Purpose Has to Work on Monday Morning
A purpose statement can sound good and still be useless.
I have seen plenty of them. They hang in the lobby. They open the annual meeting. They make people nod. And then Monday morning arrives, and nobody uses them.
That is the gap we face when I work with leaders. Purpose gets treated as something to believe in. The better question is whether it is something to decide with, and whether it shows up in how the organization actually runs. Three things separate a purpose that works from one that only sounds good.
1. Make purpose a decision filter
If your purpose can't help you make a decision, it isn't finished yet.
A clear purpose isn't just something to believe in. It's something to decide with. When purpose works as a filter, it helps leaders answer the hard questions:
Should we take on this client?
Which project gets the resources?
What do we say no to?
Those are the moments when people look to leadership for direction, and a policy manual can't cover all of them. A purpose people understand can.
I watched this play out at a middle school football game. My son's team and their rival were tied in the final minutes, and emotions were high. The other team's players were unnecessarily physical, their fans were cussing at cheerleaders and players alike, and their coaches were encouraging below-the-belt behavior to force a win. Our kids finished the game confused, discouraged, and defeated by the way they were treated.
I thought about raising my concerns with our coach. But I didn't have to. As soon as the game ended, he had already decided: we wouldn't be playing that team again.
Not because we lost. Not because he didn't want the challenge. He saw clearly that putting his team in a position to be degraded again didn't fit the purpose of the program, which is to help students grow in character, integrity, and athletic ability. For him, there was no confusion.
The decision was made with the clarity of purpose behind it.
That is what a decision filter does. ForeverLawn co-founder Brian Karmie put it well: "Those decisions are still hard to make, but what's easier is knowing that you're making them from a place of purpose."
Try this: take one decision your team is facing this week and ask, "Which option better reflects why we exist?" You may find your purpose is more useful than you realized. Or you may find it still needs some work. Either answer is worth knowing.
2. Don't stop at Define
Defining your purpose is only the beginning.
In The Advantage of Purpose, I walk readers through three stages: Define, Align, Sustain. Most organizations put nearly all their energy into the first one. The leadership team gathers, wordsmiths for weeks, and lands on a statement everyone feels good about. Then they announce it and assume the work is done. But that is actually only the start.
Define: Get clear on why you exist beyond making money, in words people can remember and repeat.
Align: Make sure the way you operate reflects it: your systems, structures, priorities, and decisions. This is where most of the real work happens.
Sustain: Keep it alive over time through what you measure, celebrate, and retell, so it doesn't fade when the leader who championed it moves on.
Sustaining purpose is hardest when things are going well. The Savannah Bananas were founded on a clear purpose: Fans first. Entertain always. As their popularity exploded, demand would have allowed them to raise ticket prices and increase income. Founder Jesse Cole chose to keep prices low and broadcast every game for free on YouTube instead, because raising prices would have meant sacrificing the purpose. Success tempts us to believe we've made it. Purpose is what keeps us grounded while we grow.
A purpose that is defined but never aligned or sustained becomes a slogan. Defining it tells people what matters. Aligning and sustaining it proves it.
Which stage is your organization in right now?
3. Look at what you reward
When what your company says matters and what your systems reward are different things, people follow the system.
Say you value collaboration, but bonuses are based only on individual numbers, and you'll get individuals.
Say customers come first, but your call center is measured on how fast calls end, and you'll get short calls.
Say you value developing people, but promotions go to the ones who never slow down to develop anyone, and you'll get speed.
I saw this with a client that wanted to elevate their customer experience. The leaders were aligned. The team was onboard. But the measures people were rewarded for didn't include the experience at all. So people did exactly what the scorecard asked, and the customer conversation stayed mostly in the meetings. When they evaluated what they measured and included the customer voice, decisions changed.
We naturally pay attention to what gets rewarded.
What is rewarded gets repeated.
That's the gap between stated purpose and lived purpose, and employees usually spot it long before leadership does.
It is powerful when it lines up! Last year I was preparing for a talk with Jackson & Coker, an Atlanta organization. When I asked for stories of impact, they had plenty, because they had built a culture that noticed it, named it, and celebrated it.
Part of that comes from their CEO, Tim Fischer. Every time an employee is promoted, Tim recognizes that person publicly on LinkedIn. These aren't generic announcements. They're personal and specific, and they explain why the person was promoted: the value they bring and the excellence they've shown. When someone asked Tim why he does it for everyone, he said, "Because they deserve it. Part of my role as the leader of this company is to show our people what excellence looks like. You can talk about it, but it's different when you show them someone who exemplifies excellence."
Those posts cost Tim a few minutes. They also tell everyone in the organization what excellence looks like there, and what they hope to see repeated.
So here is a question worth sitting with: if someone looked only at what your organization rewards, what would they guess your purpose is?
Where to start this week
Purpose earns its place when it changes what people do on Monday. You don't need a new statement to begin. Start with three small checks:
Test one decision. Pick a choice your team is facing and run it through "Which option better reflects why we exist?"
Name your stage. Decide honestly whether you are in Define, Align, or Sustain, and what the next step is.
Audit one reward. Look at one thing you measure or reward and ask whether it supports your purpose or quietly works against it.
If you'd like to go deeper, this is the heart of The Advantage of Purpose.
