Praveen Sinha
The magic of ‘Purpose’ Purpose prompts organizations to think ‘why do they exist'? This question may seem simple, however, finding a durable answer needs a huge amount of soul searching and also societal confirmation for it to sustain meaningfully
S Business Strategy
ome thirty-five years ago, a series of deadly explosions destroyed Chernobyl’s reactor No. 4. It was reported that several hundred employees and firefighters tackled the blaze which burned for about ten days and emitted radiation around the world. More than 50 emergency workers and people engaged in nuclear reactor lost their life in the immediate aftermath. However, the traumatic experience did not end here. Currently, many re-settlers are unemployed and it is believed that they have little control over their own lives.
Further, as a result of resettlement and voluntary migration from the affected areas, a large proportion of skilled and entrepreneurial people left the region which has hampered disproportionately the chances for economic recovery. The Chernobyl disaster clearly sent a strong and clear message to the world that businesses must integrate the interests of their current and future stakeholders —and there will be a place only for “purpose” driven organizations. The conscious citizens of the world are making two observations: • Who is making the shift to a stage enabled by a company’s purpose? • Who is integrating meaningfully the new driving force (purpose) for engagement of stakeholders to continuously transform, innovate and grow? It means, today “purpose” — more commonly, “values” and “meaning”, are being considered as a strategic resource and a must for organizational agility. It is said that “purpose” becomes a North Star, a guiding force in a good or
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| APRIL 2021
