ODC Webinar: Purpose and Organisational Design

Webinar

Purpose and Organizational Design

19th January 2023, Thursday at 9am Eastern Time 

Ranjay Gulati, Harvard Business School

Drawing upon my recent book, Deep Purpose: The Heart and Soul of High Performance Companies, I will offer a reassessment and defense of purpose as a management ethos, documenting the vast performance gains and social benefits that become possible when firms get purpose right. Few business topics have aroused more skepticism in recent years than the notion of corporate purpose, and for good reason. Too many companies deploy purpose, or a reason for being, as a promotional vehicle to make themselves feel virtuous and to look good to the outside world. Some have only foggy ideas about what purpose is and conflate it with strategy and other concepts like “vision,” and “values.” Even well-intentioned scholars and practitioners don’t understand purpose’s full potential and engage half-heartedly and superficially with it. Outsiders spot this and become cynical about companies and the broader capitalist endeavor. Based on extensive field research, I will show how deep purpose companies energize their enterprise by inspiring employees and fostering greater loyalty and trust with customers and partners. Purpose is also a compass with which these firms navigate the inevitable tradeoffs across stakeholders more deliberately and effectively and balance their short- and long-term goals.  Ultimately, a deeper engagement with purpose holds the key not merely to the well-being of individual companies but also to humanity’s future. 

Live webinar is open to all.

Zoom Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87606213118?pwd=Qk1pOFN4UkNTMlZyTTFyMlF2ZTVndz09