Purpose, not platitudes: A personal challenge for top executives

Entrepreneurs try to create meaning and employee engagement by focusing on questions like: • “Why do we exist?” • “What do we do that is important?” • “What do we stand for?” • “How should we behave?” • “How are we helping our customers and employees?” • “How do we create a place that good people want to be part of?” • “What behaviors can we not to

To know why you exist, you must understand what you are solving for, and hence you’ll end up with Outcomes. If you don’t end up with specific Outcomes, then you need to stress test whether you have answered the questions correctly.

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.

The purpose is the outcome your team is trying to accomplish, otherwise known as the why.