Beyond Happiness: 4 Ways to Uncover Purpose & Fulfillment
In our metric-driven business world, it’s easy to get caught up chasing short-term wins while losing sight of deeper purpose and long-term, sustainable growth. But CMOs should prioritize finding their purpose to drive sustainable growth and impact—that’s where going “beyond happiness” comes into play.
Author Jenn Lim joined a CMO Huddles Career Huddle to discuss insights from her book “Beyond Happiness”. Lim’s core premise is that true happiness is fleeting, but living with authenticity aligned to your values leads to a profound sense of fulfillment. She advocates for looking “beyond happiness” to uncover your purpose through self-reflection on your passions, strengths, and life experiences—both the highs and the lows.
Lim is the first to admit that purpose has been overused, but companies that prioritize purpose consistently outperform those who don’t. Purpose should be more than just talk, and companies should take the additional steps to walk the walk on company values and cultivate trust and psychological safety for teams to thrive.
Looking to tap into your—or your company’s—purpose? Read on for Lim’s key strategies:
1. Uncover Your “Why”
To get grounded in purpose, Lim recommends exercises like mapping your “happiness heartbeats” of life highs and lows to identify core values. Or try the “six degrees of impact” visioning to storyboard incremental steps toward an aspirational goal. The key is unearthing motivations beyond just chasing happiness.
2. Create “Greenhouse Conditions”
Just as greenhouses provide the ideal environment for plants to flourish, Lim says leaders should cultivate “greenhouse conditions” for their teams to grow. This means fostering accountability, alignment to a shared purpose, a sense of belonging, and mutual commitment to each other’s development.
3. Future-Proof Yourself
With disruptions like AI looming, Lim stresses the need to “future-proof” yourself by leaning into uniquely human strengths. Continuously invest in self-awareness, authenticity, and personal growth areas tied to your purpose.
4. Start Small, Scale Impact
While driving transformational change is ideal, Lim acknowledges organizational limitations. She advises starting purposeful experiments within your team’s sphere of influence. Measure results over time, then let the positive outcomes make the case for wider adoption.
Lim’s insights make a compelling case that prioritizing purpose, values, and personal growth builds resilient teams and sustainable business performance. It provides a human-centric blueprint for transcending fleeting happiness to achieve true fulfillment in our lives and work.CMO Huddles features private Q&As (“Career Huddles”) with thought leaders like Jenn Limm every month. If you’re a B2B marketing leader and want to join the next one, reach out to support@cmohuddles.com for more info.