The purpose of Purpose in today's world.

"Why do you exist? Why does it matter? Why should we care?" These are the fundamental questions driving the concept of purpose—the starting point for every impactful design. But what exactly is the purpose of purpose?

In recent years, the idea of purpose has become very popular because of thought leaders from different walks of life (religious, social, business). Several books and talks have been given on the topic in the last 10-15years all of which sparked several conversations and caused the idea to spread across the world.

One of the pivotal contributors, especially in the business sphere, is Simon Sinek. His TED talk, Start with WHY remains a cornerstone on the subject of Purpose. Here is the central concept of his talk:

Every single person, every single organization on the planet knows what they do 100%. Some know how they do it their differentiating value proposition, proprietary process, or USP. However, very few grasp why they do what they do. By "why," it's not just about making a profit; it's about purpose, cause, belief. Why does your organization exist? What's your driving force each morning? And why should anyone else care?

The way we think, act and communicate is from the outside in. We go from the clearest thing to the fuzziest thing. But remarkably, inspired leaders and organizations, regardless of size or industry, operate from the inside out.        

Issues with the trend

Before this idea gained momentum, the prevailing purpose of business was largely centered on financial gains—maximizing opportunity for profit. Businesses pursued profit at all costs, even resorting to unethical means. However, that perspective of business has experienced a shift. Even the idea of capitalism itself has been questioned and sometimes labeled as a system exploiting people and damaging the planet. There's now an expectation for businesses to answer the question, “Why do we exist beyond money?”

The Pitfall of Purpose as a Trend

Purpose being cool and trendy has forced many businesses to adopt stances out of fear and guilt, rather than genuine intentions they can stand by. They follow politically correct themes, projecting nobility, yet their actions often lack congruence. This discrepancy does no good for their brand, especially in the long run.

The Purpose of Purpose

When purpose is unknown, abuse is inevitable. This equally applies to the subject of Purpose itself.

Purpose is the motive, justification, basis or reason for which something is done, created or for which something exists.

Purpose is relevant across different business contexts and levels, sometimes implicit, sometimes explicit. Yet, a fundamental overarching purpose is needed, from which all other purposes derive their validity.

For example, the purpose for adding a feature to your product and the purpose for which your brand exist are different but can be strongly connected.

For your brand, a purpose statement is similar to a vision or mission statement, in that they all set strategic foundations that guide brand decisions and act as a filter for evaluating them. However, purpose differs by being the fundamental premise that gives coherence to everything else.

Being intentional about your business will require you to answer the question “Why does this matter and to what end is this exactly.”

The intention for setting up your business could be to maximize profit but money itself is a tool in service of something else - family care, wealth-building, status attainment, or funding future projects. All these motives hold equal validity, as economic incentives significantly drive human actions.

Purpose doesn't always involve saving humanity, although it's relevant in certain contexts. Instead, it's about having an encompassing view of everything you stand for, forming the basis for all your actions. There are several benefits of having a purpose but, the purpose of purpose is coherence.

Icons of Purpose

Elon Musk stands as an exceptional example, embodying a shared purpose across his ventures. If you pay attention to Elon's endeavors spanning Tesla, OpenAI, SpaceX, Starlink, SolarCity, Neuralink, and X (Twitter) you can observe a common theme that suggests what his purpose is.

If I were to write a purpose statement for Elon, here’s what that would look like

“For the future and wellbeing of humanity”

This seemingly ambiguous statement, upon close reflection, resonates across each of his ventures in various ways.

Visionaries are different types of businessmen. They believe they have what it takes to change today’s reality in a special way, altering the narrative about a particular thing, industry, country, or company.

A prime example is the founder of Sony, Masaru Ibuka; he established the company because he was dissatisfied with the perception of Japanese products as inferior and aimed to change that narrative. This purpose transcends merely owning an electronic company or leading an industry. It holds a deeper significance that provides strength.

For these entrepreneurs, money becomes a by-product. Additionally, this overarching purpose can be interpreted in various ways, leading to diverse solutions and innovations revolving around the core idea (the why).

Nuances in defining Purpose

For most brands and entrepreneurs, purpose is an afterthought. It’s something that comes along as they attempt to solve a problem or pursue a specific opportunity, and there's nothing wrong with that. As the entrepreneur evolves and explores various opportunities and possibilities, it becomes crucial to identify patterns and themes around which their ideas revolve. This is another way to identify purpose.

Some visionaries simply aim to build an empire, have everything, and exert significant control to amass wealth and influence. That's a purpose as well, and there's nothing inherently wrong with it as long as it's ethical or legal.

Do you need to have those altruistic, big humanity goals like I was addressing earlier? I'd say, No. However, at the very least, you need to embrace the purpose of creating a conducive life for your people—both customers and employees. That, in itself, is a substantial purpose and...

if you can’t treat your customers and employees with dignity, trying to fix the worlds problem is simply pretentious and incongruent.

Whether your purpose is simple or big and audacious like Elon’s make sure your actions and decisions reflect it as true.

There is so much to clarify around the topic of Purpose and in subsequent articles, I’ll address more on the topic. If you would like to follow up on this subject or have any question you want me to answer. Drop a comment below or reach out to me at [email protected] and I'll be glad to respond to you.