What a 90-Year-Old Surgeon Taught Me About Purpose

This just in from the Gallup Organization:

The Good News: Employees with a strong sense of purpose at work are 5.6 times as likely to be engaged in their jobs as those with a low sense of purpose. They are also much less likely to feel burned out or be watching for or actively seeking a new job. Only 13% of employees with strong work purpose report feeling burned out "very often" or "always," compared with 38% of those with low purpose.

The Bad News: Nearly half of employees (45%) say they work primarily to collect a paycheck and benefits. Only 18% describe their current job as one that has a purpose they personally believe in, and 12% say their job allows them to pursue purpose in their life outside of work.

I was absorbing this information when I met with an experienced leader this week. I was a little surprised to hear him say, “Many people are inspired by renowned leaders like Nelson Mandela or Gandhi, but I am more inspired by people closer to me—leaders that I see on regular basis—people like my own father, or members of my own team regularly inspire me.” When he told me about his father I could understand why.

His father is 90 years old. He walks five miles a day. He takes no medications. And until very recently, he still went to the hospital every morning—not to operate, but to serve a role he invented himself.

He’s a surgeon by training. But when he turned 65, the hospital told him it was time to retire. “You can’t keep operating,” they said. “It’s too risky.”

Most people would have packed up their scrubs and gone home. They would have lived the life they had earned for themselves and traveled the world or spent extravagantly on themselves.  Not him. He simply said, “Fine. I’ll find another way to serve.”

You see, he understood that his purpose had been and always would be to help people. And purpose doesn't retire. So he told his younger colleagues: “You keep operating. Send your patients to me afterward. I’ll handle the post-op care.”

purpose doesn’t retire.

The surgeons were thrilled—they’d rather be in the operating room than at bedsides explaining procedures. The patients were delighted too—they had an experienced surgeon happy to sit with them, listen, and answer questions.

The hospital didn’t quite know what to do with him. There was no job description for this kind of role. He told them: “Don’t pay me. You’re already paying me—with respect, trust, and purpose.” He understood that meaning isn't measured in paychecks.

meaning isn’t measured in paychecks.

For over 20 years, he worked for free—showing up every day out of love, gratitude, and the conviction that movement is life.

When he got sick recently, everyone at the hospital—from the CEO to the surgeons and nurses—came to see him. They told his son, “You don’t need to worry. We take great care of him. We owe him far more than he owes us.”

But this story isn’t just about a strong work ethic—it’s also about an attitude of gratitude. He was always discovering new reasons to be grateful. He never saw misfortune as something happening to him, but as something for him. When one of the surgeons scheduled post op meetings over his lunch break years ago, rather than argue about taking advantage of a medical professional working for free, he switched to light snacks and skipped lunch. Eventually he thanked the surgeon. He realized he had been gaining weight because his metabolism had changed and by turning lunch into a snack he returned to his ideal weight.

He found the way to turn irritation into insight, setbacks into appreciation. He found reasons to be thankful in every circumstance—and that may be his greatest surgery of all: the quiet operation he performed every day on his own perspective.

His greatest surgery of all: the quiet operation he performed every day on his own perspective.

He reminds us that purpose doesn’t retire, meaning isn’t measured in paychecks, and gratitude has a healing power medicine can’t prescribe. His son says he’s “the happiest man alive,” and maybe that’s why he’s still here—still sharp, still grateful, still showing up.

Is it time for a checkup? Here are a few thoughts to rumble with:

• Can you turn irritation into insight? (why is this happening for you?)

• How clear is your purpose? Will it sustain you through your career? Beyond it?

• Can you forge an attitude of gratitude?

• How many things can you name to be thankful for right now?

When all is said and done, it’s purpose more than pay that validates and sustains us.

purpose, more than pay, validates and sustains us.

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