The Importance of Having a Core Purpose

A great leadership team needs to align around a compelling vision of the future that drives them to greatness and inspires the rest of the organization. It answers the question, "What will it look like when we're great?" This vision, along with your core values, acts as kind of a compass to guide your company in the right direction.

When the organization's confronted with a hard decision, it should ask itself two questions: 1) What decision would better help us live our core values? and 2) What decision would bring us closer to our vision?

In this video, we'll talk about the first element of a powerful vision, and that's your core purpose. A core purpose answers the question: Why does our business exist? It's not to make money, despite what your CFO might say. Your purpose needs to have a higher intention than money. Money is the benefit you get for adding some value to society. What value are you adding?

For example, Disney's core purpose isn't to make movies or operate amusement parks. It's probably something like, we want to make people happy. Starbucks' purpose isn't to sell coffee. Starbucks instead tries to provide people a third place, a welcoming environment that's not home, it's not work, it's somewhere you could escape the routine. Having a core purpose gives your company something to rally behind. It gives you organization a reason for doing what it's doing.

Back when I was first starting my career I was motivated by money, status, and ascending the corporate ladder. Most people today want a grander reason for what they're doing. If they don't believe in the purpose, they're not going to do it. They need to believe they're adding some real value to society. It's also important to note that your core purpose is not a goal you achieve. It's something you live every day. It's like the North Star, in that while you never actually reach it, it gives you direction. For instance, my core purpose is to help as many people as I can to feel more fulfilled by how they make a living. I won't wake up one day and say, "I did it! Everyone in the world now feels totally fulfilled." I certainly have attainable goals too, but my purpose drives me and inspires me whether I'm reaching my goals or not.

A group of senators toward NASA in the '60s not long after President Kennedy announced a goal of putting a man on the moon. The senators visited different departments asking people what they were working on. "I'm building the jet propulsion system," one person said. "I'm working on the fuel line," another person said. Then a guy came by with a broom, and a senator asked him what his job was. Now, you might expect the guy to think he was being teased, but that's not how he reacted. "I'm helping put a man on the moon," the janitor said proudly.

You think he might have been more motivated to do his job than if he viewed his purpose as sweeping floors? That's why a core purpose is so important. People in your company need to be able to see beyond the day-to-day grind of dealing with demanding customers, or whatever challenges they face. They need to see beyond that frustration and be able to say "You know what? There's a higher purpose here. There's a reason I'm doing this." If you work for a company making mounting bolts, it may not seem like exciting or inspirational work, unless you know that your mounting bolts go into a type of brake used on kids bicycles now. I've no idea if mounting bolts are used with brakes, but humor me. Knowing this, you don't think of your job anymore about making one identical mounting bolt after another - your whole purpose is to keep kids safe. You think you might think differently about those mounting bolts now? Does that purpose put your day-to-day frustrations and boredom into a different context?

Now that you know what a core purpose is and why it's important, do you have one? If yes, are you making sure you're actually living it as an organization every single day? If no, what's your next step to create one?