Purpose and Redirecting: What 100 Pivot Stories Are Teaching Me

Purpose as a success factor of redirecting was one of the original seven hypotheses I started with in my redirecting research. 

My working definition has remained simple: Purpose is having something that gives direction and meaning.

The first time I wrote about this after only about 40+ stories, I saw purpose largely through what people were seeking as they made career and life changes: greater personal fulfillment and happiness, closer alignment with their values, an opportunity to make a positive impact, and a life with greater meaning and joy. 

I saw differences by age. People in their 30s seemed more likely to be exploring interests and passions. Those in their 40s and 50s often wanted greater alignment with values or escape from work that no longer fit. By their 60s and 70s, contribution, joy, legacy and meaningful use of experience appeared more prominently. I still believe much of that.

But after a much more systematic analysis of 91 published Pivot Stories and others yet to be published, I understand Purpose as a success factor somewhat differently.

Purpose doesn't look the same for everyone

The most important change in my thinking may be this: Purpose is a success factor in Redirecting, but it doesn't look the same for everyone. It can be a throughline, something rediscovered, something that emerges through redirection, something still being explored, or an alignment of life with what matters. Those distinctions matter.

The patterns differ considerably by Pivot Type, reinforcing for me that Purpose is not experienced in just one way. 

For some people, Purpose is remarkably durable as a throughline. The work changes, the organization changes, sometimes even the profession changes, but something underneath remains recognizable. Al Adamsen's commitment to using people data responsibly and making a positive difference is such a throughline, although its emphasis changes as his life changes. Jess Von Bank's commitment to elevating women and girls and making work more human similarly precedes her latest redirection. Smadar Tadmor doesn't abandon her human-centered work; she finds a new technological vehicle through which to scale it. These people aren't finding Purpose as they redirect. They are finding their current way to live it.

But that is only one pattern. For others, Purpose is rediscovered. Something that mattered had been obscured by a job, an identity, busyness, or simply the momentum of life. Eric Knauf didn't discover an entirely new Purpose after losing his job. With time to reflect, he recognized a concern for creating conditions in which people thrive and belong that had quietly connected his earlier roles. Frank Scavo, after paid work ended, returned to creative and spiritual interests that had long mattered to him.

David Holstein raises an especially interesting question for me. During four months when operational responsibilities were removed, he had unusual space to think about whether he cared about the ultimate impact of his work. His experience makes me wonder whether work intensity can sometimes obscure Purpose, not because Purpose is absent, but because we are too busy to examine what gives our lives direction and meaning.

It's a question I didn't see as clearly in my earlier writing about purpose as a Redirecting success factor.

Sometimes Purpose comes after the pivot

Purpose doesn't always precede a redirection. Sometimes it comes out of a new direction, through exploration. Reena Miglani didn't leave corporate life with a fully articulated philosophy of hospitality. She entered a new arena, began building restaurants, and through doing the work came to understand hospitality as something much deeper: warmth, abundance and human connection. What began as a new direction became a calling.

Krista Cavanaugh offers another version. Joy was initially more compass than Purpose. She experimented, followed an unexpected interest in estate jewelry, built something new, and only later recognized continuity between this new work and the helping roles that had run through her earlier career.

Sue Van Klink adds another variation from her first to her second pivot story. Her mission remains stable, but doing the work for the past year made the vision larger and clearer. Purpose gives direction without necessarily providing the blueprint.

This reinforces something I wrote earlier: Purpose often reveals itself through what we do. I had connected that idea to the idea that if we don’t know our purpose, try “Give and Grow” as our purpose: experiment, pay attention to what feels meaningful, and allow Purpose to evolve. The pivot stories now give me much more confidence in that idea.

And sometimes Purpose is still unresolved

This may be the most important expansion to my earlier work. I previously wrote about the “search for purpose” as though people pivoting were generally moving toward greater clarity. The newer stories tell me to be more careful. Some people simply don't know yet. And that’s totally ok!

Chris Havrilla clearly wants to contribute. But wanting to contribute is not the same as knowing what gives the next stage of life direction and meaning. Thera Martens at the point of her pivot where we connected was deliberately creating room to discover what she actually wanted, rather than what she is capable of doing. Gretchen Alarcon, in her first story, was waiting for something that would make her say, essentially, Yes, that's it.

Her second story raises a different possibility. Gretchen found a compelling, powerful job that was interesting, challenging and well aligned with what mattered to her. I wonder whether, for her and others who find such a strong fit, the larger question of Purpose simply becomes less pressing. When work is meaningful and satisfying enough, perhaps we don't feel the same need to ask what our larger Purpose is. Purpose may move to the background, at least for a time.

This raises another question I hadn't considered enough before: Does everyone need Purpose to be highly articulated? Maybe not.

Michael Grimm is content to know what he enjoys, remain active and engaged, and trust that opportunities will unfold. Some people may have sufficient direction and meaning without ever naming a grand Purpose.

That is very different from saying Purpose doesn't matter. It suggests that Purpose can be present without being a declaration.

Contribution is important but it isn't Purpose

My earlier writing frequently connected Purpose with making a difference, giving back, and service. I even asked whether perhaps being in service is our Purpose.

After ~100 stories, I would make a clearer distinction. Contribution is one powerful source or expression of Purpose. It is not synonymous with Purpose.

That distinction becomes especially important among people who've spent decades being accomplished and useful. “I want to continue contributing” tells me something important about them. But it doesn't necessarily answer the deeper question: What gives my life direction and meaning now?

And the opposite is equally important. Purpose doesn’t have to be expressed through continued productivity.

Rebekah Jackson may be one of the clearest examples. Her success became about being present. She didn't need to replace a demanding career with another achievement project. Dave Millner similarly values presence with his wife, health, music, personal projects and the freedom not to recreate his former professional life. Steve Blechman in his retirement is similar.

Their stories expand my understanding of Purpose.

Purpose increasingly looks like life alignment

This may be where the new research most strongly reconnects with something I’d written.

My earlier Purpose piece ended with this thought:

Purpose is about aligning your life with what truly matters to you and living in a way that feels rich in meaning and fulfillment. I like that thought even more now.

In fact, the age cohort analysis makes it especially interesting. In a first-pass taxonomy, Purpose as Life Alignment appeared in 22% of the stories among people in their 30s and 29% in both the 40s and 50s. It rose to 57% among those in their 60s and 70% among those 70 and older. Purpose Rediscovered became more visible in the older cohorts.

The numbers are small, particularly in the oldest cohort, so I don't want to overstate them.

But the pattern fits what I hear in the stories. As people age, the question may become less exclusively What meaningful work should I do? and more How do I want to use my life?

Work can certainly remain part of the answer. So can contribution. But relationships, health, spirituality, learning, joy, freedom, creativity and stewardship of time, the other success factors of redirecting, begin to share the stage.

This is also where the interrelationship among all eight Redirecting success factors becomes intriguing. (I added Identity as one more as I conducted this research.) Perhaps Purpose doesn't sit neatly apart from Identity, Relationships, Health, Continuous Learning, Spirituality, Financial Considerations and Stewardship of Time. In some stories, alignment among those things may be part of what makes life feel purposeful.

That is a question for further research, not a conclusion.

Continuous Contributors make this particularly visible

I am personally intrigued by the Continuous Contributors. I am one.

These are people who keep contributing after or beyond a major career chapter, but their stories challenge any easy equation of Purpose with continued work.

Among the 12 Continuous Contributors, initial coding found Life Alignment in 10. Purpose was Rediscovered in five. None were coded primarily as Purpose Emerging.

That makes me wonder whether many Continuous Contributors aren't searching for an entirely new Purpose at all. They may instead be asking: What matters now, and where do I want my abilities, experience and time to go?

For Naomi Bloom, purpose is deeply connected with repairing the world, relationships, learning and intentional use of time. For Bill Kutik, the absence of meaningful projects after retirement made Purpose visible through its absence; nonprofit work helped restore direction. Diana Place's Purpose became clearer only after cancer, business loss, an empty nest and age interrupted the momentum of her earlier life. Lois Melbourne happily moves among writing, nonprofit work, mentoring, podcasting and other interests without needing to turn any one of them into a replacement career.

Their contribution continues, but the shape of a worthwhile life has changed.

That may connect to another theme emerging across the Redirecting research: new measures of success: Enough. Presence. Joy. Freedom. Meaningful use of time. Contribution without constant achievement.

What has changed and what hasn't

My earlier research wasn't wrong. Fulfillment, values, impact, joy and meaning remain highly visible in the larger body of stories. My earlier concern about “purpose anxiety” also holds up well. I wrote then that Purpose need not mean changing the world or leaving a legacy and that meaningful everyday actions could be enough.

What's changed is my understanding of how Purpose develops and operates during Redirecting. How does Purpose emerge?

It isn't always found before the pivot. It isn't always occupational. It isn't synonymous with contribution. It can exist without a grand plan. It can be obscured by the intensity of work. It can be rediscovered when that intensity recedes.

It can emerge only after we begin doing something new. A compelling job opportunity can redirect its expression or perhaps simply provide a sufficiently good fit without answering some larger Purpose question.

And as we age, Purpose may increasingly become less about finding the next thing to accomplish and more about bringing our lives into alignment with what matters.

So I come back to the simple definition I started with: Purpose is having something that gives direction and meaning.

And perhaps the question for someone who is Redirecting isn't necessarily What is my Purpose?

It may be that during a pivot transition we ask:

What matters to me now? What gives this stage of my life direction and meaning? And how closely does the way I am living reflect that?

The answers don't have to be grand. And they don't have to be finished.