Chapter 2 true purpose
As a boy, I was taught to tell the truth.
I was told that it’s a better way to live. A more honourable way to live. As I grew up I would read quotes and mantras saying that lies are fleeting but truth is forever and the truth will set me free.
A couple of hundred years ago Mark Twain said that if you tell the truth you don’t have to remember anything.
A couple of thousand years ago Aesop advised us to not pretend to be anything we’re not.
As a man in his 50s, I now know that these creeds are so abundant in history and literature because they work. Being honest with others about what genuinely motivates us and making sure that our behaviour towards them reflects this delivers fulfilment for us humans. It fills a hole inside us that nothing else can fill. Not money. Not popularity. Not material possessions.
In this way, telling the truth can actually be seen as a very primitive behaviour. An inherently natural human act. And after a long career in advertising — one of the most suspect industries for honesty — I firmly believe that the future of free enterprise as a sustainable idea to advance the lives of everyone on this planet depends on truth.
Which is why True Purpose is the starting point on The Circle. It’s the sun that drives the solar system of your career, your company and your life. It’s the nucleus of all that’s to come.
Your True Purpose is the higher ideal that’s authentically motivating you to do what you do for work, for a career, for a meaningful ...
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