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Purpose has become more and more a key concept for modern organizations: type \u2018Purpose in American business\u2019 into Google, and you\u2019ll get 1,740,000,000 responses, for example. But how real is it? Is it the same as CSR, or giving corporate money to a good cause? And, crucially, what\u2019s its connection\u2014if any\u2014to L&D? On this special new Season on the podcast, we\u2019re attempting to answer these and other questions about Purpose under the rubric, \u2018Is Purpose Working?\u2019 As you may know by now, we\u2019re doing this with the help of RedThread Research and with the welcome support of an ed tech firm equally interested in finding out an answer, too\u2014NovoEd, a developer of a collaborative online learning platform that builds high-value capabilities that result in real impact. In this second conversation in our researches, I am delighted to be joined by RedThread principal analyst Stacia Garr. Stacia proves invaluable in us both teasing out insight from someone who just might be the foremost expert on the science of purpose and fulfillment at work: consultant, VC, social entrepreneur and Seattle-based Purpose influencer Aaron Hurst. In 2014, his book \u2018The Purpose Economy\u2019 brought widespread attention to the concept of Purpose and its importance for our lives today (for me especially). Now CEO and co-founder of Imperative, a platform that connects and supports employees as peer career coaches, Aaron describes how his new venture enables video-based peer coaching conversations across organizations that drive mindset and behavior changes that increase leadership abilities, productivity, and fulfillment. It\u2019s work that caps his famous stint as the founder of pro bono volunteer channel The Taproot Foundation, which connects talented people with non-profits\u2014and, we hear, connects him and one of the other people on the podcast! Finally, a reminder that all this \u2018Is Purpose Working?\u2019 work is set to peak in a live, online gated experience where Dani, Stacia and I will debate all the Learnings from Season 7 that have come through, with inputs including today\u2019s great discussion with Aaron. Be assured you will also be able to debate with us and get your question asked\u2014but to get your questions in nice and early, lock-in your free place at the webinar over at the special NovoEd microsite supporting the project, www.novoed.com/purpose. Now let\u2019s go, and be sure to stick around for a quick three-way debate on what Aaron told us at the end. So now, let\u2019s hear from someone you might style the Father of Purpose, debating such key milestones of his career and thinking as: how he ended up in Seattle after \u2018something of a nomadic career;' why the non-profit world he started working in frustrated him\u2014and what he did about it; why Taproot was just a vitamin, not real nutrition; why he wrote 'The Purpose Economy' and how he\u2019s convinced we\u2019re in a whole new economic era fuelled by \u2018meaning;' what last year\u2019s Business Roundtable commitment to Purpose did for a lot of CEOs; and much more.