It’s difficult to find an annual statement, company website, sustainability report, brand strategy or communications plan these days that doesn’t talk about ‘purpose’ in one way or another. On the one hand that’s great – it reflects a growing awareness and consciousness that the relationships we hold, the things we do, and what we create need to have meaning and a reason to exist. But ‘purpose’ as a term used in a corporate context is invariably misunderstood, misinterpreted and overused. We’d go as far as to say the concept is now contaminated – just witness the growing criticism of statements and claims put out by businesses as being ‘purpose-wash’.

This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t use the term; we should but do so honestly and authentically to describe the real reason an organisation, business or brand exists. As we called out in our ’10 Actions for Business in 2019’ we’ve called for ‘Purpose’ to be reset, to move away from being the latest corporate buzzword to something that fundamentally anchors an organisations values, relationships, products, services and operations in a common understanding of the role the organisation plays in society and the wider world beyond the need to make a profit.

This month we share a number of examples and ideas of how some businesses can – and are – doing just that, which will hopefully provide some inspiration and provocation.

Neil Davy
CEO, Corporate Citizenship