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The Purpose Puzzle: Aligning Your Strengths, Passions, and Values
- Barnabas Willis
- Feb 27, 2025
- 5 min read
When Intuit's co-founder Scott Cook decided that the company's driving purpose would be to "improve people's financial lives so profoundly they couldn't imagine going back," it wasn't just an aspirational statement – it was the foundation for systematic alignment that would drive their growth from $4.2 billion in 2015 to $14.4 billion in 2023 (Intuit Annual Reports, 2015-2023). Their "Design for Delight" methodology systematically connects this purpose to product development, showing how purpose can become a performance multiplier when properly integrated into operational systems.
Yet most organizations face a stark reality: despite investing heavily in purpose initiatives, only 28% consistently make decisions aligned with their stated values (Deloitte Global Human Capital Trends, 2023). This gap isn't just about commitment – it reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of how purpose actually works in growing organizations.
The Purpose-Performance Paradox
Most organizations approach purpose like a destination rather than a system. They craft inspiring mission statements, conduct values workshops, and create culture decks – yet still struggle to maintain alignment as they grow. The problem runs deeper than execution. Organizations typically invest significant resources in articulating their values, but far less in building the operational systems needed to express those values in daily decisions and actions. This creates a systematic gap between stated principles and operational reality, where practices increasingly diverge from values under the pressures of growth.
This challenge becomes particularly acute during growth phases, manifesting in three critical ways:
The Integration Gap: Values and operations become increasingly disconnected as organizations scale, creating a drift between stated purpose and actual practice. Teams find themselves making decisions that slowly erode their foundational principles, often in the name of efficiency or expediency.
The Execution Trap: Teams focus on either purpose or performance, treating them as competing rather than complementary forces. This false dichotomy creates organizational schisms where different departments optimize for different priorities.
The Scale Dilemma: Growth pressures create constant tension between efficiency and values, leading to incremental compromise. Each small trade-off seems reasonable in isolation, but collectively they create significant missional drift.
The System Behind Purpose
The breakthrough comes from understanding that purpose isn't a singular thing to maintain – it's a system to build. This insight transforms how leading organizations approach the purpose puzzle, shifting focus from preservation to amplification.
Consider the University of Notre Dame's journey in higher education. While many universities have struggled to maintain their religious identity while pursuing academic excellence, Notre Dame has systematically strengthened both. They've risen to a consistent top-20 position in national rankings (#18 in US News & World Report 2023) while systematically deepening their Catholic mission. Their research funding has grown from $180 million to $244 million over the past five years (National Science Foundation Higher Education Research data) while simultaneously expanding their Catholic mission integration. This dual achievement is no accident – it's the result of deliberately designed systems.
Notre Dame's approach includes the establishment of their distinctive Mission
Engagement and Church Affairs division, which creates structural accountability for mission integration across academic departments. Their $75 million investment in Catholic research initiatives (2022 Annual Report) demonstrates how they've systematically aligned resource allocation with their foundational values. Perhaps most telling is their 97% graduation rate (National Center for Education Statistics) – significantly above peer institutions – showing how mission alignment creates measurable performance advantages.
United Way Worldwide provides another compelling example, scaling to $4.8 billion in annual revenue (2022 Financial Statements) while strengthening their community impact model. They've systematically integrated their mission into their operational framework through their worldwide network of local chapters, as documented in their annual impact reports and financial statements. Their measured outcomes-based approach has allowed them to both scale their impact and deepen their community connections, with transparent metrics tracking both financial and social returns.
Intuit demonstrates these principles in the corporate sector, with their "We Care and Give Back" program providing a documented 4-hour weekly paid volunteer commitment for all employees (Intuit Corporate Governance Documents, 2023). This isn't simply good corporate citizenship – it's systematic purpose integration that translates into performance advantages, as evidenced by their 37% higher stock performance over 5 years compared to the software industry index (Morningstar financial data, 2023).
Building Your Purpose System
Creating sustainable purpose alignment requires focusing on four key dimensions that work together as an integrated system rather than isolated initiatives:
Value Integration
Map each major process to specific organizational values
Design workflows that naturally strengthen cultural commitments
Create metrics that measure both efficiency and mission alignment
Build feedback loops that reinforce core belie
Strength Amplification
Identify and systematize your unique organizational capabilities
Create processes that multiply rather than merely utilize talents
Design roles around natural strengths rather than ideal structures
Build in learning loops that develop collective capabilities
Passion Connection
Link daily tasks to meaningful outcomes
Create clear lines of sight from activity to impact
Design for meaning, not just efficiency
Build in reflection points that reinforce purpose
System Synergy
Align processes to multiply rather than divide energy
Create compound impact through integrated systems
Design for scalable meaning
Build mechanisms for purpose multiplication
Implementation Framework
Start building your purpose system with these concrete steps, focusing on systematic integration rather than isolated initiatives:
Evaluate Your Current Reality
Map where values and operations currently align and disconnect
Document unofficial workarounds that indicate system-values misalignment
Track both efficiency and mission metrics
Survey team members about purpose clarity and operational reality
Design Integration Points
Choose one key process to redesign for purpose alignment
Build in value-reinforcing elements
Create clear purpose connections
Test with cultural champions
Measure mission impact
Scale Success Patterns
Document what works
Identify replicable elements
Create teaching tools
Build systematic rollout plans
Monitor purpose preservation
Moving Forward
The goal isn't perfection – it's progress toward a more integrated way of operating. Start with one system, one process, or one team. Observe how small changes in how you structure work can create big shifts in both performance and purpose alignment.
Begin by examining one core process in your organization. Ask:
How does this process currently express our values?
Where might it be unintentionally undermining our purpose?
What would this process look like if it actively strengthened our mission?
How could we measure both efficiency and purpose impact?
Remember: The goal isn't to force purpose and performance to coexist – it's to design systems that naturally express and strengthen your organizational DNA. When your systems amplify rather than compete with your values, alignment becomes natural rather than forced.
Ready to transform your organization's purpose from an aspiration into an operational advantage? Schedule a consultation to discover how we can help you build systems that strengthen your mission as you grow.
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