When I was a therapist and then a consultant, I prided myself on my practicality, on being down-to-earth.  I still do.  This often brought me into conflict with colleagues who loved abstractions and built their work and life around playing with them.  Why shouldn't people focus on concepts?  In principle, I want people, colleagues and clients alike, to do what they think is right and best.

The question really comes down to what is right and best.  If you get that wrong, then perhaps you might find yourself in trouble.  Conceptual input means starting from ideas that are part of a theory.  Or perhaps it means applying a paradigm that is popular.  This idea-based engagement always left me uncomfortable.  Still does.

When I tried to deal with some management mess, I would typically More...

Purpose is popular.  How times have changed.  And science can't take the credit.  People can. But is responsibility popular?  Is it obvious to you that purpose and responsibility are very nearly the same thing?

Probably not. (But correct me by commenting below!) As a result, I can't help but notice that this emergence of purpose into consciousness has not yet got very far.  Let me explain.

Purpose is like a three-sided coin.

On one side, purpose is More...

«Egoism and altruism» is a hardy perennial of philosophers and now a staple for academic psychologists.  Are people basically self-interested or basically concerned for others?

Trick question.  Once the issue is posed like this, any hope of understanding oneself or acting sensibly is lost. 

People act in their own self-interest.  They must.  Some are certainly more self-centred than others.  People are also capable of concern for others and demonstrate benevolence.  They must.  Otherwise it would be hard to live in groups.  Again, there is variation amongst people in the degree of altruism.  For some of you, it might be hard to live with yourself if you were irredeemably selfish. 

The issue is never what academics or philosophers assert people 'are'—and which, supposedly, is what you are or what I am.  The issue in real life is always about what am I going to do at this moment in this situation given who I am.  The variations here are almost infinite.

Yes, we do have tendencies and styles.  But we are not More...