Purpose-driven companies grow three times faster than their competitors, says consulting firm Deloitte. Companies that lead with purpose manage to keep their employees and customers happier too.
Jeff Aronin’s Paragon Biosciences is a prime example of a purpose-driven company. Paragon Biosciences is working to solve some of the world’s toughest health problems.
“The best advice I’ve received — and now pass along as a mentor — is to build companies of meaning,” says Jeff Aronin, who has founded several successful life science companies over the past two decades. Aronin credits his success to tackling problems with high, unmet need.
Jeff Aronin says entrepreneurs should surround themselves with purpose-driven experts. Aronin explains, “I hire entrepreneurial problem solvers who share my patient-centric mission.”
Nearly 90% of executives believe that a strong sense of collective purpose can drive employee satisfaction, according to an EY Beacon Institute Study. EY also noted that 84% of respondents said a strong sense of purpose can help business transformation, with 80% agreeing that organization-wide collective purpose also increases customer loyalty.
Purpose and mission can also drive innovation, market leadership and employee retention, say experts.
Mission-driven companies have a 30% higher level of innovation and a 40% higher level of employee retention in addition to first or second ranking in their market segment, according to Deloitte. Professional networking site LinkedIn adds that companies that lead with purpose are more likely to grow, with nearly 60% of respondents saying that once they adopted “a clearly articulated and understood purpose,” they’ve experienced annual growth of at least 10%.
However, many companies admit they have work to do in building a fully effective purpose-driven culture within their own organizations.
The EY survey adds that only 46% of executives said they felt their company had a “strong sense of purpose.”
Jeff Aronin’s dedication to building companies of meaning reflects what many workers want to experience in their own careers. Aronin says that he’s “inspired every day by our purpose-driven management team of entrepreneurial problem solvers,” adding that “to persevere through challenges, you have to believe that you’re doing something that matters.”
On the other hand, according to a survey by leadership training company BetterUp, a majority of employees believe their work is about half as meaningful as it could be. And research from Gallup adds that only “about 1 in 8 workers” are “psychologically committed to their jobs and likely to be making positive contributions to their organizations.”