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    You are here Home » culture

    The Three Main Organizational Drivers

    Last updated on Oct 1, 2020 by Dan McCarthy · This post may contain affiliate links

    Guest post from S. Chris Edmonds:

    Is your company primarily power-, profit-, or
    purpose-driven?

    Approaching a meeting with the CEO of his
    organization, one of my culture clients (a senior executive of a major
    retailer) said, “I’m going to ask him whether he thinks we are a power-driven
    company, a profit-driven company, or a purpose-driven company.” I’d not heard
    about those differentiators, so I asked him to define them for me.

    Organizations are not exclusively driven by a
    single one of these approaches,  but
    their primary drivers are not that difficult to diagnose. An organization’s
    plans, decisions, and actions provide very clear indicators of their core
    interests and drivers.

    Power Driven:

    A company that is primarily power-driven

    ●    
    seeks to be a standard-setter, a
    “big player” in their industry that others must work with to gain a foothold in
    their marketplace.

    ●    
    seeks to make profits, but their
    primary actions are designed to increase their influence, their market share,
    their breadth.

    ●    
     exhibits behavior that can be seen as
    self-serving and arrogant.

    Based on these criteria, I see Microsoft as
    primarily a power-driven company. (Full disclosure: I’m running Microsoft 365
    on my Macs & iPad. I’m as culpable as any other Microsoft product user for
    helping them extend their power.)

    Profit-Driven:

    A primarily profit-driven company:

    ●    
    seeks to create organizational
    wealth, first and foremost.

    ●    
    analyzes potential products,
    services, and markets carefully to identify the most profitable avenues, then
    pursues those avenues for as long as the profits meet expectations.

    ●    
    exhibits behavior that can be seen
    as self-serving and manipulative.

    ●    
    are known to take advantage of
    existing rules and/or laws to create profits.

    Based on these criteria, I see pharmaceutical
    companies as primarily profit-driven. (Full disclosure: I’m a big believer in
    Western medicine. I take prescription medications daily to keep my heart
    healthy and my knees working smoothly.)

    Purpose-driven

    A primarily purpose-driven company:

    ●    
    seeks to engage employees and
    customers in helping the organization’s service vision to become a reality.

    ●    
    often promote social
    responsibility and demonstrate service to their communities regularly.

    ●    
    employees typically are very vocal
    about their organization’s purpose and community benefit.



    Certainly, purpose-driven companies must be
    profitable to continue their good works; profits serve a purpose, rather than
    being the primary desired outcome.

    A few years ago, socialbrite.org celebrated
    four terrific examples of corporate social responsibility. Based on these
    criteria, I believe that Newman’s Own, the late Paul Newman’s charitable
    organization, is a purpose-driven company (they’ve given over $300 million to
    charitable causes since 1982). (Full disclosure: I LOVE Newman’s Own products,
    particularly their black bean & corn salsa. Amazing quality & taste,
    and I’m helping community organizations every time I inhale a jar of it.)

    The Rest of the Story

    I connected with this client after his CEO
    meeting, and he said the conversation was a rich one. “He thinks we’re a
    profit-driven company that wants to be a purpose-driven company,” he related.
    “I like that – it means we’re not ‘done,’ that we can evolve to the kind of
    purpose-driven company I think we can be.”

    I’m optimistic, as well. Creating a
    purpose-driven company is more art than science, pulling together key pieces
    that make a cohesive, vibrant whole. This client has the heart, skills, and
    commitment to help his organization evolve.

    S. Chris Edmonds is a sought-after speaker, author, and executive consultant. After a 15-year career leading successful teams, Chris founded his consulting company, The Purposeful Culture Group, in 1990. Chris has also served as a senior consultant with The Ken Blanchard Companies since 1995. He is the author or co-author of seven books, including Amazon best sellers The Culture Engine and Leading at a Higher Level with Ken Blanchard. Learn from his blog posts, podcasts, assessments, research, and videos at http://drivingresultsthroughculture.com. Get free resources plus weekly updates from Chris by subscribing here. 

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