Over the last decade, purpose has become the flavour du jour for corporations. Its popularity fuelled by statistics, reports, and CEOs extolling its virtues including: socio-environmental good, a north star in a volatile future, attracting talent and investors, a more customer-centric approach, and ultimately, higher performance and sustainability for the business.<\/p>\n
According to a 2020 McKinsey survey, 82 percent of employees affirmed the importance of purpose, but only 42 percent reported that their company\u2019s stated purpose had much effect. In other words, their purpose statements do not fulfil their intended purposes.<\/p>\n
Looking at the way many purpose statements are written today, it doesn\u2019t come as much of a surprise that employees aren\u2019t buying into them. They aren\u2019t useful to strategy, and ultimately, they\u2019re not creating much of an impact on the world.<\/p>\n
Purpose statements often lack social commitments, dampening their power to inspire and rally employees.<\/u><\/p>\n
In the corporate world, purpose is simply defined as a company\u2019s reason for existence. So, while many businesses see the value of purpose, not all of them have articulated a clear social purpose; a business purpose seems to suffice. It\u2019s a nice bow to wrap around pitch decks, letters to investors, and company websites. Meanwhile, social commitments are often sequestered in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) sections, divorcing them from the core identity of the organization.<\/p>\n
Drawing from a few global corporations, a businesses purpose often sounds like: to deliver on the promise of technology and human inventiveness or to become essential to our customers by providing differentiated products and services to achieve their goals.<\/p>\n
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