By: TeRay Esquibel Purpose. A word that sparks reaction and emotion, opinions and theories, and hope as well as dread. Lately, I’ve been having a lot of conversations about purpose with high school students, college students, mentors, executive directors of youth programs, staff of youth programs, researchers, funders, parents, my grandmother, and so many more. Purpose has been a big conversation topic, both because of my work, and because, well,it’s something people are thinking about whether they realize it or not. My goal for these conversations has been mostly to get a sense of people’s natural reactions and reflections. Through all of these conversations, I’ve noticed that when you ask someone about purpose, it often raises more questions than answers. What is purpose, really? Who has it? Who doesn’t? What does it mean to have purpose? Where does it come from? Why has nobody talked to me about purpose? Why is everybody always talking about purpose? Some people light up with excitement: Yes! This is what we should be talking about! Others meet the topic with skepticism: You can’t measure purpose, or, we need (insert vital and reasonable gap) before we even think about purpose. However, nearly everyone agrees it’s important — especially for others and for youth. But when asked to reflect on their own sense of purpose? Things get even more complicated. A lot of people say they wish they had a sense of purpose earlier. Some feel like they lost it along the way. Some are living fully in their purpose and will tell you as much. Others hesitate to claim it out loud. Many people say they found and sustained their sense of purpose despite the systems they navigate; while others credit those same systems for helping them cultivate it. For some, purpose is deeply personal, something that doesn’t need external validation. Others believe it’s not purpose unless there is impact beyond the self. Some worry that defining purpose in rigid terms — especially through institutions or traditional power structures — could be dangerous. Some think purpose can be developed through a structured process, a specific curriculum, or a toolkit. Others believe it’s something that emerges over time, through experience, trial, and error. So what do we do with all of this? To me, these conversations make one thing abundantly clear: purpose matters. It resonates with people across backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives. And yet, we don’t have a shared understanding of what it really means, how it’s cultivated, or how to best support it. So how might we explore some of these questions? Who determines what questions to ask, how to ask them or to whom? And, maybe most importantly, what do we do with what we learn? These are the questions we are asking ourselves every day at Purpose Commons. An Opportunity to Explore. Together. Purpose Commons is building a collective that collaborates with the brilliance of young people, the wisdom of the organizations and communities that support them, and leading researchers committed to purpose science so that we may have an opportunity to transform and expand the way purpose is understood, accessed, and cultivated. We are doing this work in deep partnership with our sister organization, the Purpose Science and Innovation Exchange at Cornell University (PSiX). One of the nation’s leading purpose researchers, Dr. Anthony Burrow, co-founded PSIX and is building a collaborative, dynamic network of researchers in purpose science. This collaboration is our foundation, enabling us to turn cutting-edge research into action through nationwide partnerships, while also providing the infrastructure needed to break down stubborn silos of networks to bring together groups whose work can have a profound impact on improving the lives of young people but rarely work together — researchers studying purpose, youth-serving organizations running youth programs, educators, funders, policymakers, and young people themselves, just to name a few. What We Have Learned So Far What we do know so far is that the research — yes there is already a world of purpose science research — indicates that purpose is a powerful leading indicator as to whether or not a young person is able to achieve and sustain the outputs our systems seek to measure. Things like, physical and mental well-being, resilience, and social connection all improve with a sense of purpose. Research also suggests that purpose leads to greater academic achievement and persistence, as well as greater work satisfaction and career clarity. In other words: purpose seems to be an amplifier of opportunity. Research thus far defines purpose as “a forward-looking intention or life aim.” It’s the sense that we know the direction we are headed. It’s the capacity to see ourselves in the future — that we’re going somewhere, even if the details change or get recreated over and over again throughout the course of our lives. Purpose is not a destination that we can reach. It is not even, contrary to popular belief, the journey it takes to get there. A sense of purpose is our ability to see ourselves further and further down the road, even if our destination is blurry. It provides a compass that orients us as we get lost, change paths, or face challenges along the way. Purpose does not require a specific destination; you don’t need to know where you’re going, it just matters that you’re looking. This is what research has shown us to date. But if I’ve learned anything through my time connecting with communities, students, and scholars it is that we all hold only a piece of this puzzle. Building the Ecosystem What I love about this work is that we don’t claim to have all the answers; we are simply building the connections and creating the space to ask better questions, connecting an ecosystem to explore them, and moving collaboratively to put what we learn into action. Through this new partnership, we have the potential to break down the traditional silos that often get in the way of building a collective vision and understanding. We can bring together groups who are often under pressure to have all the right answers into a community that embraces asking new questions, then doing something about what we learn. It all starts with questions. I hope those of you reading this will come on this journey with us.
