When Ian Percy was an undergraduate psychology student, he held a part-time job in a hospital, and he couldn't help but notice how many employees there were miserable at work. So he suggested to the administration that they do something about it. They responded with the suggestion that he do something about it. And so he discovered what became his chosen profession: helping people find the "why" in their lives."I do have a sense of calling about it," he says. "I'm driven because I recognize how many people spend year after year in a working context without having any idea why." And on the occasions when people do understand why they're working day in and day out, he says, their goals ultimately lack real meaning. "Some people have these countdown clocks—how many years until they can retire. And I think, 'What kind of life is that?' Ninety-five percent of us will live, work, and die without once knowing why we're here. We need to rediscover a 'why' to our lives and our work."Percy says this quest for a greater purpose follows a predictable course, and that the precedent applies to personal—as well as to corporate—development. "What I've found in my own wrestling is that there seem to be six stages that we all go through in [finding our purpose]," he says. In his speaking engagements, Percy often uses the fourth step, which he calls "Irritation," as a launching pad for audience involvement. "People get to a point where they begin to realize they're fighting against some kind of institution, or feeling restless in their lives. I tell people they've got to run right into that restlessness because it's their best friend. There's nothing wrong with them. Restlessness is the birthplace of purpose."In this sort of coaching, Percy considers himself "a group guy," explaining that he doesn't have the patience for individual therapy because it's just plain ineffective. "You get better mileage if you take on the whole executive team, for example, rather than just a single executive," he says. "Otherwise it's like doing marriage therapy with just the wife." This approach allows Percy to get teams working better together by discovering their shared purpose. "When companies catch up to a sense of higher purpose, when they awaken to what they could really do with one another instead of 'every man for himself,' there's nothing else like it. Their jobs quit being work at that point," he says. "It's transformational."