Autopsy of Purpose

The Gravity of Leadership and Business Development

Purpose! In life, in work. What really is Purpose? Just like DNA in our bodily organism, it serves multiple… well… purposes. DNA will command what shape and functions a cell takes, setting its mission and destiny for its lifetime, directing its actions and interactions with others.

Similarly, Purpose is a key component and inspiration of an organization. A well-articulated vision statement will serve its mission and culture, shaping its value proposition and how internal and external communications function. At the receiving end, a collaborator’s Purpose informs whether they feel in alignment with their employer’s vision and mission statements, as well as their culture and value propositions. In testing such alignments or misalignments, Purpose also tells teams whether they genuinely belong together… or not.

But just like DNA, Purpose is invisible, making it uneasy to grasp, to identify its mechanics, and even more so to observe when it is at play, or the profound impacts it may have on people and organizations. So, let’s do an autopsy to better understand the forces at play and the dark side there might be to it. But first, two fair clarifications.

Dark forces are not like those from a dystopian Darth Vadoresque setting. We are more talking about the hidden biological and neurobiological elements that drive how our brains work and hence pilot our behaviors. Neuroscience explains how our limbic system and our autonomic nervous system notably, trigger and drive without us realizing choices we thought we made consciously. So no black magic there, although you may not have chosen the color of your car for the reasons you thought you had, given that our center of decisions resides in our emotional limbic system and not in our rational neocortex.

It is not about a postmortem autopsy of an organization, implying that Purpose might already be dead, but on the contrary, a premortem autopsy to avoid this. We do so with a simple question that may lead to a complex argument: What would it take to eradicate Purpose as an essential, yet oftentimes imperceptible driver in an organization, leading up to the stagnation of business, loss of engagement of teams and customers, and eventually even to the business’ failure?

Losing the Vision may Blind

Many organizations do not seem to realize how insightful the question is. At best, they might consider the answer as a nice-to-have, not as an absolute must-have. Companies appear puzzled by the notion that the proper articulating, or should we say “storytelling” of their vision, the definition of their deriving missions, and the alignment with their culture, value proposition, and communication may impact the development of their business, both inwards and outwards.

Various notions to unpack here, with potentially some controversy. Yes, vision comes before mission. No, those are not the same concepts. Yes, several missions are possible, but only one vision, which does usually not change significantly over time, possibly adjusts to embrace modern ways of transposing it into a viable effective mission. For those curious, or skeptical, please dive into my article about “People + Business Development through Corporate Culture & Storytelling”.

When an organization loses sight of its vision (yes, that pun was also intended), it tends to lead to negative outcomes in the long run. Still not convinced? Several studies over multiple years confirm this. But let’s just take one famous, now classical example, although an unfortunate postmortem one, that can hopefully enlighten many premortem ones.

George Eastman founded Kodak with the vision of allowing people to easily capture and share special moments and souvenirs. When the company failed some 120 years later, it was because of one invention that came directly out of their R&D labs: the digital photo. Because the board and management did not see that change coming or did not believe in it, they missed the digital transformation, not once but twice. The first time, because they did not recognize the potential of their very own people and invention. The second time around, after they had eventually come to realize that the company could make good money from licensing this technology that had been gaining ground and developing. When the patent expired, those revenues dried out nearly instantaneously and the company went bankrupt because it had not adapted to a new way of executing on its founder’s vision.

That vision – allowing people to easily capture and share moments – is indeed something digital cameras do better, faster, cheaper. Kodak’s executives missed that because they had come to believe the most important was making money on selling films, paper, and chemicals to produce physical photographs.

Granted then, the power of purpose might be pretty real. Just ask the likes of Airbnb, Apple, Patagonia, Uber, Tesla, Amazon, Google, and all those organizations who understand and thrive on this intangible notion. Or Unilever, where those brands in the group with a Purpose have shown to do better than those without after their group CEO initiated making the test. And if this is good enough for the CEO of the largest corporation in the world, Walmart with about 2,1 million associates, claiming they are and must be Purpose-driven, wouldn’t it be worth trying in every organization, large or small?

The Gravitational Pull of Purpose

Now, let’s switch from a medical parallel to one with physics and the Law of Universal Gravitation to illustrate… well, you may have guessed… the gravity of Purpose. How come a strong, well-articulated vision that is powered by Purpose would be such a unifying and guiding force, shaping the direction and impact of business communication, outwards and inwards, and with it, all development and leadership endeavors? Just consider the following:

1. Attraction: In the business world, having clear and compelling vision and mission statements can act as a gravitational force, attracting employees, customers, and partners. Like massive objects attract other objects, a powerful and meaningful Purpose can draw people and resources toward an organization.
2. Motion: Much like how gravity affects the movements of celestial bodies, a well-defined Purpose will influence and guide business and leadership decisions. It can hence act as a force that shapes wiser trajectory and impacts of an organization.
3. Alignment: A strong sense of Purpose serves as a unifying force. It aligns individuals and teams with a common goal, much like how gravity aligns objects in a solar system and galaxy. Such alignment fosters coming together: teamwork and collaboration.
4. Resilience: Gravity is why celestial bodies remain in orbit and don't drift apart and get lost in space. Similarly, a strong sense of Purpose can provide stability and inspire resilience in an organization and all its teams, helping them stay on course even in the face of challenges that might otherwise pull them apart.
5. Momentum: Gravity can bring celestial bodies to gain momentum in their orbits. Equally, the power of Purpose can propel a business, its leaders, and collaborators forward, providing the driving force to achieve ambitious goals and objectives.

When applied in communication, a shared Purpose will become the gravitational pull that keeps messages and discussions focused and coherent. It guides the flow of ideas and ensures they revolve around a central theme and shared objective.

Attraction by Gravitational Alignment

When they see a clear and well-articulated vision statement, people can quasi-intuitively sense the underlying “WHY”. That is true for every stakeholder of an organization: collaborators, partners, investors, clients… Inspiring leaders succeed in convincingly translating their vision into the common mission statement, which is “HOW” they plan on striving towards this vision and executing on it. And “WHAT” they offer – that is products, services, wrapped inside customer focus and care – this value proposition, as well as the organizational culture, which similarly drives the caring for collaborators, represents the resulting corollary of this vision-mission sequence. Now you can sense an alignment, something invisible that irradiates powerful authenticity, which in turn inspires stakeholders.

Even though invisible, people can sense such alignment between vision, mission, culture, and value proposition. If you have such alignment between what great leaders say, what they do, and how they care, the resulting authenticity imbues communication, driving brand adoption. This is how customers naturally follow and support certain brands, even advocate for them. They feel in coherence with the Purpose and values of the organization and, therefore trust.

Indeed, the same applies to the relationship between an organization and its collaborators. However, there are cases where these mechanisms are being hindered, or biased. We may not like the company we work for, but we have no real choice, or maybe we prefer to stay in a guilty comfort zone. So, we do have a choice? In many cases, the answer will, unfortunately, be a quiescent “no”. And yet, maybe it could become a “yes”, but presumably at a greater initial discomfort, and possibly not without risks.

After all and given how things can get uncertain, who wants to get outside their comfort zone, just for the sake of embracing a new career, and without even a guarantee? But think of the consequences of not doing it, for individuals, as much as for organizations: burn-out, bore-out, high turnover, active disengagement, high absentee ratio, and high sick leave ratios, just to name a few. And what is the cost in terms of lost hours, efforts, ideas, and commitment?

All this tends to hint that success in business and as an organization relies on a coherent balance of multiple alignments at various levels of an entity and between its various stakeholders. To understand this, and show how it also works both ways, let’s confront a Gallup study on employee engagement with a Havas study on the most successful brands. Incidentally unearthing a correlation between Purpose, positive achievements, customer engagement, and fulfillment at work. Let’s add into the mix recent trends in the creator economy and check the numbers in three acts… then illustrate with the modus operandi of one of the most successful pop stars.

Align and Augment Both Ways

Act One. In 2022 Gallup published a study showing that in Europe, around 80% of employees are disengaged or mildly disengaged. Surprisingly you might think, this number is higher than in the US (70%) where social welfare is yet less generous. With best-practice organizations, which for most appear amongst the purpose-driven and meaningful brands, this rate falls below 30%. That is less than half the rest of the pack!

If we assume that organizations with a clear vision and powerful mission attract like-minded collaborators, it is not far-fetched to assume that they might in return feel they are the right persons at the right place. Or, from the company’s perspective, both talent attraction and retention work seamlessly and in harmony. Here we have our alignment in full swing, attracting the right people into the right companies, for the benefit of both.

The good news is that there is a way to attract the right people, keep them… and keep them fully engaged. Purpose-driven companies do not hire talents for their skills, expertise, knowledge, or workforce anymore. They hire individuals for their imagination, personality, beliefs, and values, making sure that these are aligned with the vision, mission, and culture of the organization. Aligned does not mean identic; it rather means compatible, complementary, and capable of augmenting the organization, its culture, and its capabilities.

Act Two. The renowned multinational media and communication group Havas releases a bi-annual survey that demonstrates a similar phenomenon from the clients’ angle. Havas operates in over 100 countries and is one of the largest advertising and PR companies in the world, with over 22,000 employees. In 2009 Havas started measuring brand meaningfulness and in its 12th year, it surveyed about 1,000 companies and nearly 400,000 people around the world. Through this ongoing study, it has been able to establish that meaningfulness drives disproportionate financial results.

Its global study, which is carried out in thirty-four countries, across twelve industries, found that fully meaningful brands “see their marketing KPIs perform 100% better overall compared with less meaningful brands.” Every 10% improvement in “meaningfulness” increases purchase intent by 6.6%, repurchase intent by 3.2%, customer advocacy by 4.8%, and premium pricing by 10.4%. “Meaningful Brands” gain, on average, 46% more wallet share than those ranked as not meaningful. What’s more, meaningful brands outperformed the overall stock market by 133%. These numbers changed for the worse during the pandemic with “a growing lack of trust in brands –– with 71% of people having little faith that they will deliver on their promises. What’s worse, only 34% of consumers think companies are transparent about their commitments and promises. Brand trust, as measured in the Meaningful Brands study, is at an all-time low. Only 47% of brands are seen as trustworthy with trust metrics around the world in decline.”

Taylor’s Swift Attraction

Act Three. The creator economy, that is, the compounded number of professionals or amateurs who create content for a living or simply as a hobby,? appears to be much bigger than was initially estimated. And as marketing expert Mark Schaefer reports, it turns out an increasing number make a good living of it. A recent US nationally representative study reveals that 6% of Americans aged 16-54 years are full-time creators or influencers, making an average of $179,000 annually. Foremost, this study highlights that monetary considerations do not drive these creators in the first place: making money only ranks ninth! Among the top ten motivations, we find: a way to share life with their followers (2); the search for a creative outlet (4); the desire to build a community around common interests (7). All this reinforces the notion that there is an actual need for, and willingness to offer purpose-driven communication.

Enter now the pop star for the Epilogue. Everybody knows Taylor Swift who just got named Times Person of the Year 2023. What not everybody knows is that she is prepared to invest (and seemingly lose) precious time in doing small things that may not make any sense and arguably definitely not generate any return. For instance, she will post personal videos in a genuine tone, be real about her own shortcomings, share, and encourage her fans to do so as well, occasionally responding to their invitation and showing up at a birthday or wedding party. But in being such authentic, she generates something much more precious and hugely more powerful. She inspires engagement which trickles down along her huge fanbase. That in turn generates significant visibility, an enduring commitment from her fans, and a self-perpetuating deep connection with her audience.

Pure Purpose in full swing towards alignment! The building blocks are simple: experiences we live as they inspire and define what is important for us, what we believe in, and why. Alignment is understanding how to use them to inspire and connect with collaborators and clients.

Swift does indeed very well in her communication as she has become an actual brand. And she does not only so outwards, but equally as well inwards, towards her entire team. She gives incredible bonuses to every member of her tour crew, down to the truck drivers who will make more than some bankers on Wall Street, just as a thank you for sticking with her on those lengthy tours and being on the road, away from their families most of the year. But money is not the means to an end here: it is one of her ways of expressing how she genuinely cares for all.

This is a telling textbook case study of inspiring and sustainably engaging with communities of collaborators and fans, her customers.

Comfort Zone is where Dreams are going to Die

As gravity of purpose brought us back to the DNA of Purpose, what can we take away to live a better and meaningful life, avoid getting bored to death… and an autopsy?

As gravity of purpose brought us back to the DNA of Purpose, what can we take away to live a better and meaningful life, avoid getting bored to death… and an autopsy?

In our personal lives, we can make choices that are driven by purpose, in other words, by values and aspirations, where we feel connected and fulfilled. In choosing where we live, where we work, what we buy, what and how we share.

Professionally, moving beyond legacy tactical management (with teams) and promotion (with prospects), towards an active human-centric engagement with stakeholders, who become proud and enthusiastic about being a member of an organization and brand communities. Transactional satisfaction and experience are not enough anymore. Increasing studies and real-life examples illustrate how a Purpose-driven emotional relationship, that can be more profound and last longer, is a good candidate to keep the development of leadership and business alive.

We more often than not have a choice. We may choose to become fulfilled, a longer-lasting state, more powerful than a comparably shorter moment of happiness. The second one, money may buy, the first one, not so sure. Or to fall back into being numb, possibly comfortable, but likely bored and feeling void or unaccomplished. But something that may lead to a slow death of our Purpose.

So, the choice is ultimately ours, as individuals and as organizations. Let’s be wise and courageous, let’s do the premortem autopsy to determine if we are aligned in our values, in how we serve our dreams, and in where we choose to execute on them best, for us, and ultimately for our economy and society.