Chapter Five: Reframing Economics
27. See John Sculley, “John Sculley on Steve Jobs,” Bloomberg Businessweek, October 10, 2011.
28. In other words, we are not studying charitable foundations like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
29. This quotation was part of Walt Disney’s pitch to Wall Street while seeking funding to build Disneyland.
30. Richard J. Leider, The Power of Purpose (San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler, 1997).
31. See Kenneth E. Boulding, “Economics as a Moral Science,” American Economic Review 59, no. 1, 1969: 1–12.
32. See A. M. Grant and J. M. Berg, “Prosocial Motivation at Work: When, Why, and How Making a Difference Makes a Difference,” in The Oxford Handbook of Positive Organizational Scholarship, eds. K. S. Cameron and G. M. Spreitzer (New York: Oxford University Press, 2012), 28–44.
33. Walt Disney, quoted in Bob Thomas, Walt Disney: An American Original (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1976), 246–47.
34. See Benjamin E. Hermalin, “Toward an Economic Theory of Leadership: Leading by Example,” American Economic Review 88, no. 5 (December 1998): 1088–1120. This paper proposes that effective leadership involves a personal sacrifice for the common good.
35. K. S. Cameron, Practicing Positive Leadership (Oakland, CA: Berrett-Koehler, 2013), 11–13.
36. Cameron, Practicing Positive Leadership, 11–13.
37. Conor Shine, “Southwest’s Heavy Heart: How the LUV Airline Is Responding to the Worst Accident in Its History,” Dallas News, April 22, 2018.
38. Oege Dijk and Martin Holmen, “Charity, Incentives and Performance” (working paper, University of Gothenburg, November 2012). The authors refer to the donation of earnings to the Swedish Red Cross in their experiment not as pursuing higher purpose but rather as “charity.” However, the decision of participants to give to the Red Cross from earnings generates effects on agents (employees) that are similar to those of our economic theory of higher purpose.
39. Claudine Gartenberg, Andrea Prat, and George Serafeim, “Corporate Purpose and Financial Performance,” Organization Science 30 (1), January–February 2019, 1–18.
40. H. Dai and D. Zhang, “Prosocial Goal Pursuit Outweighs Herding in Crowdfunding: Evidence from Kickstarter.com,” Journal of Marketing Research (forthcoming), https://papers.ssrn.com/s013/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2954217.
41. Rui Abuquerque, Yjro Koskinen, and Chendi Zhang, “Corporate Social Responsibility and Firm Risk: Theory and Empirical Evidence,” Management Science (forthcoming).
Chapter Six: Why Isn’t Everyone Doing It?
42. See the discussion of this issue in Robert Kaplan, George Serafeim, and Eduardo Tugendhat, “Inclusive Growth: Profitable Strategies for Tackling Poverty and Inequality,” Harvard Business Review, January–February 2018, 128–33.
43. See Frank Newport, “Democrats More Positive About Socialism than Capitalism,” Gallup, August 13, 2018.
44. Indeed, the more people believe that companies are adopting higher purpose to bow to pressures from regulators or politicians, the less authentic those adoptions will appear and the less effective they will be in changing behavior.
45. Kaplan, Serafeim, and Tugendhat, “Inclusive Growth.”
46. Economists refer to these as “private benefit projects.” See, for example, Bengt Holmstrom and Jean Tirole, “Financial Intermediation, Loanable Funds, and the Real Sector,” Quarterly Journal of Economics 112–13 (August 1997), 663–91.
47. V. J. Strecher, Life on Purpose: How Living for What Matters Most Changes Everything (New York: Harper One, 2016).
Chapter Seven: STEP 1 Envision the Purpose-Driven Organization
48. This example is taken from R. E. Quinn and A. J. Thakor, “Creating a Purpose-Driven Organization: How to Get Employees to Bring Their Smarts and Their Energy to Work,” Harvard Business Review, July–August, 2018: 78–85.
Chapter Eight: STEP 2 Discover the Purpose
49. E. Easwaran, Timeless Wisdom: Passages for Meditation from the World’s Saints and Sages (Tomales, CA: Blue Mountain Center for Meditation, 2008), 20.
50. N. Craig, Leading from Purpose: Clarity and Confidence to Act When It Matters Most (New York: Hachette Books, 2018).
51. R. W. Quinn and R. E. Quinn, Lift: The Fundamental State of Leadership (Oakland, CA: Berrett-Koehler, 2015), chapters 3 and 4.
52. Craig, Leading from Purpose, chapter 15.
Chapter Nine: STEP 3 Meet the Need for Authenticity
53. Recall our discussion of pet projects in chapter 6. The manipulator does not maximize the value of the firm and sees the organization as a collection of manipulators rather than authentic leaders. Given this assumption, the manipulator behaves in a way that elicits behavior from others that validates his assumption about them!
Chapter Eleven: STEP 5 Stimulate Learning
54. A. M. Grant and J. M. Berg, “Prosocial Motivation at Work: When, Why, and How Making a Difference Makes a Difference,” in The Oxford Handbook of Positive Organizational Scholarship, eds. K. S. Cameron and G. M. Spreitzer (New York: Oxford University Press, 2012), 28–44.
55. C. Dweck, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success (New York: Ballantine, 2016).
56. J. K. Harter and N. Blacksmith, “Employee Engagement and the Psychology of Joining, Staying In, and Leaving Organizations,” in Oxford Handbook of Positive Psychology and Work (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010), 121–30.
57. Harter and Blacksmith, “Employee Engagement and the Psychology of Joining, Staying In, and Leaving Organizations.”
58. A. Weinzweig, A Lapsed Anarchist’s Approach to Building a Great Business (Ann Arbor, MI: Zingerman’s Press, 2010), 316–24.
Chapter Twelve: STEP 6 Turn Midlevel Managers into Purpose-Driven Leaders
59. A. J. Thakor and R. E. Quinn, “The Economics of Higher Purpose,” Harvard Business Review, July–August 2018.
Chapter Thirteen: STEP 7 Connect the People to the Purpose
60. N. Fernandez, “In the First Person—Ray Anderson, Chairman and CEO of Interface Inc.,” in Earth Care: An Anthology in Environmental Ethics, eds. D. Clowney and P. Mosto (New York: Bowman and Littlefield Publishers, 2009), 704.
61. A. J. Thakor and R. E. Quinn, “The Economics of Higher Purpose,” Harvard Business Review, July–August 2018.
62. K. S. Cameron, J. E. Dutton, and R. E. Quinn, Positive Organizational Scholarship: Foundations of a New Discipline (San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2003).
Chapter Fifteen: Taking Action: Answers to Frequently Asked Questions
63. R. W. Quinn and R. E. Quinn, Lift: How to Live in a Fundamental State of Leadership (Oakland, CA: Berrett-Koehler, 2015).
64. See Frank Newport, “Democrats More Favorable About Socialism Than Capitalism,” Gallup, August 13, 2018.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
In a workshop with executives discussing purpose in life and work, one of the participants shared a story. In his first career, he was a chef. An angry teenager was a dishwasher there. The chef told the teenager he was going to teach him how to make his secret ravioli recipe, and he had the teenager make the dish each day. One day, he told him that he was the only person on the planet who knew how to do what he was doing.
The chef’s teaching had an impact on the teenager, who began to grow. He went into the military and fought in two wars. Twenty-five years later, he found the chef on Facebook and thanked him for turning his life around.
The former chef said, “I continually search for ways to help people grow. This is why I work. Money is necessary to live, but this is my most important form of pay. It is my reason to live.”
The room grew silent. Another participant spoke up: “Thank you for sharing that story; it really matters to me.”
We want this book to help people grow. We want to have the message really matter to you.
In order to write this book, we invited people to help us grow, and we live in gratitude to them. We are thankful for our immediate colleag
ues who have shaped our thinking, including Horst Abraham, Sue Ashford, Wayne Baker, Kim Cameron, Jeff DeGraff, Jane Dutton, Shirli Kopelman, Dave Mayer, Ryan Quinn, Shawn Quinn, Nina Ramsey, Gretchen Spreitzer, Vic Strecher, Jim Walsh, and Amy Young.
We are deeply indebted to the many extraordinary people who shared their stories, including Gerry Anderson, Deborah Ball, Amy Byron-Oiler, Nick Craig, Jimmy Dunne, Eric Greitens, Kathryn Haessler, Jim Haudan, Ricardo Levy, Richard (Dick) Mahoney, Tony Meola, Roger Newton, Shawn Patterson, Bruce Pfau, Shauri Quinn Dewey, Amy Schwartz, Gina Valenti, John Veihmeyer, Jim Weddle, Ari Weinzweig, and Alberto Weisser.
Finally, we are grateful to the wonderful staff at Berrett-Koehler Publishers, especially Steve Piersanti and Jeevan Sivasubramaniam. Berrett-Koehler is an organization of higher purpose, and we always grow when we work with them.
INDEX
Abraham, Horst, 85–86, 88
Anderson, Gerry, 114–116, 121
Anderson, Ray, 156–158
Attentional gravity, 127–128
Attribution bias, 32
Authentic communication, 119–121
purpose and, 114–116
Authenticity, 13, 14, 111. See also specific topics
constancy and, 11, 62, 124, 128, 129
conventional assumptions about, 111–112, 124–125
definition and nature of, 13
dimensions of, 112
meeting the need for, 9
Ricardo Levy and, 47
Ball, Deborah, 100–101
Being state, changing and controlling one’s, 21
Belief. See also True believers lack of, 7
Bible, 49–50
“Bilingual leaders,” ix, xii
Bottom-up effort, need for, 162
Bottom-up leadership, xiii
Bottom-up process of change, 132, 160
Boulding, Kenneth, 54
Business purpose, 3. See also specific topics
higher purpose and, 3, 75, 191
Business strategy, intersection of higher purpose and, 25
Byron-Oilar, Amy, 165–167
Capitalism, 191. See also Free-market capitalism
higher purpose, socialism, and, 192–193
Carana Corporation, 71–72
Chapman, Robert, 31
Chief executive officers (CEOs). See also Executives
principal–agent model and, 109, 123, 138, 154
purpose-driven, 15–16
reasons they do not pursue higher purpose, 7
Chief financial officers (CFOs), 113–114
Childhood, examining one’s magical moments in, 103
Childhood stories, 106
Coldren, Jay, 4
Collaboration, xii, xiii, 35–37, 47, 79–81, 113
diversity and, 196
higher purpose and, 158, 190, 191
Zingerman’s and, 140, 142
Collaborative culture, 32, 118
Collaborative relationships, 95
Collective good. See also under Self-interest
serving the, 187
Collective identity, 50
Collective intelligence, x, xii
Collective interest. See under Self-interest
Collective learning, 96
Collective purpose. See also Organizational purpose
personal purpose and, 104, 172–175
Communication. See also Authentic communication; Constantly communicating purpose
how to communicate a higher purpose, 195
Community, the covenant and, 49–51
Company culture. See Culture
Confrontation, constructive, 96
Constancy, 128
authenticity and, 11, 62, 124, 128, 129
principle of, 151
of purpose, 9, 124, 128, 130–131. See also Constantly communicating purpose
Constant arbiter of all decisions, 9, 130–132. See also Decisions
Constantly communicating purpose, 9, 123–124, 126, 129–132. See also Constancy: of purpose
Contribution, from transaction to, 6
Contributive goals. See Prosocial goals
Convention and inclusion, 135–136
Conventional, meanings of the term, 30
Conventional assumptions, 111–112, 124–125
Conventional culture, 114, 116, 146
assumptions central to. See Conventional assumptions
and purpose work, 146–148
results and, 135–136
Conventional mind-set, 29–36, 86
defined, 85–86
vs. higher purpose, 31, 37, 197, 201
leaders and, 29–31, 33, 34, 86, 194. See also Weisser, Alberto
vs. positive, inclusive mind-set, 35, 36, 160
self-interest and, 30–33, 40, 54, 99
transcending, 33, 37, 86, 194
Conventional organizations, 145–146
Conventional reality, seeing, 31–33
Conventional work, 99–100
Conversations, good vs. great, 88–89
Corporate culture. See Culture
Corporate social responsibility (CSR), 67, 70
Corporate speak, “shrink-wrapping,” 158–162
Covenant(s), 52, 60, 63
community and, 49–51
crises and, 76
higher purpose and, 51, 52, 56, 62
inclusive mind-set and, 50
of leadership, 48–51, 62, 63, 76
nature of, 50, 62
Rabbi Sacks on, 50–51, 76, 148
Ricardo Levi and, 48, 49, 51, 76, 148
social contracts and, 50, 51, 56
United States and, 50, 51
Craig, Nick, 101–109, 129, 151
Creative effort, 95
Creditors, 7
Crisis
effect of a, 75–76, 86
financial crisis and “financial miracle,” 113
higher purpose and, 76–78, 188
Cultural disconnect, 7
Cultural expectations, 81
dealing with, 81–82
Cultural self-efficacy, 34–35
Culture, 30. See also Conventional culture; Empowering culture; Inspiration; Purpose-driven culture; Self-interest; specific topics
CEOs and, 32
changing/creating, 9, 16–17, 24, 31, 35–36, 83, 84, 113, 131, 138, 142, 143, 149, 153, 154, 157, 163, 165, 167, 171, 175, 179, 182, 195, 198, 200–201. See also Top-down companies
coming from the top. See Top-down companies; Top-down process
David Perkins and, 125, 128, 135
higher purpose and, 147–148
influence on efforts to find and pursue higher purpose, 198
Decisions, (higher) purpose as arbiter of all, 9, 128–132
Development Bank of Singapore, 105–107, 128
Dewey, Shauri Quinn, 17–22
empowerment and, 18, 20, 21
finding her higher purpose, 17–23, 51, 164
imagining the unimaginable, 27–28
leadership, 22, 23, 164
life statement and covenant with herself, 19, 51
Disney, Walt, 58, 61
Disneyland, 53, 58
Doubt, personal, 7, 78–79
dealing with, 79–80
Downsizing, 46–48, 75–76
principal–agent model and, 47–48
Ricardo Levy and, 46–48, 75–76
Drucker, Peter, 62, 148
DTE Energy, 114, 176–179
positive energizers at, 175–176
Dunne, Jimmy, 116–121
Dweck, Carol, 137–138
Easwaran, Eknath, 97
Economic case for higher purpose, 69–72
Economic mind-set, conventional, 29–31
assumptions underlying, 29–30
Economic performance, higher purpose and, 25–26
Economic success, what happens to higher purpose after it brings, 200
Economic theory, assumptions underlying, 59–60
Economic theory of higher purpose, 59–64
Economics
of failure to adopt an authentic higher purpose, 72–75
an inclusive, 37
nature of, 3
organizational purpose and, 3
probability of a new, 51–52
self-interest and, 5, 59, 192
what is wrong with conventional, 192
Economics of higher purpose, 14, 191–194
economics of higher purpose at work in practice (case study), 64–65
empirical evidence on, 65–67
importance of, 191
nature of, 191
Ecosystems, 66, 71
regional, 70–71, 75
Effort aversion, 5, 11, 38, 41, 42, 44, 64, 138
Ego-driven persons, 34, 119
Either/or vs. both/and thinking, 36
Emotions, negative, 18–21
Empathy, 31, 99, 100
Empowering culture, 147–148
Empowerment, 174, 178
Shauri Quinn Dewey and, 18, 20, 21
Engagement, full, 95
Enterprise development, 182–185
Ethical conflict, 79. See also Morality
dealing with, 79–80
Excellence, 87, 91, 92, 198, 199
characteristics of, 90–91
creating, 91–92, 199
an emergent vision of one’s theory of, 90–91
purpose and, 87
Executives, 145–146. See also Chief executive officers
assumptions made by, 159–161
Expert, the need to be an, 33, 34
Expert role, letting go of the, 86
Failures aligned with higher purpose, 199–200
Fear, 163. See also Risk
of failure, 179
The Economics of Higher Purpose Page 21