Three things a leader or manager should be thinking: What's happening? What's not happening? and What can I do to influence the outcome?

Focusing on one's own purpose is a matter of considering what you want to do, why you want to do it, and how you will do it. Easy questions, but they do provide deep thought.

Communication comes with practice. As a leader you must speak the truth; listen for understanding; and learn from what you hear and do not hear.

Purposeful organizations develop the next generation, not simply the next leader. My friend Marshall Goldsmith, bestselling author and leading executive coach, does not like the term succession planning. Better to say, "succession development." That means you are focusing on multiple managers and grooming them to lead.

Leaders instill purpose through their words and their actions. Their communications demonstrate a commitment to vision and mission, but their behaviors underscore its real importance. What a leader does is far more important than what he or she says. People want to see action and help achieve results.

The words a leader speaks are important, of course. But how they're delivered can make all the difference, especially in tough times.

There are some terrific resources on how to find individual purpose but relative resources on how to discover purpose and apply to an organization. My challenge was to show organizations how they could unlock the purpose of their organizations and put it to good use for employees to apply to their own jobs. The net effect is to help individuals, teams and organizations to optimize performance by understanding how to use purpose for good intention.