Purpose, not platitudes: A personal challenge for top executives

A company that lacks a purpose worthy of commitment fails to foster commitment. It forces people to lead fragmented lives that can never tap the passion, imagination, willingness to take risks, patience, persistence, and desire for meaning that are the cornerstones of long-term financial success.

Peter Drucker said that “making money for a company is like oxygen for a person; if you don’t have enough of it you’re out of the game.” In other words, profitability is a performance requirement for all businesses, but it is not a purpose. Extending Drucker’s metaphor, companies who take profit as their purpose are like people who think life is ab

Ed said companies should “create constancy of purpose.” By this, he meant an aim, direction, or purpose—a desired outcome. Eliyahu Goldratt named his book The Goal after this concept. Bestselling author Simon Sinek calls it the why. Most modern organizations have mission statements that pay lip service to this idea, but few truly have a purpose. Fe