The Hindu Business Line : <I>Purpose is your moral DNA </I>

What is purpose? Is it the same as strategy? No, strategy should be shaped by the company's purpose, says the author. He explains: "Purpose is long-term. It's your moral DNA. It's what you believe without having to think. It's the answer you give when you're asked for the right — as opposed to the correct — answer."

Do leaders have to invent a purpose? No, they have to discover it, says Mourkogiannis. However, don't expect purpose to translate into immediate goals, he cautions. For, purpose gives coherence to actions, `not just at any given moment, but over time'.

Purpose can also spin off many advantages, such as reducing risk aversion and fear, and making employees feel `their work is worthwhile'. An example that the book cites is of Sam Walton who `turned serving the customer into a purpose for many of his associates at Wal-Mart.'

Managers who want a company built to last should build it on ideas that have lasted, insists the author. "Among these are offering great products, giving good service and focussing on the customer." The key to purpose is its broad applicability, impacting both the product and the people. "And purpose must be sincere. The wicked but clever need not apply."

Purpose is a reason for doing something, elaborates Mourkogiannis, in a chapter titled `what purpose is not'. Purpose is `a call to action, not a constraint,' he distinguishes. Purpose is not about `balancing the demands of stakeholders or constituencies'. Nor is it about following a code of ethics, because codes are `designed to restrain bad behaviour', not to inspire. Part I of the book devotes a chapter each to Henry Ford, Tom Watson, Siegmund Warburg, Walton, and Warren Buffett. And to those who aspire to be leaders, the author's advice is `to throw off traditional type-cast roles' such as `the wealthy entrepreneur or investor, the famous dealmaker, the tough chief-executive, even the charismatic leader.' Why so? Because `these roles have been commoditised — they can be bought and sold in the market place.' The real role is much bigger - fighting `the war of ideas'.