● A 10-year growth study of 50,000 brands shows that companies who put improving people's lives at the center of all they do have growth rates that are triple that of their competitors, and they outperform the market by 383 percent.2
● Deloitte's 2015 workplace survey reveals the tight correlation between purpose and profit. Deloitte chairman Punit Renjen said, “A strong sense of purpose drives businesses to take the long view and invest for growth.” Purpose increases customer, employee, and shareholder engagement.
● Our firm, McLeod & More, Inc.'s, field research with over 500 sales organizations revealed that salespeople who sell with Noble Purpose, who truly want to make a difference in the lives of their customers, outsell salespeople focused on targets and quotas.
Ironic isn't it? The way to a more profitable company is to put purpose, rather than profit, at the center.
Traditional wisdom has told us that emotions don't belong at work. This idea isn't just wrong; it's insane.
When was the last time you heard a CEO say, “I wish my people weren't so excited”? Have you ever wished that your suppliers were less passionate? Have you ever wanted a customer service person to be a little less caring? Have you ever wished that you yourself were less enthusiastic about your own work?
Of course not.
Yet somewhere along the line we allowed ourselves to get derailed. We decided that spreadsheets could produce results, and that profit was enough incentive for everyone. Leaders started to believe that measuring money would somehow produce money. We tried to ignore emotions in favor of metrics, but money is not produced in a vacuum. It's the output of a multi-faceted human ecosystem. We confused the results with the process. Great organizations are driven by qualitative strategies; their success is measured by quantitative results. The crisis of disengaged employees only proves what we already know in our hearts to be true. You can't spreadsheet your way to passion.
Leading with Noble Purpose aims to rectify this problem. Noble Purpose is a business growth strategy. It's also much more. It's a call for today's leaders to set the bar higher, for themselves, their people, and their organizations. It's about bringing meaning back into the workplace.
Noble Purpose is a strategic shift in the way you approach business. Instead of focusing on internal metrics, a Noble Purpose strategy is built upon the external impact you have on your customers, the real live human beings who benefit from your services. Revenue, profit, and productivity are indicators of how well you're performing against your purpose.
The stakes are high; the pace of work has accelerated, and the pressure is real. There's no denying that. Work is competitive, work is hard, and work can be exhausting. But work should not be soul-suckingly awful.
The current business model is failing us, and it's failing our people. It's time for us to better.
A friend of mine who works in politics once told me, “In every office there's always a TB.”
“What's a TB?” I asked her.
“A TB,” she said, “is a True Believer. They're that starry-eyed optimist who still believes that they can make a difference. But here's the thing all the jaded staffers don't tell you, everyone else is secretly jealous of the TB.”
I've come to understand the reason people are jealous of the True Believer is because we all want to feel that level of passion and pride about our own work.
When it came to work, my father was a True Believer. He led a team of people through an industry crisis. They came out on the other side proud of what they had accomplished. My father believed that their work mattered and that being a good boss was a noble calling. He was right.
For his eulogy, one of my father's colleagues described him as, “a great inspiration, mentor, and friend.” Who wouldn't want to be described that way by their colleagues?
For me, my father was the guy who was all in.
He was all in for his family, his friends, and his job. He didn't sit on the sidelines waiting for other people to get excited; he brought energy and passion into every situation.
My father really was that guy who – on his deathbed – really did wish he could have spent one more day at the office.
The numbers tell us that a lot of people are pretty miserable at work. It's time for us to change that. If you're reading this book, you have already decided that it is not ok to be miserable at work. You and your team deserve better than just going through the motions of a job. You deserve to do work that matters.
Why I Wrote This Book
If you're a CEO or senior leader reading this book, congratulations. You have the power to transform your organization and, in turn, the lives of your employees and customers. The biggest, boldest, fastest results occur when the CEO fully embraces a Noble Purpose mind-set and strategy. Whether you're accountable to a board, investors, or the market, you can be confident that the techniques in this book will improve your financial results, and your morale. It won't happen in a week, but it will happen.
If you're a not a senior leader, if you're somewhere in the middle, if you're just starting in your career, or you're a small entrepreneur, don't let your current position hold you back. In this book, you'll read examples of managers who have used purpose to transform departments and small work groups in ways that had a lasting and positive impact on the business results and the people involved. One launched a global initiative after a single manager put the concept forward. Noble Purpose is catching on because people are looking for ways to bring more meaning to their work.
If I do my job right, and you do your part, Noble Purpose will help you:
1. Find more purpose, passion, and meaning in your own job.
2. Help your team find more purpose, passion, and meaning in their jobs.
3. Improve your financial results exponentially.
There are lots of books telling you why you need a purpose. This book is different. Here, we'll go beyond aspiration – we'll dive into implementation. This is a step-by-step guide that shows you how to turn an ideal into an actuality. It's based on the work I've done with large clients like Google and Roche, as well as smaller firms like a concrete company in Omaha, and an accounting firm in Atlanta.
Noble Purpose is the new narrative of business. It will enable you to deliver better results, and become the kind of leader people want to follow. People want to make money. They also want to make a difference. Leading with Noble Purpose enables you to do both.
Part I
The Noble Purpose Leader
Our prime purpose in this life is to help others.
Chapter 1
Profit is Not a Purpose
When I grow up, I want to claw my way into middle management.
Do you remember the Monster.com Super Bowl ad?
Monster's iconic “When I Grow Up” campaign featured kids saying, “When I grow up I want to be a Yes-man” or “Yes-woman” “Yes, sir. Anything for a raise sir.” The Monster ads juxtaposed the dreams of childhood with realities of adult work. Watching an earnest 10-year-old boy say, “When I grow up, I want to claw my way into middle management,” reminded people, work was supposed to be better than this.
The rise and fall, and subsequent rebirth, of Monster.com illustrates why a profit focus erodes business, while a purpose focus