This document discusses Viktor Frankl's theories about finding meaning and maintaining a sense of control even in difficult circumstances. Some key points: - Frankl survived Nazi concentration camps and documented his experiences in his influential book "Man's Search for Meaning." He believed that finding meaning, even in suffering, helped prisoners survive. - Frankl argued that between any situation and our response is a space of freedom to choose our attitude. Maintaining an internal locus of control over our interpretations is important for well-being. - Lacking a sense of meaning or control can lead to stress, learned helplessness, and poorer performance, while purpose and agency increase satisfaction and resilience. Applying Frankl's insights can help

1. The Purpose-Driven LeaderViktor Frankl’s Principles at Work Daniel Crosby, Ph.D.

2. The majority of presenting concerns could be largely subsumed under two categories: Lack of meaning – no purpose, unable to articulate a passionate striving or reason for being Lack of control – stress, depression, helplessness resulting from feeling powerless My Observations

3. Meaning Part I

5. September 25, 1942 – Frankl, his wife, and parents shipped to Theresienstadt concentration camp

6. October 19, 1944 – moved to Auschwitz

7. April 27, 1945 – liberated by American troopsViktor Frankl

9. Mother and brother killed at Auschwitz

10. Wife killed at Bergen-Belsen

11. Manuscript stolen and destroyed upon transfer to AuschwitzViktor Frankl

13. New York Times called it one of the ten most influential books of all timeMan’s Search for Meaning

15. In all circumstances, we remain our freedom to choose our reaction to a given event. Man’s Search for Meaning

17. Prisoners possessed of a deeply-felt reason for being enjoyed psychological and physical benefits not afforded those who lacked such meaning. Not only were the purpose-driven prisoners happier, they were actually healthier and more likely to survive than those who succumbed to a belief in meaninglessness. This meaning took the shape of large goals, rooted in deeply-held personal beliefs, as well as viewing seemingly un-extraordinary events as special. Frankl’s Observations

18. “Ever more people today have the means to live, but no meaning to live for.” “Everyone has his own specific vocation or mission in life; everyone must carry out a concrete assignment that demands fulfillment. Therein he cannot be replaced, nor can his life be repeated, thus, everyone's task is unique as his specific opportunity to implement it.” “Life can be pulled by goals just as surely as it can be pushed by drives.” “Ultimately, man should not ask what the meaning of his life is, but rather he must recognize that it is he who is asked.” Frankl’s Observations

19. Frankl’s Ideas in Leadership Literature

20. “I believe the most important attribute for a leader is being principle-centered. Centering on principles that are universal and timeless provides a foundation and compass to guide every decision and every act..” –Stephen R. Covey - Covey on Meaning

21. “You have to decide what your highest priorities are and have the courage - pleasantly, smilingly, nonapologetically - to say "no" to other things. And the way you do that is by having a bigger "YES" burning inside.” “How different our lives are when we really know what is deeply important to us, and, keeping that picture in mind, we manage ourselves each day to be and do what really matters most.” –Stephen R. Covey - Covey on Meaning

22. Know this guy?

23. Malcolm Gladwell, author of “Outliers” singles out “meaningful work” as one of the things that differentiates those that excel from those who do not Gladwell suggests that passion, not genius, is what differentiates the Beatles and Bill Gates from their contemporaries Without viewing our work as meaningful, Gladwell states, we will never put in the necessary time and effort to become an outlier Gladwell’s Meaningful Work

24. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIYUMwxKFzo Meaningful Work Video

26. Lencioni uses the rallying cry concept as the key point of unification in his writing on family life, team building, and organizational unity. Lencioni’s Rallying Cry

27. What adjectives come to mind?

28. Flow – the mental state of operation in which the person is fully immersed in what he or she is doing by a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and success in the process of the activity. Colloquialisms for the mental state include being “in the zone”, “on the ball”, or “in the groove.” Flow is the study of the psychology of optimal performance. Meaning and “Flow”

29. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi has identified “making meaning” as one of the components necessary to achieve flow. “Creating meaning involves bringing order to the contents of the mind by integrating one’s actions into a unified flow experience…People who find their lives meaningful usually have a goal that is challenging enough to take up all of their energies, a goal that can give significance to their lives.” – Flow, p.217 Meaning and “Flow”

30. “The meaning of life is meaning: whatever it is, wherever it comes from, a unified purpose is what gives meaning to life.” “Purpose, resolution, and harmony unify life and give it meaning by transforming it into a seamless flow experience…Every living moment will make sense, and most of it will be enjoyable.” – Flow, pp. 217-218 We bring meaning to our jobs, and they in turn become meaningful. What is the number one predictor of job satisfaction? Meaning and “Flow”

31. “What this involves is turning all life into a unified flow experience. If a person sets out to achieve a difficult enough goal, from which all other goals logically follow, and if he or she invests all energy in developing skills to reach that goal, then actions and feelings will be in harmony, and the separate parts of life will fit together-and each activity will make sense in the present, as well as in view of the past and of the future. In such a way, it is possible to give meaning to one’s entire life.” – Flow, pp.214-215 The author believes that meaning is what finally allows us to be satisfied holistically, instead of looking for partial fixes (e.g., thin, rich, etc…). Unity of Purpose

32. Pujols Family Foundation “If you talk to me five minutes, four minutes are going to be about my faith and my family, and for one minute, if you wanna talk about baseball we can talk about baseball.” Motto: Some things are bigger than the game. On PFF Night – Watch out!

33. Finding Meaning in the Mundane

34. “Everything is amazing and nobody’s happy” - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jETv3NURwLc Mindfulness – a heightened awareness of the world around us Those who “will be happy when”, never are. Meaning in the Mundane

35. Who here would like to be a letter carrier? “Going Postal” – boredom, repetitiveness, exposure to elements, irritable customers “I don’t just deliver mail. I see myself helping to connect people to other people. I help build the community. Besides, people depend on me and I don’t want to let them down.” Neither snow nor rain nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds. – Herodotus, Greek historian, 1st Century B.C. She brought meaning to her work and it became meaningful. Meaning and the Mail

36. Pick your least-preferred work task. How can you view this task in a more meaningful way? What tasks do you reduce to meaninglessness that actually serve a higher purpose? What positive aspects of your work are you rushing past? Applying our learning

38. Overarching meaning increases performance, structures our goals and our time, and gives unity of purpose to our endeavors.

39. Finding meaning in the mundane allows us greater happiness, makes work more enjoyable and opens our eyes to possibilities. Summary

40. Creating Meaning

41. What is the most meaningful thing you have ever done? What made it so meaningful? What three adjectives would you most like to describe you? What three adjective do most describe you? Reflect on a “boundary experience”. What insights did you have in that moment? Creating Meaning

42. What will it say?

43. Deeply-felt/Passionate Widely applicable Balances hedonism and altruism Respects community and individual welfare Discovered in boundary experiences and through personal reflection Don’t tie your success to anything less than the goals that matter the most to you. All subordinate goals (e.g., money, power) are pursued only because we assume that they will lead to a meaningful existence. Meaning-How?

44. Freedom of Choice Part II

45. “Everything can be taken from a man or a woman but one thing: the last of human freedoms to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way. “Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” “When we are no longer able to change a situation - we are challenged to change ourselves.” Frankl on Freedom of Choice

46. Situation = Behavior/Emotions How would Frankl have acted given this formula? How would he have felt? What would have become of him? Short-term? Long-term? How common is this way of thinking given our current economic milieu? Exchange your name for his. Situation =Behavior/Emotions

47. Situation + Interpretation = Behaviors/Feelings How does this point of view change your approach? Recession example. What have you surrendered control of that you could take back? Frankl said…

48. “What I ‘discovered’ was that happiness is not something that happens. It is not the result of good fortune or random chance. It is not something that money can buy or power command. It does not depend on outside events, but, rather, on how we interpret them. Happiness, in fact, is a condition that must be prepared for, cultivated, and defended privately by each person. People who learn to control inner experience will be able to determine the quality of their lives, which is as close as any of us can come to being happy.” – Flow, pg.2 - “Flow” and Freedom of Choice

49. Locus of control-refers to an individual’s generalized expectations concerning where control over events resides. In simple terms, who or what is responsible for what happens. Internal LOC – responsibility rests with us External LOC – responsibility rests with the environment Locus of Control

50. Boone (1996) et al. reported the CEO locus of control was significantly associated with profitability in small business 7% of small businesses with Internal LOC CEO’s failed 45% of small business with External LOC CEO’s failed Locus of Control and Profitability

52. Part II – dogs placed in an “escape box” whereby they can avoid shock by stepping over a small fence

53. Dogs conditioned to receive random shock became “learned helpless” and would not take action to stop the shock

54. When we believe in the myth of external LOC, we buy into our being victims of our environment; apathy and helplessness ensue

55. An optimistic attributional style (a belief that things will get better) is the factor most predictive of avoiding learned helplessness in humansLOC and Learned Helplessness

56. External LOC Contributes Heavily to Stress, Depression, and Negativity

57. Increased medical costs-between 75 and 90% of visits to family practitioners are stress-related Increased absenteeism-The number of employees calling in sick because of stress tripled between 1996 and 2000. An estimated 1 million plus American workers are absent each day due to stress. 550 million work days a year lost to stress-related absenteeism. Organizational Impact

58. Stress-related absenteeism is estimated to cost corporations $602 per worker each year A three year study conducted by a large corporation found that 60% of missed days were related to psychological variables Ivancevich and Matteson-estimated stress-related costs to the U.S. economy at over 10% of the GNP Higher turnover-a number of studies indicate that job stress and job satisfaction are inversely related Lower employee engagement Organizational Impact

59. Decreased short-term memory Impoverished ability to think rationally Decreased problem-solving ability Less ability to concentrate Depression has been shown to lead to poorer recall of difficult material Negativity has been shown to decrease ability to engage in creative endeavors Organizational Impact

60. External LOC is linked to poor executive performance External LOC = Learned Helplessness = Inaction External LOC = higher rates of stress and depression which have measurable, negative organizational impact Summary

62. Difficulty can exalt as surely as it can cripple if we retain our belief in our freedom to respond to our environment in meaningful ways.

63. E.g. – Conversation on the train from the airport.Summary

64. Consider the current economic downturn. What are negative scripts, or “I cant’s” that you have bought into as a result of the recession? List five personal and/or professional opportunities that have emerged as a result of the recession. Applying our Learning

65. Derailers

66. Cognitive dissonance – uncomfortable feeling caused by holding two contradictory ideas simultaneously. To resolve cognitive dissonance, we must either change our behaviors or change our beliefs. Beware Cognitive Dissonance

67. “Goals can lead into all sorts of trouble, at which point one gets tempted to give them up and find some less demanding script by which to order one’s actions. The price one pays for changing goals whenever opposition threatens is that while one may achieve a more pleasant and comfortable life, it is likely that it will end up empty and void of meaning.” –Flow, pg. 223 Beware Cognitive Dissonance

68. Choose an accountability partner In one week, report your five opportunities that have emerged as part of the current economic climate At two weeks, report your professional raison d’etre Homework