A Noble Purpose Alone Won’t Transform Your Company

August 7, 2023

Good morning! A happy reconnection with a friend from 50 years ago resulted in an unplanned circuitous route through Southeastern Minnesota. Road construction was everywhere — and thus I discovered roads previously untraveled, several of them. Gorgeous agriculture; mile after mile, section after section of fertile soil, rolling hills, and corn — standing straight and tall, ten and twelve feet, healthy, spectacularly green. Corn is apparently king, having vastly overtaken a more even distribution of wheat, oats, alfalfa, beans, and corn from a half century ago.

• The closest competitor to Tesla at the moment sells just ten percent (10%) of Tesla — which is at 313,000 units for the first half of 2023.  (JD Power)
• We live immediately adjacent to a school playground about the size of a football field.
  • The space is frequented almost daily by dozens of enthusiastic and talented soccer players.
  • For the most part we love the noise, the voices (not so much the colourful vocabulary), and the boundless energy night after night, ’til well past sunset.
  • What puzzles us to no end is the accumulated assortment of shoes, socks, underwear, pants, shirts — and beverage containers.
  • These clothing items, once discarded, are never claimed, they just lay there for days, bonding with the soil — while attracting more of the same.
• This might be the most important question of all:  How do you establish, build, and sustain trust?
• We can recall maybe as far back as forty years ago someone talking about collaboration — and mandating it as the preferred method of leadership.
  • It was a presumed better approach.
  • At the time it was new and foreign vocabulary; we were at the leading edge of a cultural transformation.
  • Long gone were Eisenhower, Pinckney, MacArthur, Addams, Ford, Arden, Edison, Morgan, Ash, Rockefeller, Fisk, Hill, Etc., et al. — the military/ industrial; i.e., the powerful titan.
  • The thing is, no one ever taught HOW to do collaboration — they just expected it to happen.
  • This very simple model from M.I.T. caught our eye — and what’s most significant is the steps leading to effective collaboration.
  • Take it a step at a time… and realize genuine collaboration is dependent upon the steps preceding it.

1. Building Trust
   • Cultivates Purpose
     • Generates Energy
       • Resulting in Collaboration

• Makes much more sense than simply saying, “Collaborate!”
• Okay, you say I should bake a souffle…mind giving me a few pointers?!
• If you’re looking for a college that does this best, try Babson.
• A noble purpose alone won’t transform your company (organization).  (Cross, Edmondson, Murphy, Etc., et al.)
  • Consider these two organizations:  The first is a retail chain with hundreds of locations globally —
    • innovative, but basically a sales platform.
    • The second is a hospital that treats the world’s most devastating cancers.
    • Which do you think has a more engaged workforce?
    • If you chose the latter, in light of its quest to save lives, you wouldn’t be alone.
    • Yet, when we spent time with both organizations, we discovered that the working environment in the hospital was rife with fear,
    • workforce morale was low, and employee turnover was high.
    • At the retail chain, on the other hand, there was a palpable spirit of camaraderie, employees were energetic and enthusiastic,
    • and customers were very pleased with the service.
    • The retailer had the more engaged workforce by a long shot.
    • It’s a common misconception, both in businesses and in management articles and books,
    • that a sense of purpose is what matters most when it comes to engaging employees.
    • Many leaders concerned with attracting and retaining top talent believe nothing motivates people as much as the larger good
    • they might be doing, or the chance to change the world.”  (Ibid.)
• “Stephen Hawking once remarked, ‘Half the battle is just showing up.’
  • Many leaders believe their job is to create the organization’s strategy, structure, and processes,
  • and then delegate the work to be done while remaining aloof from the people doing the work.”
  • Wrong!
  • Today you cannot succeed sitting behind a desk in your office; you must be personally engaged with your team where they work.”  (George)
• Regular church attendance and participation across all denominations has fallen below 20% for younger generations, and
  • sits at about 28% for so-called Generation Xers — ~41 – ~57 years of age — the steepest decline of any age group —
  • and peaks at a little above 50% for the oldest generation still living.
  • Perhaps somewhat surprising is more people contribute financially than show up in-person.  (Cultural Research Center, Arizona Christian University, 2023)