Finding Your Organization’s Purpose

I’ve talked previously about Purpose Driven businesses here. Many forward-thinking executives recognize that purpose-driven companies can tackle social and environmental challenges whilst also generating profits; creating mutually beneficial outcomes for businesses and communities alike. But, how do those leaders understand their organization’s purpose? Those leaders are not only motivated by commercial growth, but also by the need to provide social value to the environment, communities, employees, suppliers etc.

But making decisions that balance profit and purpose are difficult. How does your decision making position the purpose of your organization?

So, how do you find your purpose as an organization?

Executives often view purpose as a top-down concept, defining it through a big-picture question like:

“How would the world be worse off if our company didn’t exist?”

For most other stakeholders though, purpose feels more personal and comes through in their everyday interactions—whether that’s through an organization’s products, services, employees, or communications. From their perspective, purpose isn’t just about a lofty goal; it’s about authenticity, coherence, and meaningful engagement in their daily experiences with the company.

So, while the top-down approach focuses on broader impact and combines the companies mission and vision, the bottom-up approach prioritizes how purpose resonates in the daily lives of customers, employees, and communities.

And, how do you live your purpose as an organization?

To live out its purpose, an organization must align its core values with daily operations, strategic planning, and decision-making processes.

Purpose starts from within, influencing everything from hiring practices to partnerships, supply chain choices, and customer interactions. This “core out” approach helps employees connect their roles to a larger mission, boosting engagement, motivation, and loyalty.

True purpose-driven leadership embraces the trade-offs that are needed, balancing commercial and social value even when facing tough decisions, which may bring short-term challenges. Leaders that live that purpose recognise that sometimes you need to take a short-term hit to achieve bigger picture goals. Finally, we’ll touch on the how communicating the rationale behind purpose-based choices transparently, helping stakeholders understand and support the shared commitment to meaningful, long-term impact.

From the Core -> Out

Incorporating purpose into every part of your organization drives long-term success by aligning your company’s purpose with it’s actions and its core values, it fosters trust, and enhances resilience. Purpose helps employees see the “why” behind their roles, leading to greater engagement, motivation, and retention. It can elevate a brand’s credibility with customers, ultimately boosting customer loyalty and trust.

To truly embed purpose, businesses should weave it into their strategy, processes, communications, HR practices, operational decisions, and even cultural initiatives. By integrating purpose into strategic planning, your company ensures that its goals support both societal impact and profit. Operational decisions guided by purpose also encourage ethical practices across the supply chain, whilst purpose-based communications build stronger connections with both internal and external stakeholders.

This Ted Talk by Ashley Grice, captures the need to build Purpose into your company in a way that is both authentic and so natural that it becomes muscle memory:

Lean into Trade-Offs

Many forward leaning leaders are not only motivated by commercial growth, but also by the need to provide social value to the environment, communities, employees, suppliers etc. Companies that really understand their purpose at a deep level have leaders that resist the urge to dodge tough decisions. Instead, they are willing to linger in a space of discomfort, ambiguity, and contradiction, and explore an idealistic purpose and the realistic needs of the business.

Look Beyond Short-Term Wins

Leaders looking for purpose know to look beyond the short-term win-wins to accept ‘good-enough-for-now’ solutions that will lead to broader long-term benefits. They understand that sometimes you need to sacrifice real, albeit incomplete progress in the name of perfection. And, that being brave enough to take future focused action that might cause short-term pain is sometimes necessary. When you come across a business idea or a course of action that would primarily create social value rather than a traditional, short-term, financial ROI, recognize that you still might want to take the leap before commercial value seems entirely attainable. Of course, it goes without saying that at the same time you would continue to aggressively explore options and give yourself a timeline to ensure financial viability of the business action. When potential plans primarily drive commercial value, also seek to investigate ways that they might help you deliver social impact as well. If those projections are positive, this should be something that you look to explore further.

Effective Communication of Your Rationale

When making trade-offs, it’s critical to explain the logic behind your decisions to others, and convey how this links to your strategy so that stakeholders understand how they can connect to and support the building of purpose in your business. Being explicit builds trust and cohesion by giving meaning to the sacrifices some stakeholders are making. This also works to reinforce a mutual commitment to shared long-term benefits.

Sidebar

We often expect leaders to run companies that are good for society. This is called ‘Caused Based Purpose’ and has been the focus of this article, but there is also space for leaders to run companies well, with a different focus on purpose. For example, when most people think about purpose driven companies, we think of companies that offer societal benefits.

However, there is something to be said for running a company well where the purpose is either competence based or culture based. For a company whose purpose is Competence Based, the purpose expresses a clear value prop for the customers and the employees that need to deliver it. Google is well known for being Competency Based, investing heavily in training for its workforce.

Whereas Culture Based Purpose, on the other hand, creates internal alignment with key partners. This can work really well for companies that provide products and services that are fundamental, but don’t credibly present as champions of social change.

It goes to say that Causal Purpose may not be the right fit for your organisation. In which case looking into other forms of purpose, like Competence or Culture based purpose may be more beneficial.

Conclusion

In today’s evolving business landscape, embracing a clearly defined purpose has become essential for organizations aiming to balance profit with positive societal impact.

A genuine commitment to purpose strengthens trust, engages employees, and fosters customer loyalty, creating long-term value. Purpose, however, needs to be fully integrated into every aspect of the company, from strategic planning and operations to culture and communication, and needs to be aligned the core of what your business is and what it does.

By thoughtfully navigating trade-offs, making purpose-driven decisions, and communicating transparently, organizations can ensure that their purpose drives meaningful, lasting impact. A well-embedded purpose ultimately aligns the entire company, enhancing resilience and fostering sustainable growth.