{"id":338,"date":"2015-05-20T11:00:31","date_gmt":"2015-05-20T16:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beveragejunkie.com\/?p=338"},"modified":"2019-06-18T15:56:23","modified_gmt":"2019-06-18T20:56:23","slug":"the-proliferation-of-purpose","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thepurposeinstitute.com\/index.php\/the-proliferation-of-purpose\/","title":{"rendered":"The Proliferation of Purpose"},"content":{"rendered":"

We have extraordinary levels of freedom to choose how we will live and how we will contribute to the\u00a0flourishing of the system we all share. As my friend Raj Sisodia pointed out, we can be like the caterpillar\u2014choosing to consume everything\u00a0we see for our own gratification, paying no heed to any destruction left in our wake; or we can be like\u00a0the butterfly\u2014cross-pollinating, simultaneously nourishing ourselves and the entire eco-system in which\u00a0we live.\u00a0 Now even my 9-year old twins know, \u201ccaterpillars are kind of gross<\/em>,\u201d while butterflies \u201cwell,\u00a0they just make you happy\u2026how can you not like butterflies?<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

The\u00a0most extraordinary thing about butterflies is that they all started out as caterpillars. And one\u00a0can see the value, for a time, of caring for the self, growing in strength and stature in preparation for\u00a0something greater. But eventually that caterpillar must transform itself into an entirely new state of\u00a0being \u2013 not just physically but fundamentally. After turning to complete mush in the cocoon, it emerges\u00a0to begin life anew \u2013 not just for its own profit, but for a greater purpose\u2026to live in a way that\u00a0contributes to the beauty and health of the entire system.<\/p>\n

It was over a decade ago when we first began observing that the companies operating with a greater\u00a0purpose (beyond just making money for shareholders) were, in fact, creating systems where everyone\u00a0flourished: employee wellbeing was high, customers were delighted, communities welcomed them with\u00a0open-arms and shareholders profited handsomely. Kind of like a butterfly\u2014they just made people\u00a0happy.<\/p>\n

Back then caterpillars were everywhere and butterflies were talked about as if they lived alongside\u00a0unicorns in the land of make-believe. Leaders were skeptical that you could live like a butterfly and still\u00a0succeed\u2014surely, being overly concerned with the welfare of others would come at your own expense (so\u00a0thinks the caterpillar). But as conscious, purpose-driven companies like Southwest Airlines, Chipotle,\u00a0Whole Foods Market, John Deere, BMW, Google, Starbucks, and Timberland have grown and prospered,\u00a0the ascendance and proliferation of butterflies has been astounding.<\/p>\n

As I sit here in 2015 looking out at the landscape, I stand in awe at the explosion of purpose-driven\u00a0companies in the marketplace. Leaders are thinking deeply about how to use their organizations to\u00a0solve the big problems facing our world. They\u2019re thinking about cultivating values-based cultures where\u00a0people feel loved and supported and believe that what they do matters. They\u2019re looking at the\u00a0problems faced by their customers and rolling up their sleeves to create products and services that\u00a0address those needs in a positive and real way. They\u2019re working in true partnership with suppliers and\u00a0vendors to create mutually-beneficial relationships. They\u2019re thinking about how their operations\u00a0impact the planet and what they can do to contribute to a sustainable way of living. And\u2014like bees to\u00a0honey\u2014these companies are attracting the next generation of talent who are eager to invest their time\u00a0and energy in the service of companies they believe in, doing work that contributes to the greater good\u00a0of the system.<\/p>\n

To all the caterpillars that have made the choice to become butterflies, to those still in the messy,\u00a0mushy transformation process, and for those who are just now considering that there\u2019s more to life than\u00a0being a caterpillar\u2026I say thank you. It\u2019s been a joy to behold the transformation and it\u2019s a great honorto continue to be a part of this Purpose movement.<\/p>\n

Long live the butterfly!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We have extraordinary levels of freedom to choose how we will live and how we will contribute to the\u00a0flourishing of the system we all share. As my friend Raj Sisodia pointed out, we can be like the caterpillar\u2014choosing to consume everything\u00a0we see for our own gratification, paying no heed to any destruction left in our […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":339,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[28,25,20,29,27,10,23,24,30,22,31,21,26],"class_list":["post-338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-purpose","tag-bmw","tag-chipotle","tag-conscious-capitalism","tag-google","tag-john-deere","tag-purpose","tag-raj-sisodia","tag-southwest-airlines","tag-starbucks","tag-sustainability","tag-timberland","tag-value-based-cultures","tag-whole-foods-market"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepurposeinstitute.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepurposeinstitute.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepurposeinstitute.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepurposeinstitute.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepurposeinstitute.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=338"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thepurposeinstitute.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepurposeinstitute.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/339"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepurposeinstitute.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepurposeinstitute.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepurposeinstitute.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}