Scaling With Purpose Kit: Creating a Purpose Statement That Guides Growth

**SPEAKER_2** (0:03)
The Bliss Business Podcast, the show about empathy, connection, and consciousness in business. Today's episode is brought to you by Zero Company, your paid search, social media, and programmatic ad experts.

**Stephen Scash** (0:15)
Hello, and welcome back to The Bliss Business Podcast series, Scaling With Purpose. I'm Stephen Scash here with Tulio Seragosa. Hey, Tulio.

**Tulio Seragosa** (0:24)
I'm here to scale.

**Stephen Scash** (0:26)
All right, let's do this. So this is one of our Scaling With Purpose shows. This is our 10-minute series where we explore how to embed purpose into every level of your business. In today's episode, we're diving into creating a purpose statement that guides growth. We'll walk through some practical steps to help you craft a purpose statement that is clear, authentic, and actionable. Let's get started. So purpose statements are a powerful tool for business, but sometimes they're sitting up there on that wall, and people don't pay attention because they're just kind of blah, and don't make a lot of sense there.
But we want to break down how to create a purpose statement that not only inspires, but it also provides clear guidance for decision making and growth. So that's kind of the focus here. So Tulio, what makes a good purpose statement?

**Tulio Seragosa** (1:21)
So the great thing about what makes a good purpose statement is that it's very simple. In fact, it's only three key essential qualities that are needed. And I love this because big ideas are always very simple. So number one, it's got to be authentic. So it should reflect the true values and aspiration of the organization. Number two, it needs to reflect some action. So it's got to be actionable and needs to provide a clear framework for decision making and strategy. So how do we use our guiding star to make decisions every day in our business? And then three, it needs to be aspirational.
And this is where you're shooting for the star, sort of, when people say shooting for the star, right? Or shoot for the moon. So it's got to be aspirational. It's got to inspire not only the employees, but also customers and all the stakeholders that rally behind a common goal. So that's the key thing. It's to think more of creating community amongst your employee base, amongst your customer base, even amongst your investors. If you think of creating community instead of stakeholders, where you kind of look at everybody differently, if you create a sense of community, then you have an aspirational approach to it, then it becomes a common goal for everyone. And when all these elements come together, that purpose statement really becomes a guiding start that aligns and energizes the entire organization. That's the key thing. It's not just about aligning the organization, it's about energizing the organization. It has to meet these two criteria.

**Stephen Scash** (3:05)
Yeah, I think that's complicated.

**Tulio Seragosa** (3:06)
Not complicated, but.

**Stephen Scash** (3:09)
But it is, I guess.

**Tulio Seragosa** (3:10)
But a lot of companies seem to not get it for some reason.

**Stephen Scash** (3:12)
A lot of companies seem to have the create shareholder value, and that's not aspiring anyone.
So let's walk through some practical steps here for creating a purpose statement that truly guides growth. So I would say step one, you got to engage in some reflection and discovery and start by asking some key questions. So why does your organization exist? What difference do you want to make in the world? How do your values shape your goals? So involve leaders, employees, even customers in this process if you need to. Their perspectives can help uncover themes that resonate deeply with the entire organization. So companies often skip this kind of reflection and jump straight into drafting, right? Where they're just like, okay, hey, let's make this purpose statement. Let's get this done. You know, got a couple hours, we can pound this out. But without this sort of foundation, purpose statements can feel hollow. So you really want to spend some time reflecting on this and going through, not just the motions of trying to write this, but really thinking it through to set your foundation. Tulio?

**Tulio Seragosa** (4:28)
Before we go into the second step, I want to highlight something.

**Stephen Scash** (4:33)
I can see the wheels turning in your head, Tulio.

**Tulio Seragosa** (4:34)
Yes. Well, because the first step is so important, I'll never forget.
I was bringing together six different companies on a post-merger initiative, and Global CEO was like, let's just come up with a new name. And I was like, no, no, no. We have to actually redefine who we are as coming together all these different companies, what our values are coming together. We have to reflect on who we want to be now that we're coming together. And it took a while to get that done. So it's so important, really important to have that reflection. Step two, then you need to identify your core impact, right? Once you figure out what do we stand for, who we are, what is our core ideology as a business, then, what is the core impact you're going to have? And this is really, think about the impact organization makes beyond profit. So it's not just the impact at the bottom line. Are you solving a problem? Are you meeting a need in the market? Are you creating a better future? So these are all great questions to ask yourself. And for example, Tesla, their purpose isn't just to make electric cars, it's to accelerate the world's transition to sustainable energy. And this has long legs too, because that could be electric cars today, it could be something else 20 years from now. And this clarity impacts and sharpens the focus of the purpose statement. So it's not just about what you do, but it's about why you do it and why it matters to the world. That's the key thing.