After reading It’s Not What You Sell, It’s What You Stand For: Why Every Extraordinary Business Is Driven by Purpose, I invited Roy M. Spence, Jr., who wrote the book with Haley Rushing, to present his vision of a purpose-inspired business to me and my colleagues. Roy is the cofounder, chairman, and CEO of a national advertising agency, GSD&M, and cofounder (with Haley) & CEO of The Purpose Institute, founded to help organizations discover their purposes.
His book encourages organizations to identify their purposes (beyond making money) and become purpose inspired. He says this is particularly attractive to workers of two generations, baby boomers and millennials. He gives examples of organizations stewarding their purposes—among them, Southwest Airlines, Wal-Mart, AARP, and American Red Cross. In his presentation, he said that when a business is inspired by its purpose, it makes decision-making and organization alignment easier, and employees are more innovative. “Purpose-driven organizations tend to have values-based cultures built on love and commitment to shared purpose. They often become legendary as great places to work,” he said. That’s what we want to be!
The book is a good read, and I recommend it particularly for those in leadership positions in businesses and nonprofits. When you’ve read it, tell me about what you learned.
