Recently I listened to a powerful presentation on a company's new vision. The persuasive executive presenting it painted an inspiring picture of the operating model that she saw the company needed to execute the new vision. It was brilliant. But there was one thing missing: she never discussed talent. Talent is the make-or-break element the company needs to build the new vision. I see this often, and it perplexes me. Great vision requires great talent, but the pool of talent is shrinking. To create competitive advantage, the company needs to attract talent, and to attract the best talent in the world the company will need to be seen as a great place to work.

When I coach executives most of them can articulate their business vision with great passion. Then I ask, 'What keeps you awake at night?' They all tell me the same thing: 'How are we going to find the best talent to execute our vision?' Yet there's rarely a talent strategy to address the cause of their sleeplessness. For these executives to sleep soundly, talent must be one of their top three strategic priorities.

To attract talent, you must recognise the need for an engagement strategy. You must engage employees emotionally if you want them to deliver big. In workshop discussions with employees from many companies, a major frustration they often cite is, Why should I go above and beyond what's required? They just want to get more and more and give less and less.

To address their frustration you need to answer the four core questions that every employee wants clarified:

1. Where are we going?
2. What are we doing to get there?
3. What do you want me to do?
4. What's in it for me when I do?

These are the common concerns on talented people's minds. What company, regardless of size, industry, or country, wouldn't benefit from clearly answering these four questions for their best employees? When it comes to answering them, there's one basic you can't afford to overlook: a feeling of purpose in the workplace. If you can create a culture of purpose you can attract the best talent to work at your company, even when talent is in short supply.

Money matters. But competing for talent primarily by offering more money has rarely been enough to attract or retain the best people. Good pay is essential, but after a while the best people look for more from their work than just money. Talented people demand purposeful, challenging work, and they want the chance to express and develop their strongest talents.

The best people want to be part of something they can believe in—something that brings meaning to their work and their lives; something that involves a purpose bigger than themselves and their individual success. They want work that challenges them to make a difference. A powerful purpose is a magnet for attracting powerful people.

The purpose I'm describing creates a psychological bond between employees and the company. This attachment is essential for you to execute your vision. Nancy Hutson knows that Pfizer's research pipeline depends on attracting and retaining the best talent in the world. As senior vice-president and site head for the pharmaceutical company's 5,000-person Groton Research Laboratories in Connecticut, she also knows that great people can go anywhere today. That means her biggest competitive headache isn't companies like Merck or Johnson & Johnson. Her biggest worry is holding onto great people. 'There's nothing more important than helping people succeed,' she says. 'That's my number one job.'

Nancy is one of the company's leading advocates and models for creating a culture of purpose. She says, 'I'm passionate about building an organisation that allows people to be all that they can be and that exemplifies the Pfizer values. Helping others succeed is in my DNA!' Nancy knows it's a seller's market for talent. People with the right combination of talents, passions, and values can afford to shop for places to work. For example, the baby boomers, the largest and most significant part of the North American and European working population, are attracted to work that provides purpose and meaning. During this phase of their life they start to look inward and ask, 'Was it worth it? Did what I do make a difference?'

In earlier eras meaning came from company identity. Today purposeful work has replaced company identity. What's important now is a source of meaning in the work itself. The intrinsic purpose of the work has to be powerful enough to make up for the eroding employer–employee identity of the past.

Several years ago Tom Schultz, a corporate vice-president and director of financial planning for Motorola, issued a couple of simple questions to 25 of his colleagues: 'How do you see me? What's my legacy?' He requested frank, honest responses from others about how they thought he might be remembered. Within 48 hours, 19 people responded. Tom was surprised by the feedback. Hardly anyone mentioned his 'hard' skills, his financial accomplishments. Everyone talked about his 'soft' skills, his interpersonal contributions. Tom was, without knowing it, building a legacy.

'Today I always ask myself what impact this decision will have ten years from now.' His answers help Tom manifest his purpose, which he defines as making a difference with one person a day. These days Tom also works to make a difference with his daughter, Kelly, who faces daily the challenges of spina bifida. Kelly's illness has at times tested Tom's resolve to keep making a difference at work. Exhausted by the pressures of caring for Kelly, he was ready to call it quits at Motorola. A senior executive shocked him by saying, 'Don't do it! You need us and we need you right now.'

Tom stayed and has taken the lead in creating a world-class leadership development process. Fuelled by his interest in the long-term direction of people's lives, he's creating a role for himself in which he can make a difference in not just one life, but many people's lives each day. He says, 'I love getting up in the morning to open up growth possibilities for people.'

Picture the working lives of two people who do the same work. One has a job that pays the bills, while the other, like Tom Schultz, has a life's work that makes a positive difference in the lives of others. One drags out of bed most mornings feeling purposeless, tired, and stressed out. Tom has a reason to get up in the morning and feels a sense of purpose and energy most days. The difference is that Tom is working on purpose and the other person is not. Are you working on purpose? Are you creating a work culture in which the best people can work on purpose? (See the Working on Purpose Quiz below.)

Purpose is a deep concept. It is not a simple management or employee development technique. It's an issue reserved for the best talent in the world, those who are willing to engage the bigger questions that our work eventually presents to all of us. It's an issue for people who are not going to be sitting at their own retirement party wondering what it all added up to, why they worked so hard, and whether it was really worth it.

Are you working on purpose?

Does your current work feel like purposeful work?

Tick the appropriate box in the table below.

	Yes	No
1. I wake up most work days and feel energised to go to work.	_	_
2. I have a deep energy—feel a personal calling—for my work.	_	_
3. I am clear about how I measure my success as a person.	_	_
4. I use my gifts to add real value to people's lives.	_	_
5. I work with people who hold the same values I do.	_	_
6. I speak my truth at work.	_	_
7. I am experiencing true joy in my work.	_	_
8. I am making a living doing what I most love to do.	_	_
9. I can speak my purpose in one clear sentence.	_	_
10. I go to sleep most nights feeling 'This was a well-lived day'.	_	_
Total Yes responses
Total No responses

The more Yes answers you have, the more purposeful you feel your work is. If you have fewer than five Yes answers, it becomes important to clarify what you believe your purpose is.