Our work

Our work is about stimulating and energising a different way of thinking and behaving in business.

Our work contributes to creating a better society through better business through:

Inspiring

Providing credibility and pushing boundaries

Inspiring and nurturing the will, rationale and courage for change by creating space for continuous dialogue, critical reflection and sense-making of what it means to be a purpose-led business.

Activating

Encouraging action at scale

Creating and being part of spaces to develop the skills and confidence to disrupt ‘status quo’ practices and creating conditions for change to flourish.

Amplifying

Supporting social contagion and momentum

Capturing and sharing stories to build courage, sharing learning, facilitating and collaborating to catalyse change in the early majority and to strengthen the movement.

As well as working directly with a small number of large businesses, we seek to influence the overall conversation about the purpose of business through dialogue with key influencers such as investors, academics, policymakers, NGOs, consultants to businesses and others and through our social media, forums, conferences, events and collaboration with other organisations with similar objectives.

Business

Our engagement with business is centred on using our Five Principles of a Purpose-led Business, and the thinking behind them, to challenge and support leadership teams and other senior practitioners in understanding and exploring the potential of becoming a better business. Our one-to-one engagement with these businesses informs the rest of our work.

Our style of engagement draws on coaching, but we bring a distinct point of view about what it means for a business to be purpose-led. Whilst our thinking and approach applies to all businesses and other types of organisations, our one-to-one engagement is mainly with large companies.

We engage with them in three ways:

Intervention

An initial 3-6 month engagement with the CEO and Executive team to introduce Blueprint’s Framework and Principles.

Social Contract

A sustained engagement over 24-36 months to challenge and support organisations on their journey to becoming a purpose-led organisation.

CEO Forums

Groups of 4-5 CEOs meet quarterly to explore what it means to be a purpose-led business in practice.

For more on how we engage with business and on what an intervention and social contract involve see:

To find out more contact Dee Corrigan

How Blueprint Engages with Business

Investors

We have been seeking to influence investors and have been collaborating with the Purposeful Company Taskforce to engage with both asset managers and asset owners.

A challenge faced by investors is how they can tell whether a company is genuinely pursuing a purpose beyond profit, through which it seeks to generate its returns to investors.

In 2018, we convened a group of leading investors from a range of asset management companies to consider this and together they came up with a short list of key questions which an investor can ask a Chair, CEO or other senior executives to glean insights into the extent to which a company is being genuinely and effectively purpose-led.

To get involved contact Sarah Gillard

Coaches and Consultants

We have an informal network of coaches and consultants who have an affinity with Blueprint. The network is inclusive and open to any coaches or consultants who believe that the purpose of business should benefit society and respect the dignity of people.

There is no formal structure or membership fee. People are welcome to engage at any level they wish. We convene regular meetings to enable members of the network to share and discuss their experiences and to meet other like minded people.

The purpose of the network

To help grow the Blueprint movement via coaches and consultants using Blueprint thinking in their work with their clients and to guide their own businesses.
To create a community of learning and sharing.

Maintaining Blueprint's independence

We will not accredit or endorse any coach or consultant. We are happy for coaches and consultants who are part of our network and who have integrated our thinking into their work to say they have done so, but ask that they do not hold themselves out to be accredited by us.

Summary of recent sessions

Play Video

Blueprint Coaches & Consultants Meeting – Introducing PAS808

On 10 February 2023 we convened a meeting to socialise PAS 808 – the BSI’s new standard on purpose-driven organisations. We invited Andy Brown, Head of Sustainability at Anglian Water, who was on the steering group that developed the PAS, to talk about how they seek to use it at Anglian Water and the practitioners group he has set up to test it.

The meeting included discussions on the PAS, and the comments were fed back to the PAS steering group. An executive briefing and the full PAS can be downloaded here: PAS 808 | BSI (bsigroup.com)

Below are links to other sessions with some links to further information if you would like to find out more:

If you would like to join us please contact Soulla Kyriacou

Research and Academics

We have worked with and sought to influence the thinking of academics and business schools

In conversation: Rebecca Henderson

In September 2020, Harvard Business School Professor, Rebecca Henderson joined Blueprint CEO Charles Wookey to discuss her new work, Blueprint's role and how companies are putting purpose into practice.

Catch up on-demand here

Academic Conference

In September 2016, we hosted an international academic conference with London Business School and the LBS Leadership Institute. The aim of the conference was to explore the impact on business of having a purpose that serves society.

A summary of the event can be found here
The original call for papers can be downloaded here

Research with the CMI

This report produced by the CMI and authored by, Victoria Hurth, Prof Jaideep Prabhu and Charlie Ebert, aims to help leaders and managers understand what it means to put purpose into practice and includes insights from 18 in-depth interviews with senior practitioners.

You can see the full report here: The what, the why and the how of purpose

Policymakers

Whilst we believe it is possible to be a successful purpose-led business within current laws and capital markets, policymakers have a role to play in helping to create an environment where purpose-led business can thrive.

In April 2018, we were invited to share a paper ahead of the meeting of the OECD Global Parliamentary Network, hosted by the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Inclusive Growth.

It discussed why purpose-led businesses are key to building more inclusive and sustainable societies and what policy makers can do to help. The full text can be downloaded here.

Collaborations

We try not to duplicate work that others are already doing, and where possible try to collaborate with organisations and individuals with whom we share common goals. For example:

In collaboration with The Forward Institute we carried out some research with a number of practioners in large corporates and those working in the ‘purpose ecosystem’ to better understand the needs of practitioners and identify opportunities to collaborate to help better meet these needs. the findings can be seen Report – Purpose Centre of Gravity
We were part of the steering group chaired by for the Sustainable Purpose British Standard on purpose driven organisations (PAS 808). The draft standard went out for public consultation and was launched in July 2022.
We have contributed to the work of the Purposeful Company and The British Academy Future of the Corporation project.
Blueprint formed part of the Advisory panel for the government backed Mission-led Business Review in the UK. Read the final review ‘On a Mission in the UK Economy’ and see Blueprint’s submission to the Call for Evidence.
We were invited to be part of an external panel for a study by the government Inclusive Economy Unit into the take up of SDG’s by business in the UK.
Working with the Health Foundation we produced a report on the link between health and work.
We were invited to collaborate with ReGenerate.
We are allies of the World Benchmarking Alliance
We are part of UK21