On Purpose
I think it was the American psychiatrist George Vaillant who said: “there are two pillars of happiness in life. One is love; the other is finding a way of coping with life that does not push love away.”
I feel that purpose in organisations is a bit like that. Since Simon Sinek went viral and told us about the power of “starting with why” and the importance for organisations to understand “why” they did what they did and not the “how” or the “what”; everyone went on this quest of finding their “purpose”.
We have seen all types of purpose statements since then; some very grandiose and probably very out of touch. They sound something like creating a better world and planet through our meaningless software; and some very boring where you have lost interest after the first two paragraphs.
A couple of purpose statements I personally like are from Zappos and Air BnB. Zappos is an online retailer that base their strategy on exceptional customer service – their purpose is “to live and deliver WOW.” Only a few words that describe perfectly well their essence and why they exist. And the Airbnb one: “Creating a World where Anyone can Belong Anywhere”.
Both statements are aspirational but grounded in an experienced truth; they are specific but broad enough to give employees a feeling that they can do something else every day to get the company closer to that statement without ever reaching it completely.
So where do I see the problem? I feel purpose is very easily forgotten by organisations when things don’t go well. When the quarterly results are down or the market conditions are not ideal, I see constantly how those beautifully crafted sentences over two-day offsites get forgotten by the pressures of the market, investors and unachievable targets.
But not everyone! I was lucky enough to work for a while for the Canadian company Shopify. I am big fan of them by the way. And back in 2017 I was lucky enough to attend their annual kick off where their CEO and founder Tobi Lutke put a slide up in front of their whole organisation that said:
Top 3 Priorities that exist for Shopify:
Build the best product in the world to make commerce better for everyone (make commerce for everyone is their purpose).
Make profit so that we can do more of 1.
Never reverse 1 and 2.
I thought that was a beautiful example of communicating and setting the tone for a whole organisation about how to remain true to your purpose.
So, like in the initial quote about love, I would say that there are two pillars for organisations: One is purpose and the other one is finding ways with coping with the ups and downs that does not push that purpose away.
What is the purpose of your organisation? And yours personally? Does it get forgotten when things don’t go well, or do you dig deeper on it when times are tough?
Would love to hear your thoughts…