Leading with Noble Purpose

Leading with Noble Purpose

by Lisa Earle McLeod
Released February 2016
Publisher(s): Wiley
ISBN: 9781119119807

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Book description

Profit doesn't drive purpose. Purpose drives profit.

We made some incorrect assumptions about work and those assumptions are killing us. We allowed a narrative that is solely about earnings to replace what we know to be true about human motivation.

Human beings are hardwired to seek purpose, but according to data, most people don't feel a sense of purpose in their work. Work has become a grind, an endless series of tasks that lack meaning.

Building upon her bestseller Selling with Noble Purpose, leadership expert Lisa Earle McLeod tackles the employee engagement crisis by showing leaders how to put workplace meaning front and center. McLeod, whose clients include organizations like Google, Hootsuite, and Roche, asserts that many organizations are unconsciously squandering their greatest asset—their people's passion. By putting profit before purpose, organizations eroded the very thing that makes a business great.

The narrative of profit, earnings, and bonuses was supposed to improve employee performance, but it had the opposite effect. It stripped the joy and meaning from work in ways that have a chilling effect on morale, performance, and ultimately profit. In this new book, McLeod shows leaders how to:

  • Win the hearts and minds of employees, clients, and stakeholders through a Noble Sales Purpose
  • Reframe your approach to metrics so that they accelerate performance
  • Create a tribe of True Believers who drive revenue and do honorable work

People want to make money and make a difference. Leading with Noble Purpose shows leaders how to do both.

Table of contents

  1. Title Page
  2. Copyright
  3. Dedication
  4. Introduction: Why Work Matters
    1. Why I Wrote This Book
  5. Part I: The Noble Purpose Leader
    1. Chapter 1: Profit is Not a Purpose
      1. Unfortunately, It's Also Wrong
      2. Purpose Drives Profit, Not the Other Way Around
    2. Chapter 2: Are You Telling a Money Story or a Meaning Story?
      1. Money Follows Purpose
    3. Chapter 3: How Metrics Drive Mediocrity
      1. Measuring Artistic Impression
    4. Chapter 4: Go Beyond the Numbers
      1. Turning Techies into Storytellers
      2. Escape Me-Too Mediocrity
      3. Dig into the Nuances
    5. Chapter 5: Make Your Customers Human
      1. Bringing Patients to Life
      2. Making Basements Meaningful
      3. Customer Impact is the Ultimate End Game
    6. Chapter 6: Dare to Be Different
      1. Igniting Passion in Resellers
    7. Chapter 7: Be Brutal about Airtime
      1. The Words of the Leader Matter
    8. Chapter 8: Create Your Purpose Framework
      1. Beautiful Questions versus Exhausting Questions
      2. Give Your Customers a Seat at the Table
    9. Chapter 9: Be For, Rather Than Against
      1. “Kill the Competition” Is Not a Rallying Cry
    10. Chapter 10: Don't Confuse Culture with Collateral
      1. They're Avid Students of Leadership
      2. They Operationalize Their Values
      3. They Give Very Personal Recognition
      4. They Overcommunicate
      5. They're Totally Transparent
      6. Culture across Ages and Stages
      7. The GM Salute
    11. Chapter 11: Take “Yes, But” Off the Table
      1. Resetting the Negative
    12. Chapter 12: The Folly of Internal Customers
      1. Learning to Love People You Don't Even Like
      2. Stop Talking about Internal Customers, Start Talking about Winning
      3. Connect the Dots to Actual Human Beings
      4. Correlate Nonperformance to Customer Impact
    13. Chapter 13: Name Your Noble Sales Purpose
      1. A Word about We
    14. Chapter 14: How to Keep Purpose from Being Hijacked
      1. Taglines Come and Go
      2. Beyond the Value Proposition
      3. Customers and Employees Are Not Your Masters
      4. Customer-Centricity versus Customer-Impact
      5. Commercial versus Philanthropic
      6. Culture Follows Purpose, Not the Reverse
      7. Training Is Not Enough
      8. Cynics and Naysayers
    15. Chapter 15: Why Your Backstory Matters
      1. Say What You Need to Say
    16. Chapter 16: Give Yourself Space to Say No
      1. Doing the Right Thing Makes You Money, If You Go First
      2. Don't Punish Errors of Enthusiasm
      3. The Pre-Decision
    17. Chapter 17: Believe in the Dignity of Your Business
      1. The Moment I Fell in Love with Capitalism
    18. Chapter 18: The DNA of a Noble Purpose Leader
      1. Have Absolute Clarity about Your NSP
  6. Part II: Implementation Guide for Noble Purpose Leaders
    1. Chapter 19: Claim Your Noble Purpose
      1. Answer the Three Big Discovery Questions
      2. Get Clarity on Your Customers
      3. Declare Your NSP
    2. Chapter 20: Prove Your Noble Purpose
      1. Create the Narrative
      2. Personalize It
      3. Identify your Acclerators
    3. Chapter 21: Launch Your Noble Purpose
      1. Put Your Purpose in Front of Your Team
      2. Internalize Your Purpose by Department
      3. Create the Sharing System
      4. Deal with Cynics and Setbacks
    4. Chapter 22: Operationalize Your Noble Purpose
      1. Find Your Noble Knights
      2. Bring Customers to Life Throughout the Company
      3. Choose Your KPIs
      4. Declare Your Purpose Externally
      5. Make the Tough Calls
      6. Make a Fuss, Routinely
    5. Chapter 23: Embed Your Noble Purpose
      1. Hire and Recruit with Purpose
      2. Evaluate with Purpose
      3. Bring Your Board on Board
      4. Spotlight in Your Annual Report
  7. Acknowledgments
    1. Index
  8. End User License Agreement

Product information

  • Title: Leading with Noble Purpose
  • Author(s): Lisa Earle McLeod
  • Release date: February 2016
  • Publisher(s): Wiley
  • ISBN: 9781119119807