Purpose at work: why most companies get it wrong

Most purpose statements are useless. They hang on walls, get printed in annual reports, and mean nothing to the people doing the actual work.

That is a problem, because purpose, real purpose, is one of the few things that keeps good people around.

The shareholder argument

Someone always raises it: “The real purpose of any business is shareholder returns.”

Fair point. Generating returns attracts investment, which sustains the business. But it is only half the equation.

The other half is people. A company that only offers money will attract people who only want money. It will struggle to keep the best ones. And without retention, long-term success becomes unlikely. Which, ironically, hurts shareholders.

There is enough evidence now that younger workers care less about pure compensation than previous generations did. Whether you like generational labels or not, the shift is real.

What purpose actually is

Let me clear up some confusion.

Purpose is not your mission statement. Mission describes what you do. Purpose is not your vision. Vision describes what you want to become.

Purpose is the “why.” Why do we do this? The easiest way to find it is to ask “who.” Who does our work touch, help, or benefit, directly or indirectly?

My own experience

I spent 12 years in the military before joining a large corporation. The move was harder than I expected.

In meetings, I would watch colleagues stress over contract terms and think: “So what? Nobody is going to die if this does not work out.”

I struggled with motivation. It took me a while to see why.

In the military, purpose was everywhere. I served my country. A mistake during live-fire exercises could get someone killed. The stakes were obvious.

Corporate work felt like a vacuum where purpose used to be. I found my way in the end, but it took longer than it should have. Better guidance from leadership would have helped.

Making purpose real

Most companies already have a purpose statement. The problem is that it is just words.

A purpose that lives only in strategy documents does nothing for the person at their desk wondering why they bother.

Making it real means showing people, not telling them, how their work connects to something that matters. That means stories, examples, customer interactions. Not more memos.

Some companies organize experiences where employees see things from the customer’s side. That works well when it is possible. When it is not, individual managers have to do the translation themselves.

This is not a one-time exercise. Purpose fades without reinforcement. Leaders need to keep connecting daily work back to the “who” and the “why.”

A note on purpose statements

Since I have been critical of purpose statements, I should offer something constructive.

Good ones are specific about who benefits and how. Bad ones are vague and interchangeable.

“Making the world a better place” could apply to any company. That is a sign it is useless.

“Helping small business owners get paid faster so they can spend time on what matters” is concrete. You can picture the person. You can see the benefit.

If you are writing one, ask: could a competitor use these exact words? If yes, start over.

The bottom line

Purpose is what keeps good people engaged when the work gets hard or boring.

Defining it is the easy part. Making it real, through stories, connection, and repetition, is where most companies fail.