If you’re serious about corporate purpose, start hiring for it

Businesses can create a positive impact for both themselves and the world around them. That means backing up talk of purpose with finding the leaders who can carry it out.

Most boards and CEOs don’t need to be convinced about the value of corporate purpose. Companies that look beyond profits and seek to have a social impact grow faster than their competitors, inspire more loyalty in their consumers, and are more likely to attract and retain top talent.

The data is irrefutable. This is why having a strong environment, social and governance (ESG) strategy has become a top-ranked issue for organizations. The outdoor clothing and gear brand Patagonia made waves with their decision to, in the now famous words of founder Yvon Chouinard, “go purpose” (vs. “go public”). And Larry Fink, chairman and CEO of the investment management firm BlackRock, reaffirmed purpose as “critical to the long-term success” of corporations in his influential annual letter to shareholders.

Despite its potential, purpose is at a crossroads.

The correct turn sets up businesses to realize positive impact for themselves and the world around them. The wrong turn sets up purpose up to be a superficial performance.

The “purpose gap” is real. According to McKinsey, 82 per cent of employees say purpose is important, though only 42 per cent say their company’s purpose is having a significant impact. And research from Kantar shows that only 10 per cent of brands back up their purpose with a meaningful plan.

If organizations are serious about having tangible impact on the world, they can’t just wish purpose into existence. They need to be intentional about hiring for it and finding purposeful leaders.

Purposeful leaders are critical to the success of people, the planet and profits. Such leaders, in addition to driving strong business results, can navigate companies through their commitment to social responsibility, sustainability, diversity, equity and inclusion, and truth and reconciliation. This type of leadership requires different characteristics, skills and values and lived experience.

I have spent over 30 years as an executive search leader, helping organizations find their next board member, CEO or executive team member. As managing partner of Amrop Rosin, I see more and more clients looking for leaders who can help use business as a force for good.

We’re introducing a new model called Purposeful Leadership to help us seek out, evaluate and place leaders in roles where they can drive impact and long-term value creation – for businesses, the societies they serve and the environments they exist in. This model includes the practice of infusing diversity, equity and inclusion into every element of the business, so that companies create the conditions for purpose to realize its multiplying effect.

This includes pre-determined competencies and characteristics that are screened for at every stage of a search. No single assessment tool or survey can fully predict outcomes. But assessing for purposeful leadership needs to be a formal part of the hiring process if the corporate community is serious about closing the “purpose gap”.

If you are part of a committee on a board looking for your next CEO or leading the hire of a new executive, align on the importance of purpose in the leader’s mandate. Explicitly seek it out in a search. And design the role description and compensation incentives to match your ambition.

If you are a prospective CEO, C-suite member, or board director, prep hard to tell the story of your own individual purpose and commitment to social impact and sustainability, either in your job or through volunteer experience. Research your target employer’s purpose strategy and commitments, and think of ways you could contribute to their goals.

And if you are a search firm, partner with your clients to codify their desire for purpose in every stage of the hiring process, from job description to onboarding.

We are compelled by this moment in time, and we believe we have a responsibility to advance this conversation within the executive search industry. It won’t be easy. It will take hard work. But if we are serious about wanting to build more Patagonias, we need to get serious about finding more Yvon Chouinards.

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