A better question for "What is your purpose?"

In his book Heart of Business, Hubert Joly, former CEO of Best Buy, states that "purpose and human connections constitute the very heart of business." He makes the case that it is important for companies to connect their employees with the company purpose.

In this post, I'd like to share a learning from the book about purpose in the role of organization management.

One of the fundamental principles in the book is to have the leadership team understand the story and identity of each other and see how it connects with the organization's purpose.

What is your purpose? Joly did not pose this question to employees. Instead he asks a far more approachable and accessible question: what drives you?

In the book, we learn that leaders and managers reflect on this question at leadership gatherings. For some, it's about spending more time with their family. For others, it's about helping employees and customers fulfill their dreams.

There is a key observation here in the context of management. The question of "what drives you?" shows us a key role of purpose in an organization. For employees, purpose is the source of motivation. The drive. It's why we get up in the morning to go to work.

For organizations seeking to connect their people with its purpose, the key is to identify and understand what drives them and seeing how it links with organization purpose.