Finding Your Purpose Starts With Knowing Your Values
Discovering Your Core Values: A Journey Toward Purpose-Driven Leadership
For the past sixteen years, I have guided graduate students on a journey of self-discovery — helping them strengthen awareness of their core values, enliven their sense of purpose, and embody those values more consistently in their leadership. I am deeply committed to this work because it reflects my own pursuit of living in alignment with the values that shape how I want to contribute to a better world — and because it brings me profound joy to help others do the same.
The Benedictine nun and author Sister Joan Chittister once wrote of the human need for meaning and purpose:
“In the deepest part of each of us there are always two things: the desire to become everything we can be and the need to find out exactly what that is. At the convergence of these two lies the meaning of life.”
Psychotherapist Dr. Maria L. Santa-Maria suggests that a lack of meaning and purpose is a universal human experience. It may arise when we reach midlife, face loss or illness, or struggle with apathy and insignificance in a complex world. She writes, “It has to do with taking a stand regarding our ultimate life values — declaring a commitment to what we believe about life and the world, and living our lives accordingly.”
Joanna Macy and Chris Johnstone, in Active Hope: How to Face the Mess We’re in Without Going Crazy, describe the vitality that comes from aligning with purpose: “When we move in a direction that touches our heart, we add to the momentum of deeper purpose that makes us feel more alive.”
As we mature, developmental psychology teaches that we undergo multiple transitions and transformations. Like trees, we add rings to our sense of self — each one expanding our belonging and our responsibility. The image of tree rings reminds me of these lines from Scripture:
“They shall be like a tree planted by water, sending out its roots by the stream... and it does not cease to bear fruit.” (Jeremiah 17:7–8)
“You will know them by their fruit.” (Matthew 7:20)
To bear fruit, for me, is to live with purpose and responsibility — to give as well as receive, to offer our unique gifts to the world, and to find meaning and joy in that offering.
Macy and Johnstone note that in doing the work of discovering purpose, we often uncover inner strength and unexpected fulfillment: “Being able to make a difference is powerfully enlivening; it makes our lives feel more worthwhile... we not only give but we receive in so many ways as well.”
When I turned fifty, I spent a day on retreat reflecting on the “rings” of my own life — the people, experiences, and ideas that had shaped me. As an avid reader, those influences included not only family and friends but also authors whose words expanded my understanding. When I finished mapping them, I saw that they clustered around four central themes: ecology, feminism, spirituality, and leadership.
Under each theme, I identified the values that had emerged through years of study and reflection:
Ecology: Connectedness, diversity, balance, and a cosmic worldview.
Feminism: Freedom, equality, mutuality, and relationship.
Spirituality: Openness to inner wisdom, communion, and consciousness.
Leadership: Authentic action, vision, right relationship, and fostering life.
In 2008, I carried those values into my work as director of a leadership development project at DePaul University in Chicago, shaping a curriculum rooted in values-centered leadership. Those same values continue to fuel my passion today. While students often express appreciation for the courses, I am most moved by those who have told me they changed jobs after realizing their personal values no longer aligned with those of their organization. That kind of clarity and courage is the ultimate measure of meaningful leadership.
An Invitation to Reflect
I invite you to take a few quiet moments to reflect on the questions below. My hope is that they lead you toward greater clarity of purpose and a renewed sense of joy in your own leadership journey.
- How well do you know your core values?
- What personal experiences have shaped those values?
- How have your values evolved over time and across different spaces?
- Do they still lie at the heart of what motivates you today — for yourself and for others?
References
Chittister, J. (2015). Two Dogs and a Parrot: What Our Animal Friends Can Teach Us About Life. Bluebridge.
Macy, J. & Johnstone, C. (2012). Active Hope: How to Face the Mess We’re in Without Going Crazy. New World Library.
Santa-Maria, M. L. (1983). Growth Through Meditation and Journal Writing: A Jungian Perspective on Christian Spirituality. Paulist Press.
