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Blink 3 of 8 - The 5 AM Club
by Robin Sharma
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Purpose summary
Nikos Mourkogiannis
The Starting Point of Great Companies
4.4 (34 ratings)
18 mins
8 key ideas
Audio & text
What is Purpose about?
Purpose (2006) reveals just how important values are for strong leadership in the 21st century. These blinks explain the four different forms of purpose that will allow you and your business to thrive, from their ethical underpinnings to their successful use by today’s most influential leaders.
About the Author
Nikos Mourkogiannis is an internationally renowned thought leader and a senior partner at the elite consultancy Panthea, where he has provided expert advice to CEOs from around the world. Mourkogiannis has also held influential positions as the chairman of several world-class companies and was previously Executive Advisor for Leadership at global consultancy group Booz Allen Hamilton.
Table of Contents
Purpose
summarized in 8 key ideas
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Key idea 1 of 8
By developing a set of moral ideas to live and work by, you’ll ensure your company’s long-term success.
Why do some succeed in business, while others don’t? Sure, it has a lot to do with economic brilliance and charisma, but that’s not the whole story. A company’s purpose, the set of moral ideas that guide it, is crucial for lasting success.
Purpose is the moral backbone that we rely on to make decisions, whether it’s in everyday life or when the stakes are much higher. With purpose, we can discern between choices that are right and worthwhile, and those that are easy or technically correct.
Let’s put this into real terms. Do you want to serve your customer, or maximize your returns? This is a question Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton could answer without a second thought.
Driven by altruism and compassion, Walton was dedicated to serving his customers. His sense of purpose reverberated throughout the whole company. From senior managers to store staffers, everyone at Wal-Mart was ready to make customer service a top priority. This gave Wal-Mart an edge over its competitors, which it outperforms time and time again.
The reality is, without purpose, you’ll only make decisions with the short term in mind – strategy simply isn’t enough. Take Enron, a corporation whose collapse was one of America’s biggest corporate bankruptcies.
They had strategies, but lacked purpose. All they were interested in was making money, and were prepared to do anything to do so. This led to poor decision making, which involved dangerous strategies and concealing losses. Unsurprisingly, Enron’s actions caught up with them in the end, a testament to how dangerous a strategy without purpose can be.
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Best quote from Purpose
Innovation has become perhaps the most important source of competitive advantage in advanced economies. - Michael Porter
—Nikos Mourkogiannis
Who should read Purpose
- Any executive hoping to become a CEO
- Students looking to learn about leadership in the 21st century
- Established CEOs and leaders willing to rethink what successful leadership entails
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