From the course: Leading with Purpose

The financial case for purpose-driven leadership

From the course: Leading with Purpose

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The financial case for purpose-driven leadership

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- Let's get one thing straight, making money is not a purpose. Or at least it's not enough of a purpose to rally your team. If you're one of those old school managers who says a paycheck should be enough, you're right it is enough. It's enough to create a mediocre, non-differentiated organization. But you can do better than that. Making money is simply an outcome. A purpose bigger then money is the true North star. It's the center piece of your strategy and it's the secret to greater long term profits. Here are the facts. Purpose-driven organizations who have an aspirational aim beyond money outperform the market by over 350%. Ironic I know. Purpose-driven organizations create greater competitive differentiation. Their purpose drives innovation and that results in better offerings. Purpose-driven employees are more emotionally engaged. Those companies with a higher purpose, they have 89% greater employee satisfaction and 85% better customer advocacy. My firms research in sales demonstrated that purpose-driven sellers who truly want to make a difference to their customers outsell quota driven sellers. And when Tony Schwartz and Christine Porath studied purpose at work for their New York Times article they found that employees who derive meaning and significance from their work are more than three times as likely to stay with their organization. It was the highest single impact of any variable in the survey. Purpose-driven leaders attract better talent and they're more highly rated then their peers and they're happier at work. Research is proving what a lot of good leaders already know, focusing on short term profits erodes competitive differentiation, it lessens emotional engagement, and ultimately you make less money. Purpose-driven leadership ignites morale in the short term and it drives profits in the long term. And here's the good news, it's free. You don't have to choose between making money and making a difference, you can have both. And to do that you have to start by naming and claiming a noble purpose for your team. You need to talk about it, measure it and build it into your culture. Your first step as a leader is to set your eyes on the horizon and decide, we're here to make money and we're also here to make a difference.

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