The Knowledgebase

Inspiration

Shared understanding

Bringing purpose to life

What is a purpose-led business?

Our view of what it means to be a purpose-led business draws on two core ideas that we believe underpin the mindset and behaviour of people in the business:

Business is a force for good

The way people in business behave and make decisions is informed by the implicit assumptions and beliefs that are held (whether these are conscious or unconscious). In our work we therefore explore implicit assumptions and beliefs that are held by people in the business.

For a business to be truly purpose-led we believe that it will:

1. Be guided by a purpose which benefits society (delivering value by serving society)

  • It will seek not simply to make profits, but to identify goods and services it can provide which help meet the needs of people and planet, without adding more problems or exploiting people  
  • It will envisage a positive impact on the world which shapes its thinking and drives decision making in the core business – so there is a clear, simple and credible narrative which links the purpose to the strategy and to the outcomes and impact that arise from that strategy (both financial and non-financial)
  • It will seek to use its agency in the system – and through its relationships with customers, suppliers, communities and regulators – to promote changes in behaviour that advance positive change. It will also identify problems it cannot fix alone but where collective action can shift how the market works, promote better regulation which genuinely serves the common good rather than self-interest, and hold itself accountable for its broader social and environmental impacts

2. Have a way of thinking about people – where each person ‘is a someone not a something’ (dignity and value of people)

  • It will respect the dignity and value of people and seek to have a positive impact on the lives of all those it touches
  • It will see the business as a series of relationships and understand that the long term success of the business depends on the quality and sustainability of these relationships – with its employees, customers, suppliers, as a citizen in society and its responsibilities to act as a guardian for future generations

The ideas that underpin this thinking are set out in detail in the Blueprint Framework and the Blueprint Principles are designed to show how a business that embraces these ideas will show up.

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