who
was in charge of the week.
He's an interesting character.
He's a psychiatrist who is
deeply wedded to science.
He also has a PhD in theology.
He spends about half of
his time with professionals
trying to make them
more effective leaders.
He spends the other half of
his time in villages and towns
helping very
ordinary people make
better sense of their lives.
I was listening to him
tell some of his stories,
and I said, Alberto, what
is your life purpose?
Without a moment's
hesitation, he
said the sanctification of work.
I said, what does that mean?
He said, making work sacred.
What does that mean?
And he paused for a second.
And he said, when you help
people make their work sacred,
they come alive in every
area of their life.
Whoa.
That was pretty interesting.
It's a very striking thing to
see a man of such commitment
to science and to
theology and to service
come to a conclusion like that.
About 2006, I left the
university for three years,
and I went and ran
an organization.
At the university, we have a set
of [INAUDIBLE] organizations,
which is a new
field of study where
we asked what is an
individual like at their best?
What is a group
like at their best?
What is an organization
like at their best?
Not what they're like
normally, but in the way out
far side of that normal
curve [INAUDIBLE]..
And that creates an entirely
different way to see the world.
I left with the
commitment that I
was going to build
an organization based
on the principles
of science that we
knew from this new field.
Those three years were one of
the most meaningful periods
of my life.
When I got back, my
friend came to see me.
He's a world-class economist.
And he began to question me.
I thought it would go
for two or three minutes.
It went on for two hours.
He wanted to know everything.
Then he went away for a few
minutes and he came back.
And he said, what you just
told me defies economics.
It turns economics upside down.
We have to write a paper.
So I said, OK.
I'm open to that.
We started working on a paper.
The paper's all in Greek.
It's all mathematical.
It's a simulation
of an organization.
Now, along the way, he
decided to educate me.
And he said, I'm going to
explain to you why this
turns economics upside down.
It has to do with the
principal-agent problem.
He said at the heart
of microeconomics
is the principal-agent problem.
So I turned to him, an
employee, and I said,
I'm going to give you $100.
You work for me for 10 hours.
We shake hands.
We have a contract.
As long as I'm there to watch
him, he keeps the contract.
The moment I turn
my back on him,
he underperforms the contract.
And that's the very
heart of microeconomics--
principal-agent problem.
Well, we built the simulation.
We created a normal
organization.
And then we introduced
something new.
The new variable
was higher purpose.
The moment we introduced
higher purpose
into the model, the entire
organization transformed.
The employee, or
the agent, became
a principal, became an owner,
became intrinsically motivated.
My friend was really excited.
He said, this is incredible.
We've got to go interview CEOs
of high-purpose companies.
Now, to me, it seemed
to sort of make sense
that that would happen.
But when we went out
and did the interviews,
then I got surprised.
As we interviewed these CEOs,
the shocking discovery to me
was that most of them,
the majority of them,
when they became
CEO, they did not
believe in purpose,
people, or culture.
They had come up through
economic, managerial training.
And they didn't believe
in those things.
Every one of them got
there through some kind
of personal crisis.
They had to
rediscover the world,
and they had to bring purpose
into their mental set.
When they did that, and
they brought higher purpose
to the people in
the organization,
things changed, just
like our simulation.
And we learned a great
deal from those folks.
And I wanted to
share with you what
science says about
that notion of having
a purpose-driven life.
I have a colleague over the
public health school who just
published a book last year.
And in it there's
a literature review
on the health effects of
having a purpose-driven life.
The list is interesting.
This is what it says.
If you have a
purpose-driven life,
it adds years to your life.
You live longer.
It reduces the likelihood
of a heart attack or stroke.
It cuts the risk of Alzheimer's.
It helps you relax during the
day and sleep better at night.
It doubles the chance of staying
drug-free or alcohol-free
after treatment.
Increases your good cholesterol.
Gives you better sex.
Gives you more friends.
Gives you more meaning,
engagement, life satisfaction,
and happiness.
Now, when I look at
that list of findings,
the only thing that I'm
left to conclude is you
and I are designed to be
purpose-seeking mechanisms.
When we're not, when we
live in our comfort zone,
we live a life of survival.
We know statistically, 70%
of the global workforce
is disengaged at work.
That's an astounding number.
51% of the management workforce
is disengaged at work.
That's the management workforce.
What does that say
about our organizations?
You know, when we
talk about living
a life of quiet
desperation, there
are legions of people
out there surviving.
When you clarify
your highest purpose,
you are basically discovering
what your contribution
is to this planet.
Given your gifts, your
skills, your abilities,
what is your contribution?
What's your life mission?
Why are you on the planet?
When you answer that
question, everything changes.
The research says when you give
up self-interested goals, where
most of us are most
of the time, and you
take on contributive goals,
you function differently.
The biology changes.
The thought process changes.
Learning accelerates.
You grow more.
Whenever we look at
high-performing people
over long term, we find this
notion of higher purpose.
I was invited with some
colleagues to go to Ohio
and study public schoolteachers.
Now, in a business school,
you could be shot for that.
Why would I go study
public schoolteachers?
Because I had access to the
top 1% of the teachers in Ohio.
These are the teachers
that walk on water.
Students go in their
class in September,
they come out in
June way out here.
Now, two to three times as much
learning in their classroom,
objectively measured.
Now, you can't work twice
as hard as a normal teacher,
because they work hard.
So what are these people doing?
The reason I went
to study them is I
knew before I ever went
down there that they
weren't schoolteachers.
And I just told you they
were schoolteachers.
They work in schools.
If they're not
schoolteachers, what are they?
Let me get a response from you.
What would you think about if
you think about that puzzle.
What would you know about these
people before you ever went?
AUDIENCE: They're
purpose-driven.
ROBERT QUINN: They're
purpose-driven,
that's for sure.
These people are
transformational leaders.
They would die if
you call them that.
They would say, I'm
a schoolteacher.
But they are transforming the
culture of their classroom.
Their classroom as a
positive organization.
They don't work for money.
They have a calling.
Their purpose is not to teach
English or math or history.
Their purpose is to create
the love of learning.
If I have this little
kid in my classroom,
and I create the love
of learning in this kid,
I've empowered
this kid for life.
If he's a minority, if he's
disadvantaged in some way
and his life path's
going this way,
but I create that
love of learning,
he gets the capacity to change
all that, to take himself
beyond what's expected.
Everything about these
people was different.
What I love about that
story is they're not CEOs.
They're not kings,
prime ministers.
What are they?
People working in
the public school.
If I asked you who left
the most positive legacy
in your life, name
that person, you
might say, oh, that's my mother.
Or, oh, my third-grade teacher,
or my coach, or my first boss.
You would name somebody.
If we did an in-depth
analysis of your relationship
with that person,
we would find out
that that ordinary
person in your life who
left this positive legacy had
a transformational influence
on you.
It was the most
positive influence
you've ever experienced.
All around us, there are
people who live like this.
We don't see them because we
wear conventional glasses.
Economics says he's
self-interested.
Resources are scarce.
Conflict is inevitable.
Now, all those things are
true, most of the time.
That's why the
social sciences work.
What the social
sciences don't look at
is the end of the curve.
They don't look at excellence.
They look at central tendency.
And whenever we look at people
at the end of the curve,
we find a different model.
And one key element is purpose.
Now, how does that happen?
Let me share two
stories with you.
Story number one,
we're interviewing
one of those schoolteachers.
She's sharing stuff, and it's
a really exciting interview.
I'm writing stuff down.
And then she tells a story.
She says the first year
I taught was heaven.
The second year I
taught was hell.
I had five boys
that second year,
and they were in incorrigible.
And there was one kid in
particular, he was impossible.
One day, this kid's in the
doorway of the classroom,
and he's kicking and moving
his arms and making noises.
And I lost it.
She said, I'm ashamed
to say these words.
But I walked towards that
kid with the intention
of kicking him.
Thank heavens he
got up and ran away.
I kept walking.
I went to the
principal's office.
I said, this is it.
It's him or me.
And the principal
took the kid out.
She said, I felt terrible.
So I went to two my colleagues
and poured my heart out.
And they said to me, you are
not the key to every door.
And as she said those
words, she burst
into tears in the interview.
And we waited a long time.
And then she looked up
and said, I hated that.
And I said, hated what?
She said those words.
You can't be the
key to every door.
She said, so I decided to
become the key to every door.
She said, instead of pushing
disruptive kids away,
I began to seek them out.
I began to bring
them into my world.
I read every book I could find.
I kept notes.
I ran experiments.
I kept notes on the experiments.
And then she kind of
pulled herself up and said,
today, I am the
key to every door.
When there's a disruptive,
troubled kid in the school,
they said, give her
to Miss So-and-so.
She seems to know
what to do with them.
That's a profoundly
important story.
It's a story of
transformative learning.
When I have a higher purpose, I
find the energy and the courage
to go outside my comfort zone
and to learn in a deep way.
And I break some code.
The code could be
about any part of life.
And then I can do things
other people can't do.
Now, the second story
is a lot closer to home
and I think a very helpful one.
I once had a daughter.
She was single.
She was living in
Washington, DC.
And she had reached that
point in life where she said--
you know, she
wasn't married yet,
and she said the only man
left at my age are pigs.
There's not a good
man left on the Earth.
And then she found one,
and she got really excited.
The relationship grew.
And then one day,
our phone rang.
She's talking to her mother.
And I know what's going on.
This guy just dumped her.
She's all upset.
Her mother-- now, this daughter
is the first-born child.
Many first-born children
share a common characteristic.
If they're miserable, they
want you to be miserable, too.
[LAUGHTER]
And she said, I'm coming
home this weekend.
I thought, oh, no.
[LAUGHTER]
Her mother hangs up and
says, you're the father.
You go to the
airport, pick her up.
So the next day,
I go pick her up.
She gets in the car, and she
doesn't say hello, how are you.
She says, that no-good,
dirty da-da-da.
Five minutes later,
she takes a breath.
And I said, are you
problem-solving or
purpose-finding?
She didn't even hear me.
So we go through that
about four times.
We're finally pulling
in the driveway.
She takes another breath.
I say it again.
She says, what are
you talking about?
And I said, well, I wrote
that thing to your brother
about the difference
between purpose-finding and
problem-solving.
I sent you a copy.
And she said, this
is the real world.
I said, well, I think it
applies to the real world.
By then, we're in the house.
I pull out a sheet of
paper out of my file.
And it says "Robert
Quinn Life Statement."
So I take it.
I handed it to her.
She rips it out of my hand.
She looks at it.
And then she grows quiet.
And she looks up and says, when
you feel bad, you read this?
I said, no.
When I feel bad, I rewrite it.
It's been rewritten
hundreds of times.
She said, yeah, I can hardly
understand some of this stuff.
I said, yeah, it's written
to a customized audience,
one person.
Then the first miracle happened.
She said, do you think I
could write one of these?
I said, I'm sure you can.
She went in the bedroom.
For a day-and-a-half, she
worked on her life statement.
The miracle was, I did not
have to suffer during that day
and a half, right?
She got on the plane.
She flew home to DC.
A couple of days pass.
I get an email.
She says, he called me.
Oh, this will be interesting.
And she says, so I
wrote him this letter.
And I'm reading this
letter that she's attached.
It's incredibly
vulnerable, open, honest.
And I'm thinking, wow,
this is impressive.
And then at the bottom
it says, "And my roommate
said I can't give this to him."
Now, that's an
interesting thing.
Let's freeze all the insensitive
males in the room for now.
I just want to hear
just in the females.
Why can't we give this
letter to this guy?
AUDIENCE: He's crazy.
ROBERT QUINN:
Because he's crazy?
Anybody who dumped
me would be crazy.
That would be true.
Why else?
AUDIENCE: They think
it'll make you look weak.
ROBERT QUINN: Yes!
Of course.
I'm vulnerable, I tell
him how I really feel.
You know, dating's a
marketplace, right?
It's a transaction.
You don't tell some guy that
dumped you here's how you feel.
And then she said,
what my roommates
don't understand is that what
he thinks doesn't matter.
Whoa, wait a minute.
A few days ago, what he thought
caused her life to shatter.
Now she's saying what he
thinks doesn't matter.
What is she saying?
She's saying this
is who I really am.
Didn't know this a while ago.
Now I know it.
It doesn't matter what
other people think.
You see, when you
clarify your purpose,
you take back your
external locus of control
where you worry about
what other people think,
and you take an internal locus.
You don't become insensitive.
You don't become rebellious.
You become centered.
You become powerful.
Now, here's the
interesting thing
in the sequel to that story.
In the next few months,
she began to be promoted.
Her career turned.
Why?
This was a dating breakup.
Why is her career taking off?
Because when you find
purpose and meaning in what
you're doing in one
area of your life,
it grows in every area of life
because you are one person.
That company had a woman coming
in with the same dresses on,
body looked the same, but
it wasn't the same employee.
This was a woman now, full of
leadership for the first time.
She had a higher
purpose, and she
was willing to take
initiative that normally she
wouldn't be willing to take.
That's leadership.
Companies desperately need it.
Cultures suppress it.
We're afraid to take
leadership in organizations.
We're afraid to tell the truth.
When someone has that
meaning and that integrity,
things start to change.
That's different
than management.
My message to you today
is that every one of you
is filled with
talents and gifts.
You've been shaped by life.
You've had bad experiences
and good experiences.
And both the bad experiences
and the good experiences
are there to teach you
something about you.
And if you look very
carefully at those,
you can determine
what your purpose is.
I'll close with a puzzle.
I have a friend who is
a world-renowned sports
psychologist.
One day, he challenged me.
He said, here's a story.
Here's a woman who smokes.
So you tell her there's a link
between tobacco and cancer.
If you keep smoking,
you're going to die.
Absolutely doesn't faze her.
She keeps smoking.
So you buy her a patch.
She wears it for a few weeks.
She's still smoking.
So you send her to
a therapy group.
She comes out of
the therapy group.
She's still smoking.
He said, now, give
me three words
you can say to this woman, and
she'll put down her cigarette.
I had no idea.
This puzzle was too much for me.
Anybody have an answer?
"You are pregnant."
Now think about
that for a second.
Absolutely knows she
can't stop smoking.
Three words, "you are pregnant."
What does she have now?
AUDIENCE: A purpose.
ROBERT QUINN: A purpose
that's bigger than she is.
The interesting thing
about that story
is it says we are full of
resources we don't know about.
They're already in there.
We don't believe it.
But when we suddenly find
a contributive purpose,
those resources
come to the surface.
We begin to change.
In fact, we
instantaneously begin
to change when we
embrace a purpose.
I believe every
person in this room
can clarify the
purpose of their life
and that the moment
you do, this will
start happening not just at
work, but in every aspect
of your life.
My hope is that every
one of you learns
to become the key to every
door in whatever aspect of life
you're working.
And with that, I
thank you very much.
Thank you.
[APPLAUSE]
