{"id":14,"date":"2013-03-11T05:32:18","date_gmt":"2013-03-11T00:02:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/srinivasv.com\/?p=14"},"modified":"2016-11-15T17:24:56","modified_gmt":"2016-11-15T11:54:56","slug":"why-purpose","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/srinivasv.com\/mapsofbecoming\/why-purpose\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Purpose?"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are two key arguments for the purpose-centered organization:<\/p>\n

Purpose lends differentiation to a company<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n
    \n
      \n
    1. In the eyes of customers<\/li>\n
    2. In the lives of employees<\/li>\n
    3. In the way various environmental stakeholders (example: governments, business and trade groups, press, etc.) view the company.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n

      A company known for its strong purpose centricity evokes respect and ‘willingness to listen to its point of view’ from these various stakeholders.<\/p>\n

      This reduces transaction costs in getting business, helps maintain relationships, and creates a \u2018halo effect\u2019 around the commoditized elements of its offering.<\/p>\n

      At a deeper level, purpose transforms strategy, structure, and conduct of the firm<\/strong><\/p>\n

      Strategy transforms because a purpose-led company moves from being a market-follower to become a change-leader since its motivation is purpose + profits and not profits alone.<\/p>\n

      Its decision criteria, its motivation set, and its reasons for opportunity engagement are radically different.<\/em><\/p>\n

      Structure transforms because purpose-led organizations tend to seek actualization of purpose, and not maintenance of hierarchies as the driver for organizational design\/ development.<\/p>\n

      This has significant long-term impact on the ability of a firm to respond to new opportunities.<\/em><\/p>\n

      Conduct transforms because the nature of decision making shifts radically in purpose-led organizations.<\/p>\n

      An organization that operates in a high-change, high-growth environment, must be nimble and decentralized.\u00a0This happens only when decision making criteria integrate value creation with wisdom.<\/p>\n

      A focus on value creation alone will lead to a strategic overstretch in time. A focus on wisdom alone will mean less opportunities to contribute and make a difference.<\/p>\n

      Purpose-led conduct builds in wisdom (flowing from purpose) with value creation (flowing from profit seeking).<\/p>\n

      What if\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

      What if an organization seeks to remain without purpose?<\/p>\n

      An organization that remains without purpose enters into a long-term spiral of decline into mediocrity.<\/p>\n

      The sequence of the decline is as follows:<\/p>\n

      Firstly<\/em>, an organization without purpose will have employees without purpose.<\/p>\n

      Secondly<\/em>, employees without purpose will act on transactional criteria alone. This means no real loyalty, no \u2018ownership\u2019 beyond that which delivers day-to-day results, and no commitment to customers (who are only profit cows).<\/p>\n

      Thirdly<\/em>, an organization without deeper human dimensions, will drive away \u2018sustainable growth\u2019 seekers, and will soon chase people at the highest price. This means a decline into short-termism, mediocrity, and decision making that is bonus-focused, and not focused on the welfare of organization or country.<\/p>\n

      In the final stage<\/em>, this will mean an organization that is a pale reflection of the practice in the marketplace \u2013 one which is neither respected nor valued by people who seek a higher dimension beyond money and power in their lives.<\/p>\n

      A little bit like the Roman Empire \u2013 a great organization destroyed by its absence of higher purpose.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Purpose-led conduct builds in wisdom (flowing from purpose) with value creation (flowing from profit seeking).<\/p>\n

      What if an organization seeks to remain without purpose? The end is likely to be a little bit like the Roman Empire \u2013 a great organization destroyed by its absence of higher purpose…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":1421,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[158],"tags":[103],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/srinivasv.com\/mapsofbecoming\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/srinivasv.com\/mapsofbecoming\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/srinivasv.com\/mapsofbecoming\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/srinivasv.com\/mapsofbecoming\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/srinivasv.com\/mapsofbecoming\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/srinivasv.com\/mapsofbecoming\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9203,"href":"https:\/\/srinivasv.com\/mapsofbecoming\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14\/revisions\/9203"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/srinivasv.com\/mapsofbecoming\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1421"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/srinivasv.com\/mapsofbecoming\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/srinivasv.com\/mapsofbecoming\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/srinivasv.com\/mapsofbecoming\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}