In Search of Purpose: From Margaret Thatcher to La Sagrada Familia
What do the former Ravenscraig Steelworks and la Sagrada Família have in common?
It may seem a bizarre question, particularly because most of you reading this will have no idea what Ravenscraig is (or rather was). Let’s start there.
I was born in a town called Motherwell, near Glasgow in the West of Scotland. Steel production was the key industry when I was growing up in the 1980s, with the Ravenscraig steelworks becoming one of the largest producers of steel in the world. I saw the huge gas holder and cooling towers of the mighty Ravenscraig from my primary school window for 7 years. It was a strong part of the local identity. Something we were proud of.
What I remember seeing from my school window as a 7-year old
Motherwell had a long tradition of steel manufacture beginning in the 1870s when David Colville turned Dalzell Steel into a worldwide mark of quality for the shipbuilding industry. The Ravenscraig works were the focal point of the surrounding community, employing thousands – at its peak more than 13,000, including several members of my own family. Yet the industry was not sustainable. Steel production became much more cost efficient in other countries, and the plant would limp along for a few years before eventually closing in 1992, devastating the surrounding area over reliant on one main source of wealth creation.
The mighty gas tower of the ‘Craig is demolished in 1996
With the closure of Ravenscraig came the loss, not only of livelihoods, but more importantly of purpose. This process was repeated across Scotland, notably in the shipyards of Glasgow, and across industrial Britain. I felt this de-industrialization first at home. I remember my father in and out of work, a skilled tradesman who couldn’t find a stable place to practice that trade for any length of time. He, like a whole generation across Britain, had lost his purpose, and the effects went beyond the financial (as serious as they were) to overall health and wellbeing.
“..she was also, arguably, cruel-hearted. In the present day when we talk of leaders needing to practice empathy and compassion, she represents, in my view, the antithesis of this type of leadership.”
The villain of the piece for many was Margaret Thatcher. UK Prime Minister from 1979 to 1990 she led a significant modernization, and division, of Britain, creating significant wealth for millions and misery for millions more.
I’m often bemused, and sometimes irked, to the extent that she is lionized by people from other countries who have no idea what it was like to live with the impact of her decisions. Yes, she was a brilliant leader, and especially at a time when gender equality wasn’t even talked of, a true pioneer for women in leadership. Yet she was also, arguably, cruel-hearted. In the present day when we talk of leaders needing to practice empathy and compassion, she represents, in my view, the antithesis of this type of leadership.
There could be an argument that the de-industrialization of Britain in the 1980s would have been a painful process no matter who was in charge, and Thatcher modernized a partly reluctant island. Many prospered and therein lies the crux of much debate. Yet I don’t think there can be debate over the fact she was responsible for removing the purpose of millions of people, whether that was a fait accompli or not.
In my Stanford office 2001
I was very lucky to find my purpose at a young age, partly as a result of having witnessed many having lost theirs. I was 3 years old when Thatcher became Prime Minister and almost 13 when she was ousted. In 2001, I was 24 years old and spent the first significant amount of time away from home, spending a semester each at Stanford, Carnegie Mellon and the University of Calgary as part of a Doctoral Research tour of North America. It helped me make sense of my experiences and the power of work (or lack of) on health, wellbeing, and habits. Ever since my purpose has been to bring a positive message of health, wellbeing and behaviour to as many people as possible.
Not that I was able to verbalise all this at the time. In the opening pages of my new book, The Daily Reset, which is a celebration of a 20-year career in wellbeing, I dedicate the text to “the people of the town of Motherwell where I grew up, and the people of the city of Barcelona where I found my voice.”
Between both places have been many doubts. Doubts that I can’t have found my purpose because I was too young and it should be a lifelong quest. Doubts due to a lack of external validation. Doubts that accompany the vulnerability of sharing ideas in the form of speeches and books. Yet these doubts are part of the journey. They allow you to identify the powerful questions. They force you to listen to and then trust your inner voice. They help focus your daily actions.
“..purpose can change throughout our life. It can be clarified, strengthened, and, for some, serve as a lifelong aspiration, or a guiding star...The Daily Reset is the latest incarnation..”
Research shows that purpose can change throughout our life. It can be clarified, strengthened, and, for some, serve as a lifelong aspiration, or a guiding star. There have been many twists and turns for me since 2001. The Daily Reset is the latest incarnation and I feel more aligned than ever – but not without doubts, and I see that as a positive.
La Sagrada Familia is a symbol of my home city of Barcelona, just as the Ravenscraig Steelworks was a symbol of my birth town. It may also be the greatest example of the power of purpose in the world. Antoni Gaudí was driven throughout his life to celebrate God. In many ways, he gave up his life for that purpose. For the last 43 years of his life he would rise each day in his small workshop basement, and get to work, almost exclusively on La Sagrada Familia.
La Sagrada Familia at the time of Gaudís death in 1926
Gaudí’s strong purpose was to celebrate the work of God by creating architectural forms derived from God’s work: nature. He is the creator of many of the Barcelona’s most famous buildings, parks, street lamps, and benches. And while he accepted the contracts of the rich families and merchants of the city as a means of funding his one true purpose, he lived humbly—so much so that when he died, hit by a tram on the way to attend mass, people thought he was a beggar.
To this day, the awe-inspiring structure of the Sagrada Família rises into the sky and will keep gaining height until its completion scheduled for the year 2026, 100 years after Gaudí’s death. To view it from the outside is one thing. To go inside is to witness an other-worldly beauty. I don’t think I’m alone in saying I cried when I did so. That is the power of purpose.
Inside La Sagrada Familia today
Just as I saw the Ravenscraig from my own school window I now see La Sagrada Familia every day after I drop my son off at his school. I was probably seven years old when I was first aware of my home town steelworks, the same age as my son now. We all want the best for our children and for them to be happy. If he can find his purpose, or at least actively engage in his own search for it, I couldn’t wish for a better start towards that happiness.
Maybe we can all look around us today and try and enable others to actively engage in their own search for purpose.