Part One

HIGHER PURPOSE

The first tenet of Conscious Capitalism is that a business must have a higher purpose, distinct from making money.* The simplest way to explain purpose is that it is a definitive statement about the difference you are trying to make in the world.

For far too long, the conventional wisdom has been that the purpose of business is to maximize returns for shareholders. Business thinkers and leaders of highly successful companies are coming to realize that this way of thinking is flawed and harmful.

Austrian psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl’s landmark work Man’s Search for Meaning powerfully articulated the importance of purpose for individuals. As he wrote, happiness cannot be pursued; it ensues. It is the outcome of living a life of meaning and purpose. Such a life comes from three things: doing work that matters, loving without condition, and finding meaning in our suffering. You could change the title of Frankl’s book to The Corporation’s Search for Meaning; the lessons are the same. Companies pursue profits the way humans pursue happiness. But like happiness, profits cannot be pursued; they ensue. They result from operating a business with a higher purpose, something that truly matters; building the business on love and care instead of fear and stress; and growing from adversity.

Part 1 is composed of four chapters that address why every organization needs to have a purpose (see figure P1-1). The chapters present a methodology to help you reveal the purpose of your organization, and they give guidance on articulating that purpose and how to embed the purpose throughout the organization.