Purposefully human. It’s a powerful idea and one we need to increasingly live out. But what does it mean exactly? Here’s my take. 

Doing anything purposefully means doing it in a way that shows determination or resolve. It’s being intentional. 

But why the need to be intentionally—or purposefully—human?

Well, we live in a world that is becoming more and more inhuman. Our technologies are working to remove bits and pieces of our empathy. They are working to separate us. It began with machines in the Industrial Age and has moved to our computers, smartphones, and software in the Digital Age. 

Consider social media. The programming in it isn’t about connecting us as much as it is about profiting from us. It is being purposefully inhuman—i.e., determined to objectify—because it’s easier to do whatever it takes for self-interested gain when the people being used have no faces or names. 

So, given that ethos, the intention of being purposefully human is to change the trajectory. It’s to change the inhumanity that is increasingly accepted as our lot. It’s to see the well-being of self and others as the point of being alive as humans and to move the dial toward helping people as the reason for our lives, work, and businesses.

That move begins with a desire for a better world and a better way to be in that world. We must engage in the work of more empathy and more compassion. And to do that, we must be willing to sideline our own self-interested pursuits long enough to see others and be helpful. This is being human—intentionally… purposefully… human. And we can all do it—or at least we can try and keep trying. 

Take a moment each day to pause and consciously think about those around you. Are you considering them? Are you seeing them as people just like you? Then ask yourself, “What can I do in this moment to be most helpful?” 

If more of us do this, it will spread, and spreading purposeful humanity is just the tonic our world needs.

Together we can put the human back into humanity. 

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