Purpose and Strategy (adapted from Purpose: The Starting Point for Great Companies by Nikos Mourkogiannis)

“Purpose is preparation for doing what is right and what is worthwhile.  It creates a sense of obligation.  It provides a way of knowing what you can and cannot do.  Purpose provides confidence.”  So say states the author of Purpose: The Starting Point for Great Companies.

And know that your Purpose and your Strategy must support one another.  Most senior executives will not diagnose their problems in terms of Purpose.  They look elsewhere when faced with things like:

·        There is a morale problem in the company.  People feel that top management does not really believe what they say.

·        We need a new strategy or we need to solve the problems with implementation of the current strategy.

It’s easier to blame something that’s less profound than to wrestle with the issue of Purpose.

Remember, strategies are to be reexamined every few years, but Purpose is forever (or at least is measured in decades). 

Think about why people stay with a company.  Many times key employees are not loyal to a particular boss or even to the company.  They are loyal to a set of values that they believe in and find satisfying (values that are core)—that undergird the Purpose of the organization.

Ralph Larsen, the former CEO of Johnson & Johnson, stated that he and his colleagues at J&J “would hold to the values embodied in the J&J Credo even if they became a competitive disadvantage.”  This suggests genuine Purpose.

The author claims that in truly great companies “…the brand, the ethics, and the Purpose all align together.”  When a company is driven by a Purpose, the vision, mission and values flow naturally from that Purpose. 

So your challenge is to develop and deploy a clear and consistent organizational Purpose for your company (or department, etc.).

By doing so, you are on your way to potentially building greatness in your organization.

What is a great company? 

What are the potential indicators of greatness? 

·        Employee morale?  (Perhaps, but think of the employee morale at the dot com companies; it was “off the charts,” but many dot coms are no longer in existence.)

·        A company’s ability to innovate (sometimes true; sometimes not)

·        A company’s sustained competitive advantage (sometimes this is due more to “chance” than greatness)

·        A company who performs with excellence (But what are the performance measures?  Most of these measures will not be comprehensive.) 

So how can you recognize a “great company?”  A great company is one that embodies a Purpose in such a way that its quality of action is high.  The author is clear that  “Such a company will naturally produce results that exalt the lives of shareholders, customers, employees, suppliers, regulators and neighbors.”   

A great company “not only sustains itself, but it provides continuing evidence of the value of its existence.”  People are glad that this company exists not only for what if provides but also for “how it provides.”   

The author contends that there is a connection between Purpose and the following attributes of greatness: 

·        Great place to work; employee morale is high

·        Great innovator; introduces new ideas and executes them well

·        Great competitor; plays fairly but plays fiercely

·        Great leader; sets an agenda that is worthwhile to follow 

And so you and I must compare the attributes listed above with those of our own companies.  And then think deeply about how Purpose can in fact play a critical role in developing these attributes. 

As a Christian, there is no higher Purpose in life than living out the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20) and obeying the Great Commandment (Matthew 22:34-40). 

These two must drive everything I do as an individual—at home, in my community—and in the marketplace. 

Keith 

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