Part 2: The Purpose Clusterfudge

This article is a follow-up article to this one, where I shared some thoughts sparked by Nick Asbury’s book, The Road to Hell. You might want to read that previous article first. But if not, you can follow along anyway.?

A few days after publishing the first piece, I was made aware that it had sparked some heated discussions in another corner of this platform.

I was one too many reshares away to be notified, so I came late to the party. Which, between you and me, was a blessing in disguise.?

The comments were doing what comments on LinkedIn often do—a rapid-fire back-and-forth of this or that, where the intentions and energy of the arguments are hard to track.

Smart people were debating some facts, but it quickly got boringly binary and escalated to many uses of “lol” as a response, vomit emojis, and the brief use of “a tiny violin”. Privilege got thrown in the ring, as well as diversity and race. Oh, and gaslighting was mentioned a few times, of course.?

As you can hear, it was a beautiful mix of important topics muddled with condescending internet rhetorics.?

Nonetheless, I’m happy I was made aware of this because otherwise, I would have missed an opportunity for continuous learning.

Despite being strongly advised to disengage due to the context above, I’ve concluded that bravely continuing my contemplative endeavours is the best I can do to deepen my own learning.?

I won’t follow fashion and point any fingers at comments that were either inaccurate or blatantly ignorant (with one small exception). I know too little to respond wisely to any stat-throwing war, and have too much self-awareness to think my answers to a comment section on LinkedIn will lead to the growth I am seeking. To me, answering everything does not produce answers, so I’ll just keep musing in my articles.

I believe a good place to drop in is at the deep end. In the comments, I was described as a cold-hearted capitalist who openly states I have zero care for humanity. The man adding this comment said he even read the article twice (thanks for reading!) before concluding that I believe "companies caring about human-centric priorities is a waste of money".?

This is a problematic statement. Not because it hurt my feelings but because it supports the original point I made in the first article.

In the article, I am reflecting on how murky the waters are when just about anything (brand/corporation) can proclaim that it exists for a greater purpose when, in fact, it exists to turn revenue and, in some cases, can be causing the opposite effect of the promised Purpose. This does not mean that it’s all shit full stop.?

I want a more truthful approach to, and language around, corporate Purpose so that we can effectively navigate toward doing real good and not just talking about it to make more money. How very Gordon Gekko of me.

The misunderstanding of my intended meaning could have arisen because I need to improve my writing (this is great practice). It could equally be that the people discussing it were discussing thoughts shared on a book none of them had read.?

To erase any further confusion, I want to clarify that I don’t think purpose itself is fundamentally flawed or bad (this would be absurd). I desire an evolution of the terms for corporate, brand, and marketing Purpose, which all have a different historical meaning from the original one. I struggle to believe Aristotle was thinking about marketing strategies for limited companies when he was pondering the deeply philosophical layers of life.?

Aristotle is not the inventor or the only one who has been thinking about this, either. The concept of purpose has deep and varied roots in human history across different cultures and religions. It’s a fundamental aspect of human existence and has evolved over centuries as society and philosophical thought have developed. So why shouldn’t business Purpose evolve, too??

Do I still want business to do good? Absofuckinglutely. Do I think we should encourage corporations to have a positive impact? Hell yes. Do I think we have a responsibility to ask questions to ensure we support them in doing so, and don’t stray off track? Yup. By not asking the questions, I wonder if we are diluting invaluable trust by commodifying and commercialising Purpose, with hidden agendas of making a profit, exhausting people from engaging in matters that are truly important to them as individuals, not products or target audiences.

Alongside my public learning curve and the apparent general confusion about the term, all this shines a light on the main point I made in the article. And this is where it gets interesting.

I wrote, “It’s been close to taboo to question the purpose of Purpose”. The commenters really contested this idea. If I may be so bold, the discussions that followed perfectly display that there is indeed controversy around corporate Purpose.?

If it still feels like a stretch, we could be brave and examine it from a less absolute POV. Are we perhaps on track to create a socially taboo subject when simply reflecting on it attracts accusations like “openly stating you have zero care for humanity is a weird flex.”

I don’t have zero care for humanity. And I didn’t state it. So what happened here? Let’s investigate!

To quote myself from the previous article:

“When leaders of power and influence are convinced that a greater Purpose drives work and assert this belief in a close-to-threatening stance on values fuelled by optimism, it becomes hard for anyone to express diverting perspectives without being written off as pessimistic or non-helpful.”

Note: Diverting perspectives does not automatically mean “wanting bad for the world” or being "anit-purpose". It means (including, but not limited to) taking responsibility for what and how we navigate this industry, listening to our gut feelings and voicing them, asking hard questions, following our purpose (not the corporate one), and not just saying yes to money and power.?

I continue:

This seemingly well-intentioned purpose-driven power move can demotivate anyone on a “highly collaborative and well-functioning team” from adding their voice to the mix in the fear of becoming a spanner in the work, causing friction. What we are left with is a purpose-peer-pressured group of yes-sayers that limit the diversification of ideas, and we perpetuate misleading promises of greater societal value when we, in fact, sell deodorants.*?

I should perhaps have ended with “when we, in fact, sell marketing”, to be more accurate. But I think you get my point.?

This episode certainly made me reluctant to continue sharing my perspectives, fearing I might be made a piece in someone else’s game of selling corporate Purpose for their own gain.?

The agendas of the most committed commenters vary. Some want to sell an upcoming book, some want community, some want to let off steam, and some truly care.

It’s not for me to guess anyone else’s intention. But I know mine—which is to add some humanness and curiosity to the table.

A few minutes into reading the comments my heart was racing as my amygdala pumped cortisol into my body. It’s a human biological reaction to feeling dismissed or misunderstood, and I’m no exception.?

But as I took a few deep breaths and centered myself, my prefrontal cortex stepped in, and I could see it all from a more sober perspective. This is when the clusterfuck revealed its silver lining.

To me, it seems like a lot of the people there felt fearful, so we resorted to polarising positions to which we could belong. Ironically, from this point of view, I feel a strong sense of belonging with the people in the comment section because they, too, are suffering from a debate climate where we are made to believe we are against each other.?

Could it even be that, despite the proclaimed differences in the comments, we have similar heart-driven aims? As humans, I mean. That deep, deep down, we have more values in common than not? Behind the sour tones and spiky comebacks, I, for one, read that all the people involved wish to do good with our work (and really passionately, too!).

If so, could it be that because we were told to apply a neatly packaged version of purpose to our personal brands and process it through a golden circle designed to find our uniqueness, we became businesses competing with each other? And that our need to differentiate to win attention, work, and sell books led us into conflict when, in fact, we all want the same thing? Asking for a friend.?

I understand it will be tempting for some (especially those fervently involved) to nitpick about whether this whole “debate” was toxic or whether I or anyone who feels like moonwalking back out of it is just being sensitive (god forbid, yuck). It could also be tempting to find who is “to blame” for what and debate whether the polarising, low-key canceling attempts that followed are to be described as “deserved critique” or just school-ground-esque bullying.?

But I believe that that would just dig us deeper into a he-said-she-said hole from which we can’t look at the bigger picture. And that picture is immensely important for the industry, and the world at large.?

My desire is that we can create a state of curiosity and openness where we feel safe enough to ask questions (and question things), creating a more collaborative way forward towards goodness. One of my contributions to that is to vulnerably reflect in these articles. It’s small in the grand scheme of things, but it’s vital for my personal purpose.?

As I wrap up, I’ll leave you with something that might be disappointing for some. But debating corporate Purpose never was, and still isn’t, a hill I want to die on. I have not made it my career to sell or condone Purpose in the public eye. I just read a book (not my first or my last) and wrote reflections about it in the pursuit of learning and sharing learning.

I have made it my (very humble) career to figure difficult things out for people and businesses who have problems they need to solve for a, (here it comes) better tomorrow. Not just for myself and people with privilege, influence or money. But for people who don’t have billions in marketing budgets and who suffer from the consequences of our choices. Reflecting on the meaning and use of Purpose in business, brand and marketing is one part of that.

And fam, it’s hard. Honestly, I’m not sure how much of an impact I have. But hey, at least I’m trying, and as long as I’m trying, I’m learning, and maybe, just maybe, I can have a positive impact. And I believe you can too, dear reader! Especially if we get on the same team, even if we have different strengths and perspectives.

If someone still can’t resist the urge to jump to the keyboard to debate my “stance on Corporate Purpose”, know that I might respectfully ignore you to preserve energy and protect a train of thought that otherwise gets lost in the maze of comment sections designed to promote fast engagement and polarising debate.?

But don’t feel disheartened. I lovingly welcome your engagement, and I promise to keep reflecting on your perspective as it adds to mine.

Alongside continuing to investigate my own ideas, potential biases, and status quo, I also promise to keep reflecting on why we feel the urge to attack and dissect instead of finding common ground. As you might have noticed, I’m more interested in how we interact and share our wisdom for collective learning in our global family, and if it leads up a hill, I might consider climbing it and writing more articles.

If you’re reading this, perhaps you also care about our industry and the positive impact we can have on it and the world at large. Or perhaps you are here with popcorn in hand to see what I had to say in my defence.

I’m happy you’re here, no matter the reason! And impressed you read this far because there are other things calling for our attention that might need more urgent care, and I don’t believe the world revolves around either me or this specific topic.?

I’m deeply grateful you have spent this time reading my wandering thoughts, as I have no expectation of you doing so.

And for anyone who might have been entangled in the drama: No matter how sideways things went for a blip, I feel a lot of compassion, love, and appreciation for everyone involved. Look at us just trying to figure shit out. It's beautiful!?

If anyone would like another recommendation for new perspectives (sorry I can’t help myself), I’d say check out Africa Brook’s The Third Perspective. She has dedicated her profession to figuring out how we can work our way back to civil discussions and move away from self-censoring, even if we disagree on some things. But hey, you don’t have to.

To shake up the energy (or rather calm the nervous system down) and extend an offering as a thank you for being here and putting your brain and heart energy into figuring out complex things, I’d love to share a little piece I made with my husband.

I wrote this poem, Unfold, a while back to meditate on the deeper layers of the topic addressed in this article. It has nothing to do with marketing (thank goodness) but everything to do with the very real struggle we all go through, figuring out who we are in a mysterious world.?

If you feel like letting go of the keyboard and take a rest from binary discussions for about three minutes, this is for you. I hope you enjoy!?