“People don’t buy what you do or how you do it, they buy why you do it.” – Simon Sinek
Did you know you can drive your business growth through its purpose? Does your business have a purpose beyond profit or a sales target number?
If your answer was positive, the following question is as important: Do your employees, colleagues, and customers know about your business purpose? Is your business driven by its purpose?
According to a study by PwC, 79% of business leaders surveyed believe that an organization’s purpose is central to business success, yet 68% shared that purpose is not used as a compass in leadership decision making processes within their organization. The benefits of defining and living by a core purpose in business are greater than you might think, and go beyond increasing the bottom line.
According to a new Korn Ferry Institute study, consumer companies that focused their employees on the organization’s purpose boasted annual growth rates that were nearly triple the annual rate for the whole sector. And the benefits go beyond financial. The study also found that having an authentic purpose can help recruit and retain talent, win over customers, and have positive impacts on broader society. The need for purpose is one of the defining characteristics of human beings. Being part of a purpose-driven company matters more today than ever before.
“We have found that organizations that take the challenging steps to define their core purpose and values, and integrate these throughout their operations—beyond slogans or advertising gimmicks—see not only strong bottom-line results, they also find this approach transforms all aspects of their business,” said Elaine Dinos, principal of Korn Ferry’s Global Consumer Market practice.
Driving Your Business Growth Through Purpose
Purpose relates to your “Why” as a business. Your “Why” is your purpose, and it should impregnate everything you do. “Every decision should be looked at in terms of purpose. Some decisions may be purpose neutral. But the purpose is certainly not just a marketing issue or positioning of your brand image. The purpose should impact every aspect of the firm,” says Raj Sisodia, author of Conscious Capitalism and FW Olin Distinguished Professor of Global Business at Babson College.
“Purpose is certainly not just a marketing issue or positioning of your brand image. Purpose should impact every aspect of the firm.” —Raj Sisodia
Businesses with a strong defined purpose enjoy greater employee engagement, develop stronger and deeper connection with customers, and increase their bottom line!!! Deloitte Global CEO Punit Renjen, “Exceptional firms have always been good at aligning their purpose with their execution, and as a result have enjoyed category leadership in sales and profits.”
“The sense of being part of something greater than yourself can lead to high levels of engagement, high levels of creativity, and the willingness to partner across functional and product boundaries within a company, which are hugely powerful,” said Rebecca Henderson, the John and Natty McArthur University Professor at Harvard Business School. “Once they’re past a certain financial threshold, many people are as motivated by intrinsic meaning and the sense that they are contributing to something worthwhile as much as they are by financial returns or status.”
Definig and aligning your Strategic decisions to a core purpose is only the beginning.
Bringing Purpose To Life: An Organization’s Purpose Has to Be a Lot More Than Words
According to Gallup, when it comes to communicating an organization’s purpose to employees, customers, and stakeholders, words don’t matter nearly as much as actions do. Companies need to find ways to bring purpose to life. How are you going to instill purpose into your business? Are you ready to take the steps to drive business growth through purpose?
Here are 6 steps that will help you bring your purpose to life!
Keep Reading about Purpose in Business:
Harvard Business Review, The Business Case for Purpose. Sponsored by EY Beacon Institute
Putting Purpose to Work: A study of purpose in the workplace, PricewaterhouseCoopers.
EY Building a better working world. How a former coal mining company transformed through purpose, EY Beacon Institute.
A Company’s Purpose Has to Be a Lot More Than Words, Gallup.
