The Working on Purpose Playbook: Leadership Insights from the Podcast
Dr. Alise Cortez
Equipping Organizations to Activate Meaning and Purpose for Cultures of “Gusto” / Organizational Psychologist & Logotherapist / Podcast Host / Speaker / Author
Why This Newsletter?
In today’s ever-evolving, dynamic world of work, leaders and their people crave more than just career success—they seek meaning, purpose, growth, and impact. That’s exactly what I explore on?Working on Purpose, a podcast dedicated to helping leaders ignite passion, rally the team around purpose, and build high-performance cultures of “gusto” activated by meaning and purpose.
Each week, I read my guests’ books cover to cover, engage in a robust conversation on air, and then distill some key, actionable pearls for you to help you grow as a person, elevate your own inspirational leadership, nurture the potential in your team, and? make the impact you crave in your organization. Ultimately, I want to enable and empower you to build your “Destination Workplace.”?
What’s a “Destination Workplace”?
My team at Gusto, Now! and I coined this term to describe an organization that is so attractive to prospective team members because of its dedication to living its purpose in service to all stakeholders, its “culture of gusto” practices that nurture well-being, connection, passion, and career growth, while unleashing personal agency, creativity, persistence – high performance!?
In short, it’s a place where people can’t resist, come alive, call ‘home,’ and don’t want to leave.
What is Inspirational Leadership?
The opposite of the old “command and control,” driven by bureaucracy, authority, and rigid rules that suck the life out of people, inspirational leaders have learned to cultivate self-awareness, give themselves over to their passion, and thus draw others to them while inspiring their team members to realize their potential as they work together toward common goals in service of the mission.???
Inspirational leaders find tremendous fulfillment in helping their people do and become more than they ever imagined possible. They are often unforgettable because of the lives they touch, the careers they elevate, and the business results they enable, pushing their organizations to do more to serve all stakeholders better and actually live the standard that business can be a force for good.
What to Expect
Each edition of this newsletter will feature:
? Key insights from recent podcast episodes
? Exclusive leadership strategies for activating meaning and purpose in leadership and culture
? Guest spotlights—wisdom from thought leaders, changemakers, and C-Suite executives
? Actionable takeaways to inspire you, elevate your leadership, and help you build a high-performance culture of “gusto”
This Week’s Episode: Revitalize Your Company: How to Measure and Amplify the Experience of Purpose for Lasting Impact
Guest:?Carlos Rey, PhD |?Book:?Purpose-driven Organizations: Management Ideas for a Better World
About this episode:
In today’s business landscape, purpose isn’t just an ideal—it’s a catalyst for action. It attracts employees who are willing to work for less to feel fulfilled, customers who are ready to pay more for meaningful products, and investors who recognize the higher returns of purpose-driven companies. But how do you move from having a purpose statement to activating it across your organization? More importantly, how can you ensure it delivers real impact?
Join us for a fireside chat with a seasoned purpose advocate who will equip you with a practical framework to measure and manage the lived experience of purpose. You’ll walk away with actionable strategies to embed purpose into your leadership practices, harness its power for measurable growth, and unleash its full potential for lasting success.
One powerful quote from the book:
“Organizations need tools that reflect their true essence, their reason for being, and what they aim to contribute to the world. Among the different indicators that make up an organization’s scorecard, there is one metric that transcends company specifics: the internal experience of purpose. This internal measurement reflects how well employees understand, identify with and embody the company’s purpose in their daily work.” Carlos Rey, PhD
A few key points for you to ponder, and what you can DO:
Action: Host purpose discovery workshops to help employees reflect on their values and align them with the organization’s mission. Use storytelling sessions to strengthen connection and foster a culture of shared purpose.
Action: Measure employees’ experience of your organization’s purpose with regular pulse surveys. Use the data to spark meaningful dialogue and enhance leader-team member engagement.
Action: Track alignment with a purpose engagement index. Review and act on quarterly results to refine strategies, celebrate how the purpose is lived, and fuel continuous growth.
Action: Develop a leadership series that focuses on clarity of purpose (head), passion and motivation (heart), and practical action (hands). Equip leaders with tools to integrate purpose into daily work and decision-making.
Action: Lead with purpose by guiding leaders to first articulate their own purpose. Train them to help their team uncover theirs and connect it meaningfully to the organization’s larger mission.
Ready to bring these actions to your organization? Well, this is exactly what I do. Let’s connect, and I’ll help you ignite your teams with practical strategies that turn purpose into engagement, performance, and measurable success.?
领英推荐
On Defining Your Organizational Purpose: Start by Involving All of Your Employees
It’s simple. Every organization—no matter the size—has a purpose. But purpose isn’t a one-time statement; it’s a living, evolving process of reflection and dialogue within the walls of your organization. Have you considered your employees as key stakeholders in this journey? If not, it’s time to rethink their role.
Employees are the living expression of purpose. Their daily actions, decisions, and interactions bring it to life. When employees truly understand and align with the mission, engagement soars, decision-making improves, and performance follows.
Unlock the full power of purpose by involving employees at every stage—gather their insights, invite their voices, and equip them to connect their work to something greater.?
Purpose does not require every organization to change the world. Rather, it’s about identifying a shared cause that supports a meaningful contribution within the operating environment—one that resonates with employees, customers, and the broader community. The result? Stronger engagement, improved collaboration, and a culture of innovation that drives vibrant success.
Activating and Leveraging Purpose through Coherence, Authenticity and Integrity
Purpose may seem like an abstract concept, yet it becomes tangible and actionable when activated through three critical levers: knowledge (head/formal), motivation (heart/driving force), and action (hands/dynamics). These levers are essential for fostering internal alignment and driving sustainable competitive advantage.
Each lever corresponds to measurable components that help assess and cultivate purpose across the organization: coherence (clear, shared understanding), authenticity (alignment with core values), and integrity (consistent execution in practice). Together, these dimensions create a robust framework for integrating purpose into strategy, culture, and operations—ultimately fueling organizational vitality and long-term success.
Coherence: Walking the Talk (the head) Coherence is the alignment between knowledge and action—the fit between what we declare as our purpose and how we live it daily. It’s reflected in practical, meaningful actions and ambitious yet realistic commitments that adapt to individual capabilities and evolving circumstances. “Coherence is measured by the exemplarity of managers.” Ambiguity, on the other hand, is the enemy of coherence, and clarity in leadership sets the standard for purposeful action.
When coherence is strong, employees trust leadership and align their actions with the company’s mission. Without it, ambiguity breeds confusion and disengagement, in turn diluting purpose across the organization.
Authenticity: Saying what you feel and meaning what you say (the heart)
Authenticity reflects the emotional connection employees have with purpose. It measures how well they understand, identify with, and genuinely believe in the purpose—recognizing its importance for themselves and society.
“Authenticity is the fit between knowledge and motivation. It is the connection between what we define as our purpose and what really moves us internally. It considers the values, beliefs, and feelings that feed into our purpose. No doubt, we are the first to benefit from authenticity, as it builds order and harmony in our beliefs and feelings. Authenticity thus reflects our purity of intention. For that reason, it helps us build trustworthy and lasting relationships with others.” - Carlos Rey, PhD
Authenticity is evaluated through alignment with personal values and the depth of employees’ emotional connection to the organization’s mission. When authenticity is present, employees bring their whole selves to work, fostering deeper trust, stronger relationships, and more meaningful contributions.
Integrity: Feeling what you do and doing what you feel (the hands)
Integrity reflects how deeply purpose is embedded within the company culture. It’s the fit between motivation and action, connecting the motivation derived from purpose to day-to-day behaviors. Integrity is about living purpose consistently and naturally, turning it into habitual action that aligns with personal motivations and values.
“Integrity is reflected in the behavior of colleagues.” It reveals itself through spontaneous actions that show employees embodying the purpose in their daily work—whether in significant decisions or the most routine tasks. When integrity is strong, purpose becomes second nature, fostering trust and cultural alignment across the organization.
By fostering coherence, authenticity, and integrity, organizations create a purpose-driven culture that improves trust, enhances decision-making, and boosts employee fulfillment—all of which fuel long-term performance.
Translating Purpose into Action: The Foundation for Unified, Impactful Organizations
The true power of purpose lies in its ability to unify employees and drive actions toward a common goal. “That is why the focus should lie particularly on actively embodying an organization’s purpose. The degree to which organizations translate purpose into everyday actions is what truly sets them apart.”
Purpose goes beyond numbers—it’s a catalyst for transformation. “This indicator ultimately aims to go beyond numbers. It seeks to enrich discussions, spark reflection, and ignite the emotions and actions that keep a company’s purpose vibrant and alive. Organizations must recognize corporate purpose as the foundation of business strategy. It is the vital link that connects corporate objectives with social, ethical, and environmental impact.”
Companies that embrace purpose as a business driver position themselves to inspire employees, engage customers, and create lasting impact. Some, like Bimbo (that you’ll learn about in the next section), deeply understand the power of individual purpose and how unleashing it across their organization fuels extraordinary results.
Company spotlight:?
Bimbo– A Company Championing Purpose for Every Employee
It is helpful to think of unity not as something that can be controlled or manipulated from the outside. It has to be fostered from within the individuals that must be united within the organization. This idea is clearly understood by companies such as Bimbo, a Mexican multinational food company with presence in 33 countries. Bimbo employees, shortly after joining the company, take a course to help reflect on their personal purpose and values relative to those of the company. Behind this course, attended by all of its 130,000 employees around the globe, is the founder's deep-rooted belief that—" the company has a soul made by the souls of each of its workers.”?
Is your organization ready to stop talking about purpose and start living it? Doing so will ignite passion, boost engagement, and position your company as a true leader—one that employees, customers, and investors are proud to support.
YOUR CALL TO ACTION
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Equipping Organizations to Activate Meaning and Purpose for Cultures of “Gusto” with Dr. Alise Cortez
2 周Thank you for sharing this!