Three Foundational Characteristics of Purpose-Driven Organisations

By Phil Preston & Carolyn Butler-Madden

What is Success?

In today's dynamic business landscape, the drive for business success goes beyond mere profitability.

It encompasses a deeper ethos—a higher purpose that not only guides organisations but also galvanises teams and stakeholders toward a common goal.

Today, most businesses would undoubtably claim they “have a purpose”. Yet the data tells a revealing story about this.

According to the Gallup's State of the Global Workplace 2023 Report, employee disengagement continues to sit at unhealthy levels.

Only 23 per cent of employees in our region consider themselves engaged in their work. In other words, 77 per cent are either disengaged or under-engaged.

This begs some serious questions for business leaders:

• How much potential is being left on the table?
• How much is this costing their organisation?
• How much is it costing our economy?

Yet some businesses are bucking this trend. These are organisations whose purpose is active, not passive, driving their strategy and agenda.

As a result, their people are connected to meaningful organisational goals and they tend to be more agile, resilient, resourceful and emotionally invested in its success.

These are businesses that feature regularly on lists like TIME 100 Most Influential Companies, or Great Places To Work, or on countless “most innovative companies” lists.

They have tapped into the key to success – their people. Former CEO of Best Buy and author of “The Heart of Business”, Hubert Joly, describes this as “unleashing human magic”.

Financial Success

As a 2018 leadership study by DDI revealed, purpose has a strong impact on financial performance, with “purposeful” companies financially outperforming the market by 42 per cent.

To help business leaders understand how to move from having a purpose to leading with purpose, leaders must intentionally embed a culture of purpose within their organisations.

To shine a light on what this can look like, we have drawn insights from the most successful purpose-driven businesses, decoding the DNA shared by these organisations.

Here are the three foundational characteristics that distinguish top-performing purpose-driven organisations.

1. Shared Narrative

Fostering Emotional Bonds and Alignment

What connects us?

Is it the physical workspace, our teams, or something deeper—an emotional connection rooted in a shared narrative?

These questions gain significance in an era where remote work has become prevalent, challenging traditional notions of workplace cohesion.

Purpose-driven organisations cultivate a clear and compelling shared narrative that transcends mere mission statements.

It's no longer just about why an organisation exists but also about who they are and what they stand for.

The stronger the alignment between purpose and identity, the deeper the emotional bonds within the organisation, fostering a sense of belonging and shared purpose.

Externally, this emotional resonance extends to customers through consistent brand experiences that reflect the organisation's values and purpose, building trust and loyalty.

2. Transformative Leadership

Driving Change Beyond Profitability

Why are we in business?

Purpose-driven organisations embrace a higher calling—they see themselves as agents of change, driven by transformative leadership.

Leaders in these organisations are not just profit-oriented, they are change catalysts, driving innovation and social impact.

Their clarity of purpose cascades throughout the organisation, aligning teams and stakeholders toward a common vision of creating positive change.

This alignment fuels innovation, resilience, and agility, leading to sustained success beyond financial metrics.

This is not altruism. These leaders are creating sustainable and successful business models based on the premise that delivering what society genuinely needs is good for business.

Think of it as a self-reinforcing loop between profit and purpose in contrast to the traditional model where we make profits first (potentially at any cost) and give a bit back if we do well.

Transformative leaders take purpose from a peripheral concern and install it at the core of their business.

3. Powerful Stories

Inspiring Trust and Confidence

What stories do we tell, and how do they resonate with others?

The most purposeful businesses generate stories that others find inspiring. Those stories, rooted in authenticity and shared experience, are shared with enthusiasm from person to person inside and outside of the organisation.

Authentic storytelling is not just about sharing successes; it's about the journey, including challenges, failures, and lessons learned.

These stories humanise the organisation, making it relatable and inspiring others to connect and engage.

When stories like these are shared organically, it builds confidence in the business and the brand. This adds to the trust building process, which today is the currency of success.

When a business has a clear and unique organisational identity, driven by a galvanising higher purpose, it attracts and engages people invested in its success.

This leads to action, inspiration and innovation. An action becomes an experience which in turn becomes a story.

An action becomes an experience which in turn becomes a story. These stories are therefore evidence of purpose in action. They’re stories that inspire their employees, customers, partners and investors to love and support them.

As a result, these businesses become more agile, resilient, innovative and lead their categories and financially outperform their counterparts.

These are “purposeful” organisations. They’re reaching way beyond passively “having a purpose”. They are beating a path to the future and setting the standard for impactful and sustainable business practices that are so needed in the 21st century.

Your Foundations?

A top-performing purpose-driven organisation will focus on understanding the three questions we have posed here:

1. What connects us?
2. Why are we in business?
3. What stories do we share and are shared about us, and how do they resonate with others?

They are the guideposts for decoding success. When you cast an eye over your own organisation, how many of these three foundations are in place? Which ones need working on?

What are you waiting for?

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Carolyn Butler-Madden is the Chief Purpose Activist of The Cause Effect. Her mission is to make meaningful purpose vital to business, helping leaders drive profit through purpose: [email protected]

Phil Preston is the founder of WhyThisNow. He's a purpose strategist who helps unlock the potential of leaders, teams and organisations through keynotes, workshops and programs: [email protected]

This is Part 2 of a 3-part series encapsulating Revealing Purpose, Decoding Purpose and Forging Purpose. Contact the author(s) to receive a copy of the other two articles.