Barry Heermann is in the business of helping people understand the meaning and purpose in their lives so they can more easily work with others to achieve greater results.

He often asks people such probing questions as "What is it that opens you up?" Imagine when the tables were turned, and the author and organizational consultant was asked that very question at his own book-signing.

"I didn't know how to respond," Heermann confesses. "I'd never asked myself that."

Star Search

Pausing for a few moments, Heermann launched into a story about how at age 6, he was looking at the stars from a backyard, seeing streams of light he'd never noticed. It got him thinking about where it all ended.

Today, he sees that he was searching for his own role in the world, looking toward the stars to understand himself.

"It was a natural response that helped me understand why I have chosen to do the things I have in my life," reveals Heermann, author of the new book, Noble Purpose.

Heermann believes that we all need meaning and purpose in our work lives, but he says he found that in one recent study, 40 percent of workers expressed dissatisfaction with their jobs.

"A significantly large part of those workers loved the work they did, but were agitated by distractions on the job that robbed them of the pleasure of the work they did," he explains. "Once they could see how their jobs fit with their purpose, they became much happier with their jobs and their purpose became much more clear."

Heermann notes that it is proved that the best results come from work teams that are able to sidestep differences for the greater good. Those teams see purpose in what they are doing and pursue it.

Noted organizational thinker and Massachusetts Institute of Technology lecturer Peter Senge concurs that the power to achieve greater results comes from individuals who understand their values and motivations.

Finding Your Purpose

Heermann believes you can have meaning without purpose in your work life. It is identification of the purpose that spurs you to action.

"Some of us are never really aware of those moments that give us fulfillment in our jobs," he adds. "We don't see it because we don't investigate it. It's not taught to us by our culture, our society nor our workplaces. It is left to each of us to find it on our own."

Heermann reasons that there is considerable satisfaction for workers when they discover the work they have been doing through the years is linked to what motivated them early on.

"Everyone has a purpose in their lives, whether they are software engineers, healthcare workers or educators," he observes. "If you look at a software engineer, all they want to do is write code that helps change the way someone does something for the better. They don't need anything more."

Looking Back

Heermann urges individuals to step back and look at the jobs and types of work they have pursued during their lives. Many workers, he fears, have built up a hardened external shell to their work lives that has prevented them from reflecting on their career choices.

"Only in looking back do most of us see the continuity and thread of what our purpose is," he declares. "When we are doing our best work, our purpose surfaces and flows through our work without us even realizing it."

Heermann feels that some of us wait for the traumatic life-changing event - death, divorce or career derailment - to discover our purpose.

"You'll be happier if you look for it now," he counsels. "There's no reason to wait."