Afdhel Aziz

On the day after Christmas in 2004, Afdhel Aziz was in his native Sri Lanka when a powerful earthquake deep in the Indian Ocean triggered a devastating tsunami. The deadly wave crashed hard onto the island, resulting in more than 30,000 confirmed deaths.

At the time, Aziz was a rising star in the marketing world, supporting some of the world’s biggest brands—Heineken, Nokia, Absolut Vodka. The tragedy spurred Aziz to action, immediately on the island to help gather relief supplies, and much deeper and longer in his soul, as he embarked on a decade-long journey to find his why.

In the last decade, that why—‘to inspire Purpose in people, organizations, and the world’—has come fully into focus. In conjunction with his partner Bobby Jones, he’s established Conspiracy of Love to help organizations find their purpose and authored a series of books anchored on the powerful aspiration that Good is the New Cool.

I sat down with Af last week to talk about purpose in the current age and the joy and challenge in helping organizations evolve into deeper consciousness. As the idea of capital P purpose evolves in a post-covid world, he shared insights from the frontlines and the very comforting thought that your personal purpose, as difficult as it may be to find and define, can continue to shift and change—a spiritual salve in a moment of intense irritation.

Very much worth a listen to his well-earned wisdom, and thank you again Af for your time, your compassion, and your continued work in an area ever more crucial.