Having a Meaning in life generates a purpose, transforming it in our engine, our motivation and guidance. The meaning is felt, is with oneself, with others, you live it, you choose it, eliminating the "meaningless", and most importantly, it's action.
I can not stop thinking about the Meaning of Purpose that each of the 33 miners trapped in the mine San Jose would have, and more importantly, how did they come to find and establish a Common Meaning Purpose that does not decay and motivate then until they were found?
In my prism, there is a close and direct relationship between direction and leadership, understanding that leadership is the activity of mobilizing people in scenarios of uncertainty, where breaking the status quo of the organization is critical, and questioning the habits, attitudes and values people is the essence of adaptive work. Furthermore, it is a risky activity that involves losses, not only economic but often emotional, sentimental and even worst, they may lose their life (Martin Luther King is an example).
Then, if an activity as risky as leadership that involves going "upstream", why are there people willing to exercise it? This is where I make the connection with the concept of Meaning. A person is willing to exercise leadership and bear all risks and difficulties it entails, by having a Meaning: A Meaning of Purpose.
As Victor Frankl says in his book "Man Searching for Meaning": "There is nothing in the world that could train a person to overcome external constraints and internal constraints such as having awareness of having a task in life ".
Without an specific purpose, nothing makes sense. As Meaning is with yourself and with others, itself creates a compromise between those who are exercising leadership and people who are involved with the purpose, building a Common Purpose Meaning between eachothers.
Thus, our aims undertake us and connect us with other people. Together they give meaning to the adaptive challenge. Only with a particular meaning of purpose and that it's common to everubody, people begins to accept the losses and changes that are needed to break paradigms, judgments and assumptions, and develop adaptive work. You can not lead by your ego, but by oneself and for others, in order to reach a better place for everyone.
So, who must have exercised leadership among the 33 miners, faced a challenge from an adaptive scenario of uncertainty, where solutions were not fully known, however, they were willing to do so and take the risk, having a clear and powerful meaning of purpose, that also allowed them to transmit and manage it, making it a Common Meaning Purpose for all trapped miners.
