Is Purpose the Latest Corporate Buzzword?

The topic of our inaugural Inner Circle Conversations was “Is Purpose the Latest Corporate Buzzword?” Here are some key takeaways from our discussion:

• Purpose takes courage. Leaders evolve and their experiences and learning from others can prepare them and lift them up for those moments of courage. It took courage for Kevin Johnson, CEO of Starbucks, to close 8,000 stores across the US to allow 175,000 employees to participate in racial bias education training. This move followed the April 2018 arrest of two black men in Philadelphia Starbucks which sparked outrage and soul searching about racial tension.

• We admired Paul Polman’s work with purpose as his role as CEO with Unilever. Unilever aimed to double its growth, halve its environmental impact, and triple its social impact. Under Polman’s stewardship over a 10-year period, Unilever delivered successful growth from US$38 billion to more than $60 billion and serves a beacon for those who want to find purpose in their work. Polman also demonstrated courage by rejecting an offer to merge with Kraft Heinz, citing misalignment of purpose. Who says no to Warren Buffet?

• IMAGINE, a B-Corp co-founded by Polman, unleashes business leadership to achieve our SDGs. We agree that businesses need to band together to act, otherwise, nothing really changes. Rather than solely relying on governments to act, businesses must step in. Similar to measuring diversity compliance on boards and workplaces, metrics are needed to measure change. What is a good metric for purpose? How could society be better? Climate, global collaboration on food security, water, BLM, etc. are all areas under ESG frameworks. How can businesses move from merely ticking the box to embedding meaningful purpose in their core?

• Using purpose as a bolt-on marketing tool is not creating brand differentiation nor meaningful purpose. Advertising can focus on “selling stuff” rather than jumping on the purpose bandwagon. As a result, messaging can be interpreted as insincere and inauthentic. This poses a true risk for companies who do not have an embedded purpose-driven strategy in place as core to their missions and values.

• Purpose can be superficial when the inside doesn’t match the outside.

• You can have purpose, leave society better than when you found it, and make profit. Purpose with business results often requires a long-term view and creativity.

• Systemic leadership brings many stakeholders together in a common goal. Some people seem to have more perceived flexibility to drive purpose (i.e. founders, women) than those who are stuck on a corporate treadmill.

• “Businesses cannot survive in societies that fail,” said Polman. Lifting people out of poverty through financial inclusion will expand the customer base for businesses. It is important to bake social responsibility and action into a company’s strategy.

Do you know the purpose of your organization?

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Inner Circle Conversations is a by-invitation group discussion on topics curated by Elaine Cheung. The goal is to develop foresight by understanding the impact of accelerated changes around us. If you are interested in joining a future conversation, please subscribe at www.elainejcheung.com