In the previous article, we explored what purposeful organisational leadership means and why it matters. In this post, we focus on how leaders can intentionally develop purposeful organisational leadership, turning purpose from a statement into a lived reality across the organisation.
Start with Leadership Commitment
“I hold the view that leaders are better able to contribute to the flourishing of life if their actions are guided by a deeper sense of purpose” (De Silva, 2024, p.6). Therefore, purposeful organisational leadership needs to begin at the top. Senior leaders must embrace the organisation’s purpose as a guiding principle for decisions and behaviours. This commitment is not symbolic; it requires courage to prioritise purpose even when short-term pressures tempt compromise.
Make the Organisational Purpose Your Guiding Light
The starting point for developing purposeful organisational leadership is a clear purpose statement. This is not a marketing slogan; it is the organisation’s reason for being and its unique contribution to the flourishing of life. From this foundation, leaders can craft a mission statement that defines how the purpose will be delivered and set Big Hairy Audacious Goals (BHAGs) to drive long-term success.
Continue reading “Developing Purposeful Organisational Leadership (Purposeful Leadership – Part 10)”
Reflection Guide
A picture that speak of the pride and gratitude for a father. This is my father Stephen Richard Francis De Silva addressing a gathering of 500 plus buisness leaders of Sri Lanka after being presented the first copy of my first book in 2003. My mother Carmen Cordillia Maureen De Silva, who is a tower of strength for him and our family stands by during this beautiful moment as I look at my fathers performance with pride and gratitude. I pay tribute to him on his 16th death anniversary on the 5th of July.
After having arrived in Dhaka with a packed schedule of coaching, facilitation and consulting assignments for multiple clients on the 14th of March, I suddenly found myself having to make some decisions on how best to respond to the universe who decided that we need to change the way we operate.
I have learnt that we keep discovering our higher purpose as we live life once we discover the notion of purpose and is conscious of its existence. This had got me in to the habit of reflecting, reviewing, refreshing and re-writing my purpose every month.
Have you ever thought about how you know what you know? When this question was first asked from me, the answers that came to my mind was; from books, from parents, from teachers, from the learned. But when confronted with the next question, so do you believe that all that you know was true, I felt yes, it must be true, if not these will not be thought to me by those who I respect as learned, honest and well-meaning. But when I thought deeper, I felt that what is true to them, does not have to be true to me, because they come from different backgrounds, eras, conditions, cultures, religion, and would be driven by different purposes etc. Therefore for us to claim that we know what we know requires a kind of self-validation. John Heron provides a theoretical framework that helps make sense of the way we know. He names it extended epistemology, which has four interwoven ways of knowing (Heron 1992, 1999): 
We are one of seven billion people in this world and each one of us sees the world from our own paradigm. This short blog post will examine the dangers of getting imprisoned in a paradigm and the benefits of becoming a prism as prisons are restricting and prisms are reflecting.
We all look forward to the New Year and celebrate it in different ways. There are those who clean up and pain their houses to give a new beginning. There are those who wear new cloths as the New Year dawns. There are those who go to a place of worship and take part in religious celebrations to usher in the New Year. There are those who eat, drink and dance at hotels, home or parks to usher in the New Year. There are those who stay at home and do traditional rituals such as boiling a pot of milk for good luck. There are those who do not do any of these or sometimes don’t even know it’s a dawn of a New Year. Whichever group you belong to, it is interesting to reflect on the deeper change that happens in you during the transition in to the New Year.
Christmas is here again. Let me wish each and everyone of my network a merry Christmas.
We may have heard this word tons of times from our childhood. You are wrong! That’s the wrong answer! You have wronged me! that’s the wrong way to do it! I have many times wondered about the meaning of this word. What impact does this word have on our lives? What impact does this word have on our relationships?
New years every year brings so much hope to so many people. This is the time we think of giving up bad habits and making a fresh start. Most people take a fresh step with a good intention, only to find themselves slipping back to their old habits very quickly.
