HBR's 10 Must Reads for Executives 8-Volume Collection

Put Purpose at the Core of Your Strategy

by Thomas W. Malnight, Ivy Buche, and Charles Dhanaraj

EIGHT YEARS AGO we launched a global study of high growth in companies, investigating the importance of three strategies known to drive it: creating new markets, serving broader stakeholder needs, and changing the rules of the game. What we found surprised us. Although each of those approaches did boost growth at the organizations we studied, there was a fourth driver we hadn’t considered at all: purpose.

Companies have long been encouraged to build purpose into what they do. But usually it’s talked about as an add-on—a way to create shared value, improve employee morale and commitment, give back to the community, and help the environment. But as ...