People with Purpose: How Great Leaders Use Purpose to Build Thriving Organizations

by Kevin Murray

This book is about how great leaders can make purpose the beating heart of their organization and use it to power performance. Leaders who communicate a defined mission, alongside clear and genuine values, allow their employees to feel a sense of purpose in their roles and embody their company's vision. This inspires engagement, loyalty and higher performance. People with Purpose brings together a wide range of compelling research into how having a clearly defined purpose as part of business strategy is a vital element in business success, longevity and inspired teams.

People with Purpose shows leaders how to create a valuable framework that integrates purpose, values and goals on a single page in order to articulate their organization's unique vision to employees and stakeholders. Kevin Murray interviews top CEOs who have used purpose to transform performance, motivate their people, develop organizational resilience and deliver results - often from the very edge of disaster. These leaders share how they have articulated their purpose, their values and their goals. People with Purpose also looks at the work of neuroscientists, brings together the evidence from around the world that proves purpose powers performance, and shows why purpose matters more in a digitally connected and transparent world. More than 30 case studies are explored from exclusive interviews with leaders from a range of organizations, including Odeon and UCI Cinemas, Healthcare at Home, Yodel, Moss Bros and Virgin Atlantic.

288 pages, Paperback

Published February 28, 2017

Reviews

[Darren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having a clearly defined purpose for a company's operations may seem obvious, yet it is something that many companies seem to be missing out on. A book like this, that promises to show how inspired and focussed leadership can transform a company's purpose into a powerful performance-boosting tool, may be required reading for many.

Linking many disciplines such as marketing, psychology, management and leadership together, this book can help refocus and direct future strategy. Backed up by research and real-world validation from case studies and interviews, the author helps create a framework to integrate a defined purpose, values and goal into a clearly understandable, actionable strategy. Of course, after this, a lot of the hard work remains to be done, albeit with greater focus.

For some readers, this book may be a bit too hard-going due to its "academic styling" and perceived focus, although one has seen a lot worse and the content is engaging. A little more accessibility may have been desirable, but it is far from being a show-stopper. The content is good and the price is unbeatable.

[Ian Durant · Rating 4 out of 5]

Topical in today's world where scrutiny of business and business leaders is as never before. Well written and engaging and insightful.

[Kathy Cowie · Rating 3 out of 5]

To be reviewed in the September-October issue of Global Business and Organizational Excellence.

[Toyin A · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is almost academic in its approach but Kevin is a great story teller and he uses this technique to ensure his readers don’t fall asleep and miss out on the great research he has undertaken.

The first few chapters kept me engaged as Kevin explains how important a sense of purpose is and how we can keep those we lead more engaged.

He emphasises that giving people a sense of purpose is a leader’s role. I was highlighting this book like crazy. There were too many nuggets to choose from.

Basically, the purpose of the book is to equip leaders with ways to give people what they need to help an organisation as a whole succeed.

Kevin provides brilliant seaways for the reader to keep reading…only pausing momentarily for the much needed cup of tea or coffee (or whiskey if you are so inclined).

At the end of each chapter, he emphasises key point for the reader to assimilate.

Rating: 5/5

Favourite Quote: “To be able to make those decisions, people need to know what they are trying to achieve. What is the real purpose of their labours? They also need to know, exactly, what values and beliefs should be applied to those decisions And finally, they need to know what the commercial goals are, what the picture of success is, in order to be able to make the right decisions.”

[Timur Oruç · Rating 5 out of 5]

Okuduğum en iyi yönetim kitaplarından biriydi. Bir çok vaka analizine dayalı örneklerle zenginleştirilmiş oldukça yalın kaleme alınmış bu kitabı tüm yönetim meraklısı arkadaşlara tavsiye ederim.