Beyond Credos on the Wall: Cascading Corporate Purpose

30 April 2024 / Report

In the latest in our Leadership Insights Series, Dr. Sandhya Karpe, The Conference Board’s Leader of the Asia Human Capital Center talks with Jane Datta, the former-CHRO of NASA, founder of the consulting firm JCD Advisory and Senior Fellow at The Conference Board about the impact of cascading corporate purpose throughout the organization and intentional actions that leaders can take to enable their people to internalize the company’s purpose. Jane also shares insights from her experience working at NASA - a highly purpose-driven organization, from which global for-profit companies can draw valuable lessons.

Trusted Insights for What’s Ahead^TM

Defining corporate purpose has become a strategic priority for companies worldwide. It has gained even greater importance in the post-COVID world, in which many current and future employees are striving to find greater meaning in life and in work. Sadly, corporate purpose often remains confined to a cliched credo on the company’s wall or simply a noble aspiration in the minds of its leadership team.

Lessons Learned

Trusted Insights for What’s Ahead^TM

Lessons Learned

Organizations benefit when employees believe in and connect with corporate purpose.
The company’s purpose must be authentic, understandable, and believable, pervading decision-making at all leadership levels. Explicitly stating the connection between purpose and action and connecting people emotionally with visible, successful decisions or even situations that don’t go so well, are critical aspects of purpose-driven leadership.
Internalization of corporate purpose contributes to greater employee loyalty, discretionary effort, and agility in getting work done.
Purpose must be “durable”, and sustainable regardless of changes in products or services. Understanding what is being said about the company, internally and externally, can be a powerful way to pressure test how and if the message is getting across.
Critical success factors in cascading purpose include the leader’s ability to articulate the purpose clearly and authentically and managers’ ability to make sense of ambiguous situations for their employees and provide them with opportunities to explore various parts of the organization that are outside their normal functions.
Businesses must stay relevant and market-driven to thrive, and therefore any adjustments in strategy and tactics must be communicated honestly and transparently through the organization. In some cases, leaders will need to explain how adjustments are consistent with the existing corporate purpose.
All employees including new ones, contingent workers, as well as vendors and suppliers must be “in” with the organization's purpose.