Living with Purpose is about walking the walk, not just talking the talk – both personally and professionally. Given we spend more than 2/3rd of our waking hours at work, living with purpose is integral to working, contributing and leading with purpose. Organizational leaders must model their purpose in order for their organizational purpose to stick internally. Individuals want to be operating at the intersection between their individual and organizational purpose – it’s the only way to optimize and sustain performance. When the organizational, leaders’ and individuals’ purposes are aligned and integrated into shared objectives – that’s when the magic happens.

This month, our first of three curated insights spanning the world of purpose is focused on purpose in a crisis, where the magic has to happen – pretty damn quick!

Purpose in a crisis:

HBR last year reported on “Corporate Purpose in an Age of Crisis”. They referred to the 2019, Torrey Project, which concluded that highly ethical companies focused on multiple stakeholders—and not shareholders alone—delivered shareprice growth that exceeded that of the Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index by 100%, over a 20 year period. That’s what we call impact beyond profit, which in turn, drives financial performance as out output. Other top findings from 168 companies surveyed by HBR included:

• purpose-driven companies were first and foremost motivated to benefit society at large (58%) and that 54% claimed to have experienced increased engagement with the communities in which they operated.

• 80% of identified increased employee engagement as a benefit of their corporate purpose initiatives.

• 55% cited increased employee retention as a benefit of leading with purpose.

GlobalNews.CA just this week, shared an essay from Shiran Isaacksz the vice-president of Altum Health and UHN Connected Care. In it he shared his professional experiences as a healthcare leader in reacting to crisis. His overarching theme is that the shared purpose that arose through CV-19 was what drove performance and impact, under a high pressure, accelerated timeline. That shared purpose was “to save lives by vaccinating as many people as quickly as possible” which in turn united multiple stakeholders to deliver 20,000 vaccinations in just 2 months. His three key takeaways were: “run don’t walk,” “speed over perfection,” “the greatest error is to be paralyzed by fear.” This speaks to two primary takeaways for any organization looking to make and impact:

• Failing fast and fixing fast isn’t just an agile marketing technique but a mindset that can be applied effectively in any organization with the right purpose, people and practices.

• Go-forward with purpose. Make it stick. You don’t always know what the future holds in such an uncertain environment, but you do know why you exist, what you’re here to do and why that matters to your stakeholders. At least, you do if you’ve taken the time to discover and articulate your purpose.

Sometimes it takes a crisis for us to identify our purpose. Why wait for the next crisis. You’re the master of your own ship. We’re just here to help you cruise further, faster and in the right direction! Let’s chat and see how we can help you and your people, Live with Purpose.