The Pull of Purpose

Last night, the Artemis II crew splashed down.

Three parachutes overhead, a controlled descent, a precise return to Earth after traveling far beyond it. It is an incredible thing to watch.

But what stays with me is not just the mission. It is the kind of work that draws people into something like that in the first place.

Some work pushes you. Deadlines, expectations, responsibility. And then there is the kind of work that pulls you. The kind that organizes people around something that feels worth it. Not because they have to be there, but because they want to be part of it.

You can feel that in a moment like Artemis. People do not just show up to work like that. They orient themselves around it. They bring their craft, their discipline, their care, and they stay with it through complexity and uncertainty. Over time, that shared commitment starts to look less like a team and more like a community.

That kind of community doesn’t form by accident. It forms when the work itself carries meaning, when people can see how what they are doing connects to something larger than their individual role, and when contribution feels real.

Most work does not create that kind of pull. But when it does, people move differently. They take ownership. They stay engaged. Not because they are being pushed, but because they are being pulled toward something they care about.

It raises a simple question: What kind of work are we creating around us?

The difference shapes everything.

Keep tending.