Leading with Purpose: A conversation with Laysha Ward
Up to 70% of employees tie their sense of purpose directly to their work* – a finding that puts the spotlight on self leadership. This presents leaders with an empowering opportunity: to first clarify their own ‘why,’ and then intentionally connect that personal mission to the organization’s greater good.
So, where does a leader start?
Introducing Laysha Ward, our Global Chats guest.
We explored this topic with Laysha Ward, an accomplished C-suite executive, board member, author, and speaker. Her new book, Lead Like You Mean It: Lessons on Integrity and Purpose From the C-Suite, offers inspiration for leaders at all levels.
“I wrote this book to be of service at scale,” Laysha says, “to help more people be grounded in their purpose, live a truly connected life, and lead with meaning. Now more than ever, the world needs passionate, purpose-driven leaders who operate with integrity.”
While L&D literature often covers the ‘what’ and ‘why’ of purpose led leadership, Laysha’s own journey provides an inspiring case study in ‘how’ to lead with meaning. Here we unpack a few of the core concepts from our conversation.
Perspective: Anchor in your purpose
“Operating with intention, with humanity, and with integrity.” – Laysha Ward
Think of your career as a ship. The organization’s mission is a destination point in your career journey, but your personal purpose is the keel, the heavy blade beneath the water. The keel is what keeps the ship upright against rough waves and drives it forward against the wind. It ensures your energy is spent moving forward with intention, to do work that matters to you and the organization you serve. Purpose congruence, in this sense, is the stability that keeps your professional journey on course.
The ‘Lead Like You Mean It’ philosophy stresses that leadership with meaning must begin internally. Laysha advocates for a holistic approach to development, where personal and professional growth are interconnected. This starts with doing the inner work first to get clear on your purpose. Your personal purpose then becomes a ‘lantern that guides your way’ and a ‘measuring stick’ that holds you accountable for making progress.
It is no surprise that research shows the #1 challenge leaders face to achieve their goals is ‘Losing focus on important things’. To maintain congruence of purpose, Laysha offered a practical lens: defining what you will say yes to and what you choose to say no to, and then following through This active prioritization ensures your calendar and commitments reflect your stated purpose, maximizing your potential for impact and aligning actions with your ‘why’.
Dive deeper:
Book: Lead Like You Mean It: Lessons on Integrity and Purpose from the C-Suite by Laysha Ward.
Adeption Workouts: Two interactive digital workouts co-created with Laysha Ward to help readers apply the book’s lessons.
Adeption Insights Report: How To Develop Adaptive Leaders.
Perspective: Navigate the your course with courage
“On the other side of discomfort is often growth.” – Laysha Ward
Leadership often calls you to places you’ve never been. When ambiguity and change hit, the natural instinct is to retreat. When we ask leaders to reflect on their most significant periods of personal growth, they rarely credit a formal development intervention. Instead, they almost always point to a situation that pushed them outside their comfort zone – a moment where they had to step into the unknown and adapt.
- When leaders lean into the difficulty of adaptive work they grow their capacity. Laysha shared concepts to help leaders navigate complexity.
- Understand your, and your organization’s, risk appetite to make informed, strategic choices.
Proactively use scenario planning: This isn’t about predicting the future, but about providing a preliminary foundation of thought, so that when the world shifts, you’re less likely to be surprised and paralyzed, and ready to move forward.
Dive Deeper:
Further Reading: Growing Adaptive Leaders for the Age of Disruption
Tool: Managerial Courage
Perspective: Prioritize core human skills, that AI can’t touch
“Put the title and your tenure on the table a bit and look at everyone as having something to bring.” – Laysha Ward
A leader’s capacity for continuous change starts with creating strong foundations. Constantly reiterating to ourselves and our teams that prioritizing self-care is essential (not selfish) is the foundation of well-being necessary to withstand continuous disruption.
Once the foundation is secure, this creates an environment more conducive to curiosity and continuous learning. Laysha shares that reverse mentoring is a surprisingly powerful way to grow as a leader while building a culture of learning. This involves putting aside title and tenure, and turning to others at all levels, including those you lead to fill knowledge gaps.
The ultimate human skill is listening. Our conversation moved past transactional listening (Listening to Fix or Win) and explored the power of transformational listening, or Listening to Learn and Understand.
Dive Deeper:
Book: Communication, Listening, and Tone (Chapter 1O in Lead Like You Mean It: Lessons on Integrity and Purpose from the C-Suite by Laysha Ward)
To explore more core concepts, such as developing a ‘Care+ Culture’ and building trust in teams, watch the full episode now. Or register for future Global Chat sessions for continued leadership inspiration.
*McKinsey: Help your employees find purpose—or watch them leave. Based on a survey of 1,O21 US workers.