Deep Purpose - The Heart and Soul of High-Performance Companies

Thinkers50 Top 10 Best New Management Books for 2022
A distinguished Harvard Business School professor offers a compelling reassessment and defense of purpose as a management ethos, documenting the vast performance gains and social benefits that become possible when firms manage to get purpose right.
Few business topics have aroused more skepticism in recent years than the notion of corporate purpose, and for good reason. Too many companies deploy purpose, or a reason for being, as a promotional vehicle to make themselves feel virtuous and to look good to the outside world. Some have only foggy ideas about what purpose is and conflate it with strategy and other concepts like ?mission,? ?vision,? and ?values.? Even well-intentioned leaders don't understand purpose's full potential and engage half-heartedly and superficially with it. Outsiders spot this and become cynical about companies and the broader capitalist endeavor.
Having conducted extensive field research, Ranjay Gulati reveals the fatal mistakes leaders unwittingly make when attempting to implement a reason for being. Moreover, he shows how companies can embed purpose much more deeply than they currently do, delivering impressive performance benefits that reward customers, suppliers, employees, shareholders, and communities alike. To get purpose right, leaders must fundamentally change not only how they execute it but also how they conceive of and relate to it. They must practice what Gulati calls deep purpose, furthering each organization's reason for being more intensely, thoughtfully, and comprehensively than ever before.
In this authoritative, accessible, and inspiring guide, Gulati takes readers inside some of the world's most purposeful companies to understand the secrets to their successes. He explores how leaders can pursue purpose more deeply by

• navigating the inevitable tradeoffs more deliberately and effectively to balance between short- and long-term value;
• building purpose more systematically into every key organizational function to mobilize stakeholders and enhance performance;
• updating organizations to foster more autonomy and collaboration, which in turn allow individual employees to work more purposefully;
• using powerful storytelling to communicate a reason for being, arousing emotions and building a community of inspired and committed stakeholders; and
• building cultures that don't merely support purpose, but also allow employees to link the corporate purpose to their own personal reasons for being.

As Gulati argues, a deeper engagement with purpose holds the key not merely to the well-being of individual companies but also to humanity's future. With capitalism under siege and relatively low levels of trust in business, purpose can serve as a radically new operating system for the enterprise, enhancing performance while also delivering meaningful benefits to society. It's the kind of inspired thinking that businesses?and the rest of us?urgently need.

About the author

Ranjay Gulati is the Paul R. Lawrence MBA Class of 1942 Professor and the former Unit Head of the Organizational Behavior Unit at Harvard Business School. He is former chair of the Advanced Management Program, the flagship senior leader executive program, at the school. He is the author of numerous books and has been a frequent guest on CNBC and other media outlets. He also has served on the advisory boards of several entrepreneurial ventures. Professor Gulati holds a Ph.D. from Harvard University, a master’s degree in management from M.I.T.’s Sloan School of Management, and two bachelor’s Degrees, in Computer Science and Economics, from Washington State University and St. Stephen's College, New Delhi. He lives in Newton, Massachusetts.

Summary

Forbes, Best Business Books of 2022
The Next Big Idea Club, Best Leadership Books of 2022
Thinkers50 Top 10 Best New Management Books for 2022
Axiom Award Bronze Medalist for Business Ethics
A distinguished Harvard Business School professor offers a compelling reassessment and defense of purpose as a management ethos, documenting the vast performance gains and social benefits that become possible when firms manage to get purpose right.
Few business topics have aroused more skepticism in recent years than the notion of corporate purpose, and for good reason. Too many companies deploy purpose, or a reason for being, as a promotional vehicle to make themselves feel virtuous and to look good to the outside world. Some have only foggy ideas about what purpose is and conflate it with strategy and other concepts like “mission,” “vision,” and “values.” Even well-intentioned leaders don’t understand purpose’s full potential and engage half-heartedly and superficially with it. Outsiders spot this and become cynical about companies and the broader capitalist endeavor.
Having conducted extensive field research, Ranjay Gulati reveals the fatal mistakes leaders unwittingly make when attempting to implement a reason for being. Moreover, he shows how companies can embed purpose much more deeply than they currently do, delivering impressive performance benefits that reward customers, suppliers, employees, shareholders, and communities alike. To get purpose right, leaders must fundamentally change not only how they execute it but also how they conceive of and relate to it. They must practice what Gulati calls deep purpose, furthering each organization’s reason for being more intensely, thoughtfully, and comprehensively than ever before.
In this authoritative, accessible, and inspiring guide, Gulati takes readers inside some of the world’s most purposeful companies to understand the secrets to their successes. He explores how leaders can pursue purpose more deeply by

• navigating the inevitable tradeoffs more deliberately and effectively to balance between short- and long-term value;
• building purpose more systematically into every key organizational function to mobilize stakeholders and enhance performance;
• updating organizations to foster more autonomy and collaboration, which in turn allow individual employees to work more purposefully;
• using powerful storytelling to communicate a reason for being, arousing emotions and building a community of inspired and committed stakeholders; and
• building cultures that don’t merely support purpose, but also allow employees to link the corporate purpose to their own personal reasons for being.

As Gulati argues, a deeper engagement with purpose holds the key not merely to the well-being of individual companies but also to humanity’s future. With capitalism under siege and relatively low levels of trust in business, purpose can serve as a radically new operating system for the enterprise, enhancing performance while also delivering meaningful benefits to society. It’s the kind of inspired thinking that businesses—and the rest of us—urgently need.

Additional text

Where Gulati's book shines is in its emphasis on putting people and the health of the planet first. Doing so isn’t naïve, he says, but rather brace and necessary in today’s rapidly changing world.

Product details

• Authors: Ranjay Gulati
• Publisher: Harper Collins Usa
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 28.02.2022
• EAN: 9780063088917
• ISBN: 978-0-06-308891-7
• No. of pages: 304
• Dimensions: 152 mm x 229 mm x 26 mm
• Subjects: Social sciences, law, business > Business; BUSINESS & ECONOMICS: Management, BUSINESS & ECONOMICS: Leadership, BUSINESS & ECONOMICS: Entrepreneurship, BUSINESS & ECONOMICS: Organizational Development, TRAINING & DEVELOPMENT: LEADERSHIP, TRAINING & DEVELOPMENT: STRATEGY, BUSINESS & ECONOMICS: Decision-Making & Problem Solving, BUSINESS & ECONOMICS: Development / Business Development, MANAGEMENT: LEADERSHIP, MANAGEMENT: ENTREPRENEURSHIP