Doing things on purpose 

Define your purpose and you will know where you are going. A business’ contribution to the world is bigger than just making goods, services and profit. Stephen Butler, Director of Stakeholder Engagement, Luminous, explains.

In his latest annual letter to the world’s top CEOs, Larry Fink, Chairman of BlackRock, one of the world’s largest investment management groups, strongly promotes the importance of purpose, saying that it is “a company’s fundamental reason for being” and calling it the “animating force” for achieving profits.

Fink’s letter follows a significant year for purpose, with the new UK Corporate Governance Code stating that a “board should establish the company’s purpose, values and strategy, and satisfy itself that these and its culture are aligned.” The updated guidance for an annual report’s strategic report reinforces the importance of purpose and its place within the annual report, saying that, “an entity’s purpose, strategy, objectives and business model are inter-related concepts”.

But an unintended consequence of regulatory change may be an increase in ‘purpose washing’, the pursuit of purpose as a marketing strategy, rather than a business imperative. 

At Luminous, we have worked with businesses large and small to help them unearth their purpose and discover its links to operating more sustainably. Our approach starts with a simple, yet powerful question:

What role can you play in developing a sustainable world?

We help corporates answer that question to derive an authentic, credible and future-facing purpose, across the nexus of:

• global megatrends; 

• cultural context and business reality; 

• brand and values; and 

• sustainability strengths, issues and impacts. 

We help to deliver a purpose programme that supports vision and values; shapes the business strategy and delivery of the business model; and makes sustainability commitments relevant to, and differentiating for, all stakeholders.

We believe that by getting purpose right, and incorporating the most impactful sustainability issues, businesses are better placed to meet the demands and challenges of an uncertain future, along with benefiting from increasing customer loyalty, enhanced brand and reputation, and being able to innovate more effectively. In short, if you create a strong corporate purpose underpinned by sustainability goals and targets, and hire staff who believe in your proposition, the benefits of implementing purpose – and sustainability-driven measures – far outweigh
any costs.

How can Luminous help you with your purpose?

We use a four-stage approach:

Investigate – we undertake a review of your brand and culture, your sustainability universe and your business strategy to understand the status quo. 

Analysis – we consolidate findings into an insight presentation and create purpose territories. 

Collaborate – we run workshops with key stakeholders to define the purpose and how it will be measured. 

Deliver – we design an engagement programme to activate purpose and drive business transformation.