The Worst Purpose You Can Ever Have

What makes you get out of bed every morning?

Why do you go to work?

How do you want people to remember you when you die?

Why are you alive?

Why does your business exist?

What does it do and offer others?

How do you want people to see it?

What’s your business?

All the questions above refer to purpose. They dig deep into the motivations and suppositions that are essential and tied to your visions, values, goals, and improvement strength. Vision, values, and purpose, are the three elements of Focus and Context, and they are all crucial.

Other popular names for purpose are: mission, meaning, reason for being, life theme, calling, niche, strategic intent, value-add, and business definition. No matter the name, you, your team, and your business, must possess clear answers for the questions above, everyone must understand them clearly, and they should be used constantly.

This being said, the worst purpose you can ever have is money. If your business’s reason for being is making money, it won’t succeed. Your business will probably disappear sooner than later. Money is not a cause, it doesn’t fire up the spirit, there is nothing that motivates and excites less than operating margins and investment returns. The quest for money is a weak and unproductive main goal. It is pure greed, and serves individuality. It derives from, and moves toward, a selfish purpose: “what I can get out of this”.

Money hunters only worry about themselves. If you center on money rather than on the things that bring money in, you are so internally and short-term oriented that you are aggressively destroying the delivery of service.

Almost no one wants to buy from, work for, or partner, with a business that only wants to make money for itself. You are openly saying, “If you all work very hard and give your best, one day this is what you will achieve” while you show your team the picture of a yacht and a luxurious mansion.

In the same way, your business won’t survive long enough to serve a higher purpose if it is not profitable and strong economically. Every business requires clear financial goals and priorities. No small business can afford waste and inefficiency; you require effective measurement systems and feedback to get rid of the activities that are not crucial in order to center on the ones that will produce profitable results.

This is the irony behind a business’s purpose: if it exists just to make money it won’t last long, and if it doesn’t pay attention to money, it won’t be able to survive to fulfill a worthy purpose.

Hunting for money without a meaningful purpose, or hunting for a purpose without money, are equally bad strategies. These aren’t options, but problems that need to be tackled. However, do it right. There are many studies on the influence of values and ethics that have proven that money comes from valuable and constructive purposes. Focus on your purpose, and the money will come as a reward. The size of the reward will depend on the value of the service we provided for others.

A purpose centered on helping others in some way, offers a stronger sense of meaning to our lives. It responds to our profound need to make a difference, to believe that this world is a better place because of our contribution, however small.


John Hersey is a successful business owner, published author and motivational leadership speaker. John writes one of the most recognized leadership blogs in the business world: http://www.JohnHersey.com/blog