The start of a new year always presents an opportunity for reflection, 重新评估和目标设定.
这个新年, I’d like to challenge you to evaluate yourself in a way you may not have thought of as you look toward your future and your goals.
I’d like you to ask yourself, “What is my purpose?“那, I’d like to challenge you to look beyond goals that might have been about personal achievement – though those are good and important – and consider your purpose that might benefit others or the world around you.
如果你是一个组织的领导者, I challenge you to look at the purpose of your organization, beyond creating wealth and increasing shareholder value.
《外围十大菠菜app》 最近写了一篇关于商业目的的文章. 事实上, in conducting a global study of high growth in companies, they came upon the usual suspects of strategies – creating new markets, 服务更广泛的利益相关者需求, 等. But they found that purpose was an equal driver as well.
Companies have long been encouraged to build purpose into what they do. But usually it’s talked about as an add-on—a way to create shared value, 提高员工的士气和承诺, 回馈社会, 保护环境. But as we worked with the high-growth companies in our study and beyond, we began to recognize that many of them had moved purpose from the periphery of their strategy to its core—where, with committed leadership and financial investment, they had used it to generate sustained profitable growth, 在瞬息万变的世界中保持与时俱进, 并加深与利益相关者的联系.
去年秋天， 商业圆桌会议, a group of 181 首席执行官s from some of the biggest corporations in the U.S. (including Apple, Amazon, Bank of America, Boeing, Comcast, J.P. 摩根大通公司., 3M, Wells Fargo and more,) redefined their vision of the purpose of a corporation. 我把他们的声明写在 LinkedIn上的帖子. 他们说:
Businesses play a vital role in the economy by creating jobs, fostering innovation and providing essential goods and services. Businesses make and sell consumer products; manufacture equipment and vehicles; support the national defense; grow and produce food; provide health care; generate and deliver energy; and offer financial, communications and other services that underpin economic growth.
While each of our individual companies serves its own corporate purpose, we share a fundamental commitment to all of our stakeholders.
Has this changed view made a difference yet in the lives of their people? 目前尚无定论. 以前, they had said that “the paramount duty of management and of boards of directors is to the corporation’s stockholders.“他们显然重新评估了自己的目的, but actions speak louder than press releases and we should be watching them closely.
去年, 查普曼公司. 领导学院 举办了TEDx Clayton, an independently organized TEDx event built around the theme of “Shaping the Human Experience.约翰·斯特鲁普, 首席执行官 of Belden and a member of Barry-Wehmiller’s board of directors, gave a poignant talk about how his company balances their purpose and commitment to all stakeholders in their business.
As Belden struggled to find qualified employees to work in their plants, company leaders realized that 10-15% of applicants were failing the drug screening tests. They saw an opportunity to better the lives of the people in their communities by tackling the opioid crisis and offered a program where they would pay for rehabilitation for certain applicants who failed the drug screening and provide them a job, 只要他们坚持戒毒的生活.
The program had helped 30 people, as of the date of John’s TEDx. 他说，这个项目减少了人员流失率, created better senses of connection between the company and their people and their customers.
“Our company realized it wasn’t just a nice thing to do, 这是一个正确的商业决策,他在TEDx上说.
Our primary purpose at Barry-Wehmiller is to be in business so that all our team members have meaningful and fulfilling lives. It is the fundamental way by which we contribute to a better world. 这不仅仅是外围十大菠菜app的目的, it is the higher purpose to which we have been called to show other companies that business can be a powerful force for good.
去年11月, Washington University’s Olin Business School hosted an organizational Higher Purpose conference, 由Barry-Wehmiller主持, the Bauer 领导 Center and the Wells Fargo Center for Finance and Accounting Research. I spoke alongside a number of other business leaders and educators, 包括密歇根大学的鲍勃·奎因.
接下来的几个月, the Everybody Matters Podcast will bring you the remarks from conference participants. The wisdom of these leaders will help you as you are reevaluating your purpose and the purpose of your organization in the year ahead.
Is your company looking outside its own advancement to make a difference? Are you making a positive difference in the lives of your people beyond a paycheck? Now is the time to reflect and make a change for the better.