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A fight for purpose
Article written by Christine Goehler
“Purpose, Purpose, Purpose,”
I shout rebelliously as I leave the boardroom. Purpose. A word that has raised the spirits of the management as normally only a very negative forecast is able to do. “Spiritual nonsense” is what I hear as I close the door behind me.
No word has been discussed so much in recent years in connection with corporate positioning as the word purpose. There are many interpretations and most of them have a slightly ironic undertone. Often I don’t even dare to use the word anymore, simply in order not to provoke another discussion.
“The purpose dos not save the world”
Defining – or even better having – a purpose does not mean that it describes how the company improves the world. It doesn’t have to include the word sustainability at the drop of a hat. It’s much more about defining the core of the company in other ways than only making money. But that doesn’t automatically make it spiritual.
Even if the strategy is the basis it does not mean that diversification of the portfolio, opening up new business areas or increasing efficiency do form the purpose. These are strategy building blocks, unfortunately not really differentiated ones. The three questions “Where do we want to be in 5-10 years?”, “Which target groups do we need on the way there?” and “What can we do that others cannot?” are elementary questions on the path to purpose.
If these three points are taken into account, the purpose is one of the most important elements, the core of any corporate positioning. And it can save a lot of time and money in later implementation, because it gives the company a clear direction that does not have to be rethought and discussed over and over again.
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