What is Purposeful Business?
Most businesses have a purpose in the form of a mission statement or a list of core values. In most businesses, a mission statement serves to keep members of staff united with a common goal in mind. It can also attract positive evaluations from prospective customers. A purposeful business is different. The primary objective of a purposeful business is to attack a specific world issue with sales being a vector for positive action towards this goal.
What Are The Benefits?
According to the Harvard Business Review, purposeful businesses are 202% more likely to be profitable.
It may sound counterintuitive, but when you focus on tackling a large global issue instead of your sales, you are much more likely to find success.
Purposeful businesses tend to attract better employees who stay for longer.
75% of millennials consider a company’s societal and environmental commitments before working with them according to Deloitte.
An additional 75% would take a pay cut if they felt as though they identified positively with a company’s purpose.
Not only can you expect to experience more financial success as a purposeful business.
But you can also experience the backing of a passionate team who care about the value they bring to the table.
Defining Purpose and Dreaming Small
Generally, the purpose is a belief that your life matters and that you make a difference. It is a sense of being guided by meaningful values and goals. Purpose can be related to families or parenting, career, religion, activism, artistic pursuits, or other contributions to the community. Purpose describes a reason for being or a reason to wake up in the morning.
Purpose doesn’t have to be world-changing either. It can simply be the expression of your talents to help your family or your friends. And dreaming small is helpful. Purpose doesn’t have to include pressure to find the cures for diseases or inspire world peace.
It can just be doing the next thing that makes sense and performing work that allows you to express your unique capabilities to help others or contribute to the broader community.
Meaningful Action
In applying the purpose, there are 4 key actions which matter most:
First, clarify purpose.
As an individual or as a company, define your purpose with as much detail and clarity as possible, identifying what differentiates your purpose and what makes your contribution to it unique.
Next, articulate purpose.
Whether you’re an individual or a company, write down your purpose and revisit it regularly to keep it fresh. Companies should communicate purpose broadly and regularly—reminding people about why the organization exists and what they seek to accomplish so people have a line of sight from their work to the importance of the company’s work overall. Organizations can leverage purpose to unify the organization and galvanize and energize stakeholders.
Then, choose well.
Actively use purpose for choice-making. No choice is ideal, but as individuals, we can choose a job or a volunteer effort or a task which is as close as possible to what matters most to us. And we can remind ourselves of how even small, everyday tasks ladder up to something bigger than ourselves. Companies and leaders can use purpose to define strategic choices—where to play and how to win. They can consider purpose as they define their markets, their value propositions and their future plans. And they can use purpose to broaden and solidify their impact.
Finally, stay nimble.
Monitor, measure, reevaluate, and reassess regularly. Circumstances and context will change, and both individuals and organizations will need to shift and adapt. This is resilience, and it will be important for the future of work generally and the work each of us does.
How To Build Purpose into Your Business
Align With a Higher Purpose
Perhaps you already have a mission statement.
For example, our mission is to help you anchor your purpose in life. As a purposeful business, you’ll want to shift your goal from sales to a higher purpose.
The above mission statement would be wrong if changed to “Our mission is to help you find your purpose, connect you with mentors, and build a business of your dream career”
That would be a low purpose-driven mission statement. You build a business without even knowing your purpose.
You can’t be mentored in what you don’t know.
In the second example, the primary objective is evidently to solve a global issue that affects us all.
Presenting your product as a solution shows that you are working to be a part of the solution.
In the first mission statement. We see many have trouble stabilizing their purpose. And we offer the solution to the problem.
Let Your Purpose Inform Every Business Decision
Becoming a purposeful business does not simply involve coming up with a mission statement. Prospective employees and customers will be curious to see how your purpose informs decision-making within your company. Whether you’re reaching out to investors or choosing a logo, let everything be led by your purpose.
Give Back
Prospective employees and customers will also want to know how you give back to your community. Dedicating a certain percentage of your budget to charity. Getting directly involved in relief efforts that help advance your higher purpose is a great place to start.
Make Your Vision Relatable
Make your vision relatable bottom up—it’s critical. Most companies have a “my product will change the world” vision. But how would a sales rep relate to your vision?
It’s important to break down the vision into a key values framework that is understood by everyone across the company. And it must be relatable.
Lead A Purpose-Driven Life
The best way to create a purpose-driven business is to lead a purpose-driven life. Too many leaders try to create a mission statement after the fact.
But the most effective purpose-driven businesses start from the outset with “why.” And, it’s usually personal.
Understand What Motivates You and the Team
Build enough self-awareness and relationship skills to understand what motivates you and your team. The best teams operate with the same purpose and goal in mind. A team that unites with a common purpose and focus tends to be closer, more supportive, and easily able to accomplish their goals. – Stephanie Nguyen, DC Lash Bar
Focus On Customers
Focus on the customer. Every company exists to create value for its customers. A compelling purpose that is entirely focused on how to create value for a customer is the starting point.
Reconnect With Your “Why”
Small business owners need to reconnect with the reasons they started the business in the first place. They’ve chosen to build a life around the business, signaling the purpose and meaning that’s necessary to flourish. But a purpose-driven brand goes beyond a simple transaction. It focuses on connecting stakeholders, whether it be employees or customers, to something bigger. – Amy Friedrich, Principal Financial Group