Lisa McLeod is the thought leader on Noble Purpose. She has hands-on experience working with companies that include Google, Apple, Kimberly-Clark, Pfizer, Roche, Hootsuite and many others. Her most recent book, Selling with Noble Purpose, landed her on The Today Show, NBC Nightly News and Good Morning America. It is about driving revenue doing work that makes you and all your employees proud.
Her next book, Leading with Noble Purpose, will be out in early 2016.. Lisa is a sought-after speaker, and a good personal friend. I am delighted to bring her to Washington, DC, to work with CEOs participating in my Grand Challenge Academy. Here is an excerpt from a recent conversation:
Relating Noble Purpose to Grand Challenge
Seth: What is the relationship between Noble Purpose and a Grand Challenge?
Lisa: A Noble Purpose is why an organization exists. A Grand Challenge is an initiative that will be driven by your Noble Purpose. Your Noble Purpose describes how you make a difference to your customers and constituents; how you do that differently than your competition; and on your best day, what do you love about your job? In other words, the emotional component. It does so in a very succinct statement.
A Grand Challenge would be a huge, mission-critical, purpose-driven initiative you launch that will help your association achieve its Noble Purpose. You might have a different Grand Challenge every year, but your Noble Purpose stays the same because it’s your lodestone, your north star.
You have to have clarity of Noble Purpose to fuel your Grand Challenge. If you have clarity of purpose, and your Grand Challenges are in service of your Noble Purpose, people will see you building momentum instead of lurching from one thing to the next.
Seth: I have been talking with associations about something I call the “Central Organizing Principle.” The World Bank’s is to alleviate poverty. The Council of Better Business Bureaus is to advance marketplace trust. The Columbia Lighthouse for the Blind’s is independence for the visually impaired. These are all Noble Purposes, aren’t they?
Lisa: To make them a Noble Purpose, I would put “We” in front of them. Everyone from the receptionist to the CEO needs to be really clear on how what he or she is doing contributes to that. Putting “we” in front of the statement makes it personal:
World Bank: We alleviate poverty.
Council of Better Business Bureaus: We advance marketplace trust.
Columbia Lighthouse for the Blind: We provide independence for the visually impaired.
To your point, a Noble Purpose is an organizing principle. Every decision has to be run through through that filter.
Click here to download and read the rest of our conversation.
