In our last class, I loved hearing everyone’s different interpretations of purpose. They ranged from internal motivation and goals, to the ability to help the community, to the reason to “get up in the morning and put on my shoes” (thanks Josh), to using what you have to impact others, and everything in between.
Watching Simon Sinek’s TED Talk for about the fifth time (I went through a major TED Talk phase a couple years ago and ended up talking about the golden circle in one of my Business Communications presentations), I was reminded how important the “why” really is.
According to David Hagenbuch, Professor of Marketing at Messiah College and Founder of MindfulMarketing.org, there are five reasons why each business needs a set purpose.
- Purpose for yourself
- Purpose for employees
- Purpose for customers
- Purpose for your community
- Purpose for your (fill in the blank)
For the last one, that fill in the blank is meant to be any other reason for “wanting to fulfill a greater purpose”.
When searching for companies who have a strong sense of purpose translated through their marketing, Whole Foods keeps coming up. Personally, I like how Whole Foods is not only strong in expressing their motto “Whole Foods, Whole People, Whole Planet”, but I like how they make their purpose accessible. Whole Foods isn’t just for the extremely healthy or the extremely environmentally-conscious shopper; they make it clear that “whether you’re hungry for better, or simply food-curious, [they] offer a place for you to shop where value is inseparable from values.”
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I truly appreciated this last lecture as a reflection on what we learned, and am so excited to see how everyone in the class finds and expresses their purpose.
