An Impactful Career: What are the injustices in the world that truly break your heart?

What is a Career Purpose? 

People with a purpose often describe their work as intrinsically fulfilling, not just because of the financial reward or career advancement, but because it gives them a sense of meaning and contributes to their identity. Their purpose often aligns with their values and makes them feel like they're making a positive impact on the world.

How to Find a Purpose

 Ask yourself:

1. What are the injustices in the world that truly break your heart or anger you?
2. What stirs a strong emotional response within you that you might want to change or address in your career? 

Here are some further questions to prompt you:

1. What global issue do you find yourself most drawn to?
2. What do you think are the biggest threats to humanity's future?
3. Which world problems do you wish you could solve?
4. If you could change one thing about the world, what would it be?
5. What do you believe is the most overlooked issue today?
6. What societal norms or practices do you strongly disagree with?
7. If you were a world leader for a day, what issue would you address first?
8. What global issue do you wish more people knew about or cared for?
9. What world problems do you see worsening if not addressed?
10. When you watch or read the news, which stories touch you the most?
11. Is there any particular region of the world whose problems you feel especially concerned about?
12. If you had unlimited resources, how would you use them to make the world better?
13. Which issues do you think future generations will have to confront?
14. What do you believe is the root cause of many world problems?

Global Injustices List 

The United Nations (UN) has a number of declarations, principles, and goals that outline many of the world's challenges. These resources can provide an expansive view of global injustices to help you think through what emotionally engages you and might form a purpose for your career. 

1. Universal Declaration of Human Rights: This is a key document in the history of human rights. Drafted by representatives with different legal and cultural backgrounds from all regions of the world, it sets out, for the first time, fundamental human rights to be universally protected.
2. United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child: This is an international treaty that recognizes the human rights of children, defined as persons up to the age of 18 years. The Convention establishes in international law that States Parties must ensure that all children—without any exception whatsoever—benefit from special protection measures and assistance.
3. Sustainable Development Goals: The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are the world's best plan to build a better world for people and our planet by 2030. These goals recognize that ending poverty and other deprivations must go hand-in-hand with strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth – all while tackling climate change and working to preserve our oceans and forests.
4. United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: This sets out the individual and collective rights of indigenous peoples, as well as their rights to culture, identity, language, employment, health, education and other issues.
5. United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment: These principles are a voluntary and aspirational set of investment principles that offer a menu of possible actions for incorporating ESG issues into investment practice.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a milestone document that underpins all international human rights law and inspires us to continue working to ensure that all people can gain freedom, equality, and dignity. Here's a simplified version of the rights listed in the declaration, framed as the corresponding injustices:

1. Injustice: Discrimination based on race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.
2. Injustice: Violation of the right to life, liberty, and personal security.
3. Injustice: Slavery, servitude, and the slave trade.
4. Injustice: Torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment.
5. Injustice: Arbitrary arrest, detention, or exile.
6. Injustice: Denial of a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal.
7. Injustice: Interference with privacy, family, home, or correspondence.
8. Injustice: Attacks on honor and reputation.
9. Injustice: Restriction of freedom of thought, conscience, and religion.
10. Injustice: Restriction of freedom of opinion and expression.
11. Injustice: Restriction of the right to peaceful assembly and association.
12. Injustice: Interference with the right to marry and found a family.
13. Injustice: Denial of the right to own property or unjust deprivation of property.
14. Injustice: Restriction of the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state, or the right to leave any country and return to one's country.
15. Injustice: Denial of the right to seek and enjoy asylum from persecution.
16. Injustice: Denial of the right to a nationality or arbitrary deprivation of nationality.
17. Injustice: Denial of the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favorable conditions of work, and to protection against unemployment.
18. Injustice: Denial of the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay.
19. Injustice: Denial of the right to a standard of living adequate for health and well-being, including food, clothing, housing, medical care, necessary social services, and security.
20. Injustice: Denial of the right to education, or restriction of access to free and compulsory elementary education.
21. Injustice: Denial of the right to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts, and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child outlines the basic rights of children everywhere. Here's a simplified list of those rights, framed as the corresponding injustices:

1. Injustice: Discrimination against children on any grounds including race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national, ethnic or social origin, property, disability, birth or other status.
2. Injustice: Inadequate prioritization of the best interests of the child in all actions and decisions affecting them.
3. Injustice: Violation of the child's right to life, survival, and development.
4. Injustice: Infringement on the child's freedom of expression.
5. Injustice: Denial of the child's right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion.
6. Injustice: Violation of the child's right to freedom of association and peaceful assembly.
7. Injustice: Failure to protect the child from all forms of physical or mental violence, injury or abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation.
8. Injustice: Unlawful or arbitrary interference with the child's privacy, family, home, or correspondence.
9. Injustice: Denial of the child's right to access information from a diversity of national and international sources.
10. Injustice: Infringement on the child's right to education and denial of the right to play.
11. Injustice: Denial of the child's right to the highest attainable standard of health and to facilities for the treatment of illness and rehabilitation of health.
12. Injustice: Inadequate provision of services for children with disabilities to ensure their full enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms.
13. Injustice: Failure to protect children from economic exploitation and from performing work that is likely to be hazardous or interfere with the child's education, health, or physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development.
14. Injustice: Failure to protect children from the illicit use of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances and prevent their use in the production and trafficking of such substances.
15. Injustice: Failure to protect children from all forms of sexual exploitation and sexual abuse.
16. Injustice: Failure to prevent the abduction, sale, or trafficking of children.
17. Injustice: Denial of the child's right to rest, leisure, play, and participation in cultural and artistic activities.

The United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals

The United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a collection of 17 interlinked goals intended to be a "blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all". 

1. Injustice: Poverty in all its forms everywhere.
2. Injustice: Hunger, food insecurity, and malnutrition.
3. Injustice: Inadequate health and wellbeing services and access to them.
4. Injustice: Lack of quality education and inclusive and equitable learning opportunities.
5. Injustice: Gender inequality and discrimination against women and girls.
6. Injustice: Inadequate availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation.
7. Injustice: Insufficient access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy.
8. Injustice: Lack of sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work.
9. Injustice: Inadequate infrastructure and lack of innovation and industrialization.
10. Injustice: Inequality within and among countries.
11. Injustice: Inadequate cities and human settlements that are inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable.
12. Injustice: Unsustainable consumption and production patterns.
13. Injustice: Climate change and its impacts.
14. Injustice: Unsustainable use of oceans, seas and marine resources.
15. Injustice: Degradation of terrestrial ecosystems, and halt of biodiversity loss.
16. Injustice: Lack of peace, justice and strong institutions.
17. Injustice: Weakness in implementation and revitalization of the global partnership for sustainable development.