Where purpose stories go wrong

Almost every weak purpose fails in one of four ways, and all four are fixable once you can see them.

Four ways purpose stories fail

The honest answer

And the question that comes up most: honestly, our purpose is to be profitable. Then say something true. Profit is not a purpose; it is breathing. A requirement, not a reason to be alive. The Purpose Story answers what your company makes true in the world while being profitable. And if you genuinely cannot see it, do not invent it, because invented purpose is the most transparent thing in business. Audit your last ten significant decisions, especially the ones that cost you something, and look for the pattern in what you chose to protect. Companies reveal their purpose in their trade-offs long before they can say it out loud.

That is the Purpose Story. Now the future it points at. Section Three.