Quotes About Purpose

Purpose is a motivating factor, not a differentiating factor. It's entirely possible for two companies to have the same purpose. Your mission, on the other hand, will certainly differentiate you from everyone else.

Unlike purpose, which is never achieved, a mission should be achievable. It translates values and purpose into an energizing, highly focused goal—like the moon mission. It is crisp, clear, bold, exhilarating. It reaches out and grabs people in the gut. It requires little or no explanation; people "get it" right away. Once a mission is fulfilled, you return to purpose to set a new mission.

A good mission has a finish line—you must be able to know when you've done it, like the moon mission or a mountaintop. A good mission is risky, falling in the gray area where reason says, "This is unreasonable," and intuition says, "But we believe we can do it nonetheless.

Finally—and this is important—a good mission has a specific time frame for its achievement.

Your mission must meet one overriding criterion: it must be compelling. The best missions have an element of genuine passion in them. Don't set a mission like this: To make and sell athletic shoes on a worldwide basis. Set a mission like this: Crush Reebok.

Vision provides guidance about what core to preserve and what future to stimulate progress toward.

Yes, compensation and incentives are important, but for very different reasons in good-to-great companies. The purpose of a compensation system should not be to get the right behaviors from the wrong people, but to get the right people on the bus in the first place, and to keep them there.

2. Core purpose is an organization's most fundamental reason for being. It should not be confused with the company's current product lines or customer segments. Rather, it reflects people's idealistic motivations for doing the company's work. Disney's core purpose is to make people happy—not to build theme parks and make cartoons. An

You can't manufacture passion or "motivate" people to feel passionate. You can only discover what ignites your passion and the passions of those around you.

Recognize that getting a Hedgehog Concept is an inherently iterative process, not an event.

Yes, a noble purpose combined with audacious goals can do a lot to inspire our efforts. But in the end, we give our best when other people depend upon us to come through, when we cannot let them down.

vision is composed of three basic parts: core values and beliefs, purpose, and mission.

For, in the end, it is impossible to have a great life unless it is a meaningful life. And it is very difficult to have a meaningful life without meaningful work. Perhaps, then, you might gain that rare tranquillity that comes from knowing that you've had a hand in creating something of intrinsic excellence that makes a contribution. Indeed, you might even gain that deepest of all satisfactions: knowing that your short time here on this earth has been well spent, and that it mattered.

Enduring great companies preserve their core values and purpose while their business strategies and operating practices endlessly adapt to a changing world. This is the magical combination of "preserve the core and stimulate progress.

generally to do something which is of value.1

One powerful method for getting at purpose is the five whys. Start with the descriptive statement We make X products or We deliver X services, and then ask, Why is that important? five times. After a few whys, you'll find that you're getting down to the fundamental purpose of the organization. We

Miller's comment leads to a very important point: Strategy is impossible without first setting a vision.

companies more than ever need to have a clear understanding of their purpose in order to make work meaningful and thereby attract, motivate, and retain outstanding people. Discovering

The point is not to create a perfect statement but to gain a deep understanding of your organization's core values and purpose, which can then be expressed in a multitude of ways. In fact, we often suggest that once the core has been identified, managers should generate their own statements of the core values and purpose to share with their groups.

The purpose of compensation is not to "motivate" the right behaviors from the wrong people, but to get and keep the right people in the first place.

The greatest tragedy that can befall a man is never to know who he really is.

It's a man's God-given right to die first. We're useless without them.

What are clouds But an excuse for the sky? What is life But an escape from death?

Sometimes you must put yourself in the way of destiny.