A CEO once told me: Purpose is a slide in our investor deck.
In return I asked: Is it also the slide your people live on Monday morning?
That short exchange illustrates a misunderstanding that still haunts boardrooms today. Purpose is often seen as a branding tool. It gets revealed at town halls, then quietly put away after the applause ends. Yet, in the organisations I support, purpose acts like gravity: it’s invisible, always there, and impactful. Remove it, and the system drifts. Anchor it, and the system aligns.
Sometimes it is said that purpose has become a buzzword. A beautiful one, but a buzzword nonetheless. And to some extent, I agree. Like all buzzwords, it risks being misunderstood, diluted, or dismissed. But here is what I see: when purpose is clear, connected, and consistent, it becomes a strategic multiplier.
Not a poster. Not a paragraph. A performance driver.
Today I want to challenge the idea that leading with purpose is a fashionable add-on. Purpose is the single most undervalued strategic advantage available to leaders. Especially at a time when talent, trust, and transformation feel in constant flux.
Purpose is not why we exist. It is how we decide.
Picture this: A leadership team of 12 executives was asked to write down their organisation’s purpose in silence, on sticky notes. They were in the same room. They all were from the same executive level. And worked at the same company.
Guess what? 12 Different answers. What followed was not an awkward pause, but a realisation: If we are not aligned here, how can our teams possibly be?
Leaders don’t need more dashboards. They need direction. Purpose acts as a compass. When teams embed it in how they work, decide, and prioritise, they remove friction and fuel clarity. It gives people something to belong to beyond a job description.
The most adaptive teams I work with share this in common:
- They know why they do what they do.
- They can explain how their work contributes.
- They use purpose to make trade-offs when the pressure is high.
In other words, purpose is not abstract. It is operational.
The cost of purpose as poster paint
I still meet leaders who believe that purpose is only about charity days or motivational slogans. They ask: Will purpose distract us from results? My answer never changes: Misaligned purpose already distracts you from results. You are simply not measuring the loss.
Signs like these appear in silence:
- Product teams second-guess decisions because they do not know the why.
- Employees admire the brand from an external perspective but struggle to connect with their role within the organisation.
- Change initiatives often begin well but slow down. This happens because people struggle to see how the change benefits anything beyond quarterly numbers.
When purpose is only for show, disengagement can slow down speed, quality, and innovation. Over time, this becomes a costly burden
Why do we still treat purpose as PR?
Because it feels intangible. Because it sounds fluffy. Because many leaders fear it is too human for business and too businesslike for humans.
But ignoring it comes at a cost:
- Disengagement
- Misaligned efforts
- Change resistance
- Initiative fatigue
All signs point to a deeper problem: people can’t connect their role to what truly matters. And when that gap exists, performance will always stall.
Purpose as operating logic
In high-performing organisations, purpose is not a pep-talk. It is the rulebook that guides trade-offs when the roadmap gets messy.
- When budgets tighten, purpose clarifies where to cut and where to double down.
- When markets shift, purpose shows which experiments honour the brand’s promise and which dilute it.
- When AI speeds up work, purpose reminds leaders that efficiency without meaning drains your team’s energy.
Purpose, then, is not soft sentiment. It is an operating logic. Leaders who understand this reality make quicker decisions, communicate more clearly, and unite people during tough times.
Treat purpose as infrastructure
So, we don’t simply write a purpose down, put it on a well, and walk away. We make sure to embed it in every phase of a change or transformation and deals from visioning to visual management. Its going to be part of your organisational infrastructure.
Here is what it looks like when purpose is properly aligned and integrated:
- Purpose becomes a filter. A strong purpose gives you a language for alignment. Should we prioritise this? Should we pivot? Should we stop? With a clear purpose, decisions become cleaner. Noise disappears.
- Purpose is co-owned, not just cascaded. You cannot impose meaning. That is why we involve people in shaping and translating the organisation’s purpose into something that makes sense for them. When purpose is co-created, it sticks.
- Purpose connects strategy to execution. Visual management tools, like Obeya walls and purpose-to-execution models, help keep purpose clear. They show not only values but also targets, priorities, and behaviour.
Twinxter 4-step approach: Turning imagination into purpose
Purpose is not a statement you memorise. It is more like a journey you shape. We guide leadership teams through our four practical steps. These steps move an idea from a hopeful vision to a shared, strategic reality.
- Imagine your future. Building on Yuval Harari’s idea that imagination is our greatest strength, we define your organisation’s core purpose. We connect this purpose to your company’s vision, mission, and strategy.
- Create your story. A picture sparks emotion, but a story travels further. Drafting the story exposes gaps and creates clarity. We align leaders, teams, and stakeholders with a shared purpose and clear priorities.
- Validate your story. Create a compelling narrative that activates employees and builds trust. The story evolves from leadership vision to a shared future. Ownership is boosted long before the first change initiative launches.
- Define your purpose. Now it is time to execute and deliver on your purpose, not just to define it. Connect your future story to the organisation’s roots. Mixing past strengths with future goals creates a purpose statement. This statement feels real and energising. It serves as a guide for priorities, investments, and behaviours.
By the end of these four steps, purpose is no longer abstract. It is visual, narrated, validated, and embedded in the organisation’s DNA. Ready to guide every strategic decision that follows.
Three leadership shifts to unlock strategic purpose
Purpose does not spread by itself. Once the foundation is laid, leaders must activate it through their daily choices, rituals, and rhythms. Here are three shifts every leader has to make to unlock the strategic power of purpose.
- Move from statement to mindset. A statement is rehearsed. A mindset is lived. Test yourself: Can a new hire look at your calendar and quickly see the company’s views on purpose? If not, you have work to do.
- Make purpose visible in governance. We integrate purpose into KPIs and Obeya walls. When the Monday dashboard lights up, people should instantly see how each metric maps to the mission. Visual clarity helps to overcome vagueness.
- Equip managers to connect. 70% of team engagement is shaped by the manager. If managers cannot connect day-to-day tasks to purpose, neither will their teams. Train managers to weave purpose into feedback, one-to-ones, and sprint reviews. For this, no one needs to give grand speeches.
Why purpose fatigue is a symptom of poor execution
Cynics may mutter that purpose is overused and overrated. I disagree. Employees do not grow tired of meaning. They grow tired of empty rhetoric. Purpose fatigue is more often execution fatigue in disguise. The cure is not abandoning purpose. It is operationalising it with precision.
From trend to advantage
I experienced that economies swing up and down, technologies leap ahead, and markets may surprise us. In times of volatility, one constant stands out: people perform best when they think their work is meaningful. Harness that truth, and you unleash an energy no incentive plan can buy.
If you are ready to translate purpose into a decisive advantage, then let’s talk. We help your organisation co-design adaptive ways of working where purpose leads, people thrive, and high-performing cultures stay future-fit. Reconnect with your purpose and redesign how they work around it.
Because purpose is not a poster. It is the heartbeat of strategy.
So, I leave you with the following question: Will purpose remain another slide in your deck, or will it be the slide your team lives by on Monday morning?
Choose wisely. Your strategic advantage depends on it..
If you found this article valuable, then please share it with your network.
I look forward to connecting with you and collaborate to shape a thriving future for all.
Have a great day!
Alize Hofmeester
It’s my purpose to create space where everyone is able to thrive.
Human-centric. Purpose-driven. Value-based
Are you ready to change the status quo? Let’s talk accelerating change.
