{"id":4802,"date":"2023-12-01T05:56:21","date_gmt":"2023-12-01T05:56:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.coachmentoring.co.uk\/articles\/?p=4802"},"modified":"2024-04-15T11:05:03","modified_gmt":"2024-04-15T10:05:03","slug":"the-purpose-paradox-leadership-not-practising-what-you-preach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.coachmentoring.co.uk\/articles\/2023\/12\/the-purpose-paradox-leadership-not-practising-what-you-preach\/","title":{"rendered":"The Purpose Paradox: Leadership \u2014\u00a0Not practising what you preach"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Purpose\u201cBe the change you want to see in the world.\u201d \u2014 What Mahatma Gandhi wrote of the individual, perhaps applies even more to organisations founded to make the world more ecological, social, just and peaceful. NGOs ought to exemplify what they want to see in the world in their own, self-designed world. Unfortunately, this is not always the case! Hence the Purpose Paradox.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Those who want to improve the world, often fail within their own four walls.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

People looking for meaning are drawn to work with NGOs<\/h2>\n

Doing something meaningful is what NGO workers mention first when asked what they like best about their job. And yes, there are dedicated people working in NGOs, with a lot of passion for meaningful things.<\/p>\n

In my experience, in the vast majority of cases, they are kind people who really want to make the world a better place. The fact that, despite the intentions of the organisation and its staff, there is often suffering, frustration and stress, even burnout, is therefore \u201castonishing\u201d. Why is it that more often than one might think, NGOs have the paradox of not living internally for what they strive externally?<\/p>\n

So why do many NGOs suffer from the purpose paradox?<\/h2>\n

Let me say at this point that what I am writing here is written as someone who has failed several times and is constantly striving, not as a know-it-all. I would just like to point out the danger of this ominous paradox, which Dorothe Liebig aptly calls the \u2018Purpose Paradox\u2019 [1], i.e. \u201cNot doing oneself what one preaches\u201d.<\/p>\n

The ends justify the means<\/h3>\n

\"WhateverIn my opinion, one of the causes is that the end all too easily justifies the means \u2014 probably because one’s end is sacred. Namely: saving the planet and\/or humanity! And for this sacred end, one is allowed to do almost anything:<\/p>\n