How to drive your business with purpose? Check out these 3 books

When you know your 'why', the how, when, and other questions are easily answered. In the entrepreneurial landscape, it thus becomes crucial to spot the driving reason, the key purpose. Purpose fuels passion which then easily drives motivation. A business driven by a clarity of purpose or that which has resolved what exactly it is out there to achieve or serve beyond just a profit target often creates more value for itself and its stakeholders. These titles explore the subject closely. 

 

Find Your Why By Simon Senek, David Mead and Peter Docker 

This book is a follow-up read for those who have already read - Start With Why. Start With Why, has already discussed the reason one needs to figure out the ‘why’ of a business. This book is a handy companion to help decipher the ‘why’ or ‘whys’ the reader may be trying to sieve through.  

Find Your Why is especially helpful for those who are caught in the mindless wheel of activities without direction. The exercises have been designed to help the reader unravel the guiding purpose of their business or project.  

Eventually, the effect of finding purpose in work trickles over to every other aspect as well but it all starts with finding the - ‘why’.  

The reward for taking the journey with the book is ample clarity that one can draw out the chaos of overwhelm and pivot work, life, and business in the direction of fulfillment. Pick it up, and work with it but first read Start With Why.  

 

Deep Purpose By Ranjay Gulati

Harvard Business School professor Ranjay Gulati zeroes down on the significance of purpose in running a company. Gulati’s argument is poised to move the argument around finding purpose beyond lip service. 

He also points out the need for dissociation of purpose from terminologies like mission or vision and so on. Gulati harps that purpose drives growth and a company that sets out to align with a higher purpose must cultivate the same in each stakeholder. Alignment says Gulati has to percolate every activity; start from strategy and thereafter drive all functions. 

The author examines 18 purpose-driven companies that have been able to generate short-term and long-term values without compromising on their commercial aspects. Gulati shows how deep engagement with the purpose of a business actually is tied to the fate of humanity and the future of humanity and the value it creates. 

Deep Purpose asks a few important questions that leaders of multiple companies face this day: weighing financial performance against social impact; talking and communicating purpose, establishment of a strong culture, and developing individualist and inclusive workplaces.  

Gulati concludes that when a company aligns its action with purpose, employee engagement becomes a direct result and leaders shift from being operators to inspirers. 

This book is for everyone starting a new business or in the middle of transforming one.

 

The Magic Of Tiny Business By Sharon Rowe

Counter-intuitive to the popular theme of scale Sharon Rowe’s book ongoing ‘tiny’ comes as a surprise. It is possible to build a sharply focused purpose-driven business by going small. Just as a tiny house can accommodate only so much stuff, a tiny business to has to retain what resonates with its highest value and weed out the rest.  

A noisy, busy life packed with activity and sundry distractions easily keeps many separated from their purpose and many continue to endure a drudgery that only pays but does little else. Rowe’s book is a big help for those who are in the midst of waking out of this and rising to purpose.  

A purpose-driven life and business doesn’t have to reside in the realms of fantasy but can be actualised and going tiny is the way to achieve that, she says. Rowe is the founder of Eco Bags Products. A tiny business has to maintain a laser focus on essentials and has some practical tips on testing your concept, managing money, an eye-opener, performance, and priorities all aligned with the ‘tiny’ ethos of the business.  

The logic of ‘tiny’ is the creation of possibility. It shines a torch on the fact that a dream squeezed to align with a core purpose could not only lead to freedom but perhaps also fulfillment. If you have been toying with the idea of building something of your own, this book could help you grow your wings.