Purpose: The Starting Point of Great Companies

Leadership consultant Mourkogiannis calls upon CEOs to invest their companies with high-minded ideas rather than strictly bottom-line concerns by discovering their ""Purpose."" But the definition of Purpose remains vague throughout this rhapsodical account-it's a kind of ""moral DNA"" that affects-but should not be mistaken for-corporate mission, vision, values and identity. Centered on case studies of five entrepreneurs-Henry Ford, Tom Watson, Sam Walton, Siegmund Warburg, and Warren Buffett-who ""were driven by Purpose to innovate in a radical way,"" the volume makes philosophical rather than concrete links between Purpose and morale, innovation, competitive strategy and branding. The connection between Purpose and success, for example, is hardly buttressed by Mourkogiannis's examples. He laments, for instance, that Wal-Mart has gone astray since Walton's death-and yet the company remains hugely profitable. The author urges CEOs to aim for ""the satisfaction that comes from yoking good corporate citizenship and high purpose to produce record profits and a noble place in the eyes of the world,"" but his pie-in-the-sky, Nietzschean principles may provoke less action than soul-searching. With a foreword by Roger Fisher, author of Getting to Yes.