Purpose and impact at the organizational level are also having a heyday. They’re not the weird ones, it’s just that the rest of us are products of the last industrial revolution, in which we operated machines, pushed paper, or otherwise served as cogs in processes that separated us from our direct impact. Millennials have become famous for wanting measurable and immediate impact from their jobs, purchases, and donations. Impact investing is all the rage these days, though many deals that claim the label don’t pass muster for many experts (at least not as being markedly different from deals that have always happened) as simply good business. These days, there is also a lot of talk about impact. But none of these benefits are felt if the purpose isn’t anchored by specific impacts and the meaning that they have to each individual participant.
Other studies have shown organizations to perform better (financially and in other terms) when they have a purpose AND employees are clear about what that purpose is and how they contribute to it. Indeed, ample research has shown that identifying and pursuing a purpose improves individuals’ physical and mental well-being. We get anxious when we don’t understand the larger goal that our daily efforts are advancing. And now that our careers and purchases are so intertwined with our identity, we have even higher expectations that the companies we work for and buy from to have this same sense of purpose. This is a good thing, and arguably not surprising: humans are evolutionarily predisposed to do things that contribute to some outcome larger than our own survival. We are living in the time of peak purpose – where your dish soap or toothpaste label is as likely to have a purpose statement as a not-for-profit’s annual report.
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