Try this simple thought experiment to discover how it looks when your Shared Purpose is embraced by others.
We’re all familiar with profit metrics: the measures that tell you whether you’re on track to increase growth and efficiency. These include basic things like cost, revenue and margin, which reveal whether you’re achieving your Purpose TO.
But how do you know if you are on track to fulfill your purpose?
Some companies measure social impact, like their environmental footprint or charitable activities. These are important and valuable. But they measure your Purpose FOR, not your Purpose WITH.
How do you measure Purpose WITH?
How do you know when your purpose is being achieved? We imagine three bells, like the ones on old fashioned cash registers or maybe the "order up" bell in a restaurant. Every time progress is made toward your purpose, a bell rings. But the three types of purpose—TO, FOR and WITH—each have their own bells that ring for different reasons.
The third bell is your Shared Purpose Metric. It's the important one: people today want to be a part of something bigger. They want to know the WHY as well as the WHAT. They want to know if your purpose is something you do to make money, or whether you make money to fulfill your purpose.
Identifying your Shared Purpose Metric can help you see yourself as being in the business of your purpose. This shift has the power to transform how your business sees its value.
For example, Kodak lost its lead because they thought they were in the film business instead of the memories business.
Identifying a Shared Purpose Metric could have helped Kodak shift the problem they were trying to solve from “How can we get people to buy more film?” to “How can we help people create more memories?”
One way Nike shares this purpose is through the Nike+ running app, which has a feature called Cheers. When someone goes for a run, it can post automatically to Facebook.
When someone replies to that post, the app sends applause through the runner's headphones.
In effect, Nike is helping people inspire the athlete in their friends. And they can measure it by how many times cheers are sent to an app user.
Its mission is to “build the best product” (TO), “cause no unnecessary harm” (FOR), and “use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis” (WITH).
Anytime someone does something good for the environment, you can imagine the third bell ringing in Patagonia’s headquarters.
The bell also rings when they are a role model for others. For instance, Patagonia considered it a success when others copied their approach to creating a market for organic cotton—rather than trying to hoard their purpose (or their business model).
The result of this kind of focus on the third bell? Patagonia has the highest level of loyalty and profitability in their industry.
Imagine you have the three purpose bells installed in your office. Let’s figure out what exactly rings each bell. What are your three Purpose Metrics: TO, FOR and WITH?
Let’s start with Purpose TO. What rings this bell is when you deliver value to your stakeholders by selling and delivering your product.
Use the worksheet to capture ideas for your Purpose TO Metric.
To create your Purpose FOR Metric, think about ways that people benefit from what your company does.
What rings the Purpose FOR bell is when anyone benefits from what your company does, either directly or indirectly. Think of an event that captures the nature of the benefits your company brings to the world.
Use the worksheet to capture ideas for your Purpose FOR Metric.
To create your Shared Purpose (WITH) Metric, think about the change you want to see in the world.
Your Shared Purpose is connected to your business, but it’s not necessarily a direct result of using your product. Now imagine the bell ringing every time someone has that outcome, whether or not you were involved in making it happen.
For example, if you are a healthcare company, it might be every time someone gets healthy. If you are a beauty company, it might be every time someone looks in the mirror and likes what they see.
Use the worksheet to capture ideas for your Shared Purpose Metric.
