Got Purpose?

As an organization, Profits are key, unless you are a charity. Most executives don’t think about Purpose, except when framing the vision and mission statements which often are mere wishes , not plans much less actions.

Why do you get out of bed in the morning? Why do you go to work? What do you want to be remembered for when you’re gone? Why do you exist? Why does your company exist? What’s its value-add? What’s its function? These are all questions of Purpose.

Paradox # 1 of business is that the most profitable companies are not those that are most profit-focused. Jim Collins and Jerry Porras in 1994’s Built to Last found that between 1926 and 1990 a group of “visionary” companies — those guided by a purpose beyond making money — returned six times more to shareholders than explicitly profit-driven rivals.

What happens in companies that have no overriding purpose other than profit? Metrics fill the gap, throwing out any wider purpose than making the numbers. This transposition of ends and means is often disastrous because methods, now geared to meeting the metric, are detached from customer purpose. Examples? VW managers manipulated emissions readings to meet targets. Last decade, Toyota subordinated customer purpose to a growth push in an attempt to beat GM in size- overexpansion led to quality problems and some spectacular vehicle recalls. 

Purpose is an unforgiving taskmaster: forget it at your peril. Look no further for the reason why companies lose their customer focus.

But here comes Paradox # 2- if your company isn’t profitable, it won’t exist long enough to serve any other purpose. You need clear financial objectives, goals, and priorities. You can’t afford waste and inefficiency. That’s the paradox to be managed; companies that exist only to produce a profit don’t last long. And companies that don’t pay attention to profits can’t exist to fulfill their long term purpose.

These are not Either/Or positions to choose between. They are And/Or issues to be balanced. But get the priority right. Profits follow from worthy and useful Purposes. Fulfilling the Purpose comes first, then the Profits follow. Profits can never be the Purpose. At best, they are a reward.

At Genesis, we take Purpose quite seriously. I co-founded the company because corporate life ceased to have meaning. It was a barren and unnecessarily stressful landscape dotted with endless meetings, politics, lack of freedom and dishonesty and I couldn’t see any lasting or significant impact on peoples’ lives.  Hence Genesis was born with the idea not just to deliver great classes or even to deliver a fantastic overall student experience but to make a big positive impact.

We want our students to succeed as badly as they do because they come to us with an ambition and they have invested so much time and effort.  And because we believe in potential and the power of positivity and practice.  Their success is our success and we invest heavily in that. And we try and walk the talk, even as we have grown.

It means we never “hard sell” and instead give honest, practical and comprehensive advice to students before they sign up. It means we are readily accessible to students outside class and classroom hours. It means we work very hard, by simplifying concepts and otherwise, to ensure no one gets left behind in class. It means we monitor and reach out to struggling students outside class. It means, in the last few weeks leading to the exam, we spend an inordinately high amount of time with students, not just clarifying Economics, Derivatives etc, but inspiring and reassuring.  It means we show up in the exam center on exam day.  All this they find invaluable when taking on something as grueling as the CFA program.

It’s also why, sometime last week I got a late night whatsapp message from a Level I student:

“I just wanted to say Thank You to you and your team. I can honestly say I would be nowhere without your guidance.  Your ability to teach the CFA material helped me hugely, however it was more your ability of unlocking what I didn't know was in me, igniting that fire to learn and keep going that I didn't know I had. I can honestly say I'm happy with how I approached the exam and feel confident about moving up”

That, amongst a few other things, is what makes this short life worth living.