“In a free enterprise, the community is not just another stakeholder in business, but is in fact the very purpose of its existence.”
― Jamshed ji Tata

There is a challenge which each and every Organization has to confront in the coming days as on one side we are seeing exponential change in everything around which cant be underestimated for sure to avoid deception to disruption and on the other hand the workforce, although I dont prefer this word, from Millenials to Genz are very demanding in terms of meaning of work they would opt to do. Genz will not be easy to manage with the same traditional way as Organization used to do because of declining levels of trust in the companies as it was never before and also the role business plays to make a positive impact on the society.

Having a sense of Purpose for an Organization is not something new which has been talked about before but today it has changed its quadrant in Eisenhower Matrix from Important & not urgent to Important & Urgent. In other words, Organization can’t skip having sense of Purpose if they want to be sustainable and create competitive advantage in the coming time.

Mr Lary fink, CEO of BlackRock, an American multinational investment management corporation has been sending out annual letter to CEOs of the companies that BlackRock invests in on behalf of its clients since 2012. The letters are seen as a bellwether of the expectations that the finance industry – and wider society – has on business and its role in society. In 2018, Fink makes a bold and high-profile call for more purposeful business and mentioned about a new model for corporate Governance and mentioned ” Without a sense of purpose, no company, either public or private, can achieve its full potential. It will ultimately lose the license to operate from key stakeholders. It will succumb to short-term pressures to distribute earnings, and, in the process, sacrifice investments in employee development, innovation, and capital expenditures that are necessary for long-term growth. Then again in 2019 he reiterated about Purpose linking it with profit. He mentioned “Purpose is not the sole pursuit of profits but the animating force for achieving them. Profits are in no way inconsistent with purpose – in fact, profits and purpose are inextricably linked”

Both these letter made a huge impact and sent a very clear message to TOP CEOs about the need of defining the Purpose of their organization which does not have to be a mere tagline or marketing campaign but company’s fundamental reason for being and what it does every day to create value for its stakeholders. There are many Organization which already has Impactful Purpose statement but they are very very few.

There are enough researches showing how Purposeful Organization performs better being profitable and also helps in customers Loyalty, Employee Performance and engagement , better strategy , Innovation and many more.

The Main idea behind being Purposeful Organization is to take the responsibility of society and create change for better as it is very clear that Government and NGOs are not sufficient to meet the U.N Sustainable development Goals and Report says that that if we have to meet UN goals 2030 to improve the world, there is a gap of 2.5 trillion dollars per year. Business increasingly has been viewed as a major cause of social, environmental and economic problems and the more business has begun to embrace corporate responsibility more it has been blamed for failures.

The problem lies with consistency of contribution towards society and which is due to allocation of budget in this highly inconsistent business environment where business struggles to make margins. But what if Business realize that recreating business model and incorporating world problems creates opportunity for profit and competitive advantage at the same time as it benefits the society which unleash the power of business to help solve fundamental world problems.

Purpose has been defined as Shared Value long back by Harvard Professor Michael Porter in his article “Creating shared Value” and this is definitely the best approach as Organization can move beyond corporate social responsibility-CSR and gain competitive advantage by including social and environmental issues in their strategies and thus be profitable. Shared Value can be created addressing social issues with a Business model which creates both Social and Economic Value. We need to define both economic and social results with every activity we perform in business.

Although it is at very nascent stage, Cultivating Purpose and defining the strategy around it which in turn improves both Social and Economic value is the need of the hour and if it is done successfully , this world will be a different place. There is SDG Industry Matrix defined by KPMG which provide industry-specific practical examples and ideas for action for each Sustainable Development Goal. They have created list of opportunities which companies expect to create value for shareholders and for society.

It is important today for Business to take a step back and Identify the Social issues to target , Cultivate Purpose consisting of contribution and Impact , Remodel your Business strategies around it and Create Shared Value to be differentiator in this Competitive and disrupting world.