Publications

25 May 2020
News

Meaning and Purpose in Life and Work

January 1994 (Revised May 1996)
Background Note

Leading for Integrity: Corporate Purpose and Responsibility

By: Lynn S. Paine

Outlines several differing conceptions of corporate purpose and responsibility that emerged in the 1970s and 1980s. View Details

Keywords: Management; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Performance Evaluation; Corporate Strategy

July 2024
Case

Living Up to Purpose and Performance at Parker Hannifin

By: Hubert Joly, Alicia Dadlani and Martha Hostetter

In 2019, Parker Hannifin, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of motion and control technologies, did something unusual for an industrial company: it created a purpose statement. Even though it already had a clear business strategy and longstanding culture of... View Details

Keywords: Mission and Purpose; Manufacturing Industry; Industrial Products Industry; Cleveland; Ohio; United States

17 Oct 2011
Research & Ideas

How ‘Hybrid’ Nonprofits Can Stay on Mission

populations they were trying to help” In the wake of this evolution over the past decade, more organizations have adopted a hybrid business model in which a social mission is the primary goal, but they still aim to generate enough... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

February 2022 (Revised January 2023)
Case

Creating and Measuring Purpose at Viega

By: Ethan Rouen, Suraj Srinivasan and James Barnett

At its headquarters in Attendorn, Germany, Viega’s chairwoman Anna Viegener gathered the company’s leadership team to discuss their progress on formalizing purpose-driven leadership as a strategic driver within the organization. Viega manufactured and distributed... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development; Employee Relationship Management; Leadership; Mission and Purpose; Expansion; Measurement and Metrics; Germany

Deep Purpose argues that a revolutionary approach to business does exist, one that delivers game-changing results for both companies and society alike: the serious and deep pursuit of purpose. In this practical book, Gulati... View Details

Web

Our Mission | About

virtually none of these problems can be addressed without business leaders playing a vital role. And, of course, the first component of the mission is educating, which we do in many ways—through our educational programs, through the ideas... View Details

25 Aug 2022
News

On Purpose

“having a purpose can give you clarity and help guide your choices.” It’s a useful tool, he says, in finding a position that will ring true to your stakeholders. View Details

Keywords: Jen McFarland Flint; Performing Arts, Spectator Sports, and Related Industries; Performing Arts, Spectator Sports, and Related Industries

2017
Chapter

Corporate Moral Agency, Positive Duties, and Purpose

By: Nien-hê Hsieh

A long-standing question in business ethics is whether business enterprises are themselves moral agents with distinct moral responsibilities. To date, the debate about corporate moral agency has focused on responsibility for past wrongdoing that involves violating... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Moral Sensibility; Mission and Purpose

Find at Harvard

22 Mar 2022
Cold Call Podcast

How Etsy Found Its Purpose and Crafted a Turnaround

Keywords: Re: Ranjay Gulati; Technology; Retail

23 Aug 2019
Sharpening Your Skills

Has the Corporate Mission Just Been Disrupted?

has been discussed for decades. Here is research and writing from Harvard Business School that discusses both the concept in theory and examples of CSR in practice. A Good Place to Start Statement on the... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Green Technology

March 2021 (Revised August 2023)
Case

Helen Keller: Changing the World

By: Robert Simons and Shirley Sun

This case describes the rise of Helen Keller who at 19 months became deaf and blind. Refusing to be sidelined from life, Keller showed great determination in learning how to communicate with others, employing tutors and travelling to Boston to enroll in the Perkins... View Details

Keywords: Mission And Purpose; Values And Beliefs; Success; Diversity; Leading Change; Personal Development and Career; Personal Characteristics; Power and Influence

May 2019
Teaching Note

Elon Musk: Balancing Purpose and Risk

By: Shikhar Ghosh and Shweta Bagai

Teaching Note for HBS No. 817-040. View Details

October 2016
Case

Elon Musk: Balancing Purpose and Risk

By: Shikhar Ghosh and Sarah Mehta

The case is used to illustrate the place of ‘Purpose’ versus financial risk and returns in a founder’s objectives. It also addresses personal risk profile of different founders, and when paired with the Risk Tolerance Exercise, it enables evaluating one’s own appetite... View Details

Keywords: Electric Vehicle; Solar Power; Vision; Trade-offs; Leadership; Mission and Purpose; Risk and Uncertainty; Entrepreneurship; Failure; United States; North America

15 Nov 2019
News

Purposeful Leadership

May 1992 (Revised May 1993)
Case

World Bank: Mission Uncertain

By: George C. Lodge

Keywords: Banks and Banking; Mission and Purpose; Business and Government Relations

Find at Harvard

January 2014
Supplement

Dana Hall: Funding a Mission (D)

By: F. Warren McFarlan and Kaitlyn Szydlowski

This case is a sequel to Dana Hall: Funding a Mission (A), (B) and (C) cases. It focuses on the causes of recent fund-raising success and the complex resource allocation problems the School faces as it tries to deliver on its mission. In conjunction with the (A), (B) &... View Details

Keywords: Philanthropy; Mission and Purpose; Social Enterprise; Finance; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving

April 2005
Case

FBI: Mission Extended

Following the bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993, there was consensus that the FBI needed to make organizational changes. The FBI had long distinguished itself as the world's pre-eminent organization for conducting after-the-fact investigations that laid the... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Law Enforcement; United States

August 2020
Teaching Note

Sesame Workshop (C): Mission Critical Responses to Global and National Crises

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Joyce J. Kim

Teaching Note for Case No. 321-016. Beginning in March 2020, Sesame Workshop navigated a global pandemic, which caused unemployment, businesses shutdowns, school closures, and remote work environments along with a racial justice crisis, with a renewed mission that led... View Details

Keywords: Pandemic; Children; Health Pandemics; Social Issues; Crisis Management; Mission and Purpose; Education; Leadership; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Media and Broadcasting Industry