Make a habit of pulling at heartstrings instead of purse strings: Shifting your focus from money to meaning can pay dividends
Patagonia sells sense of purpose rather than products.
By: Kevin O’Neill, Managing Partner for Entrepreneur/Acertitude
While consumers might turn to the brand for its durable outdoor apparel, they stick around for the company’s mission: “We’re in business to save our home planet.”
Patagonia’s leaders long ago chose to be the face of sustainability, using their platform for a “sense of purpose” when possible to promote environmental and social responsibility. CEO Rose Marcario formally promised via LinkedIn to use the $10 million the company saved in federal tax cuts last year to help the planet. “We are committing all $10 million to groups committed to protecting air, land and water and finding solutions to the climate crisis,” she wrote last November.
Marcario’s principles have cultivated deep loyalty among Patagonia workers, lifelong supporters and potential new hires who believe in the company’s mission. Not to mention some of the practices put in place by the company’s iconic founder, Yvon Chouinard, perhaps most clearly demonstrated by the company’s work policy,
That policy: “When the surf comes up, you drop work and you go surfing.”
While other companies have pledged to put tax breaks into team members’ pockets, Patagonia is raising the bar in a different way: It’s tugging at people’s hearts instead of their wallets. Yes, that represents a big shift — from money to meaning. It’s a major indicator that times are changing, and maybe you should be, too.
Companies are choosing their platforms
A generation ago, most people didn’t think about a company’s purpose when they made a purchase or accepted a job offer. But times have changed, and consumers and candidates now ask the big question: If time is my most limited resource, how do I align my talent and time with organizations that are committed to the same important causes as I am?
While all generations are asking this question, millennials in particular prioritize purpose. Business leaders are taking notice, perhaps because Pew Research Center has reported that 75 percent of the workforce will be made up of millennials by 2025 — with many millennials now holding leadership positions. Research from Cone Communications, meanwhile, found that 64 percent of millennials wouldn’t accept a job at a company that they didn’t see as having strong corporate social responsibility values.
Businesses that want to build high-performing teams and compete on the 21st century stage must pay attention to what this research suggests. Tech-savvy consumers and candidates can quickly identify and learn about companies whose ideals match their own. It’s a fascinating development that won’t end any time soon, because Generation Z, hot on the heels of millennials, is following suit.
Here are a few steps to make your company’s purpose stick:
1. Allow purpose and profit to live together
It’s true: Purpose and profit can coexist. Start to create alignment by ensuring that your why (your purpose) and your how (your operations) are in sync. At the same time, only create products or services that fulfill real needs.
Let’s return to the Patagonia story. In 2011, the company famously ran a full-page ad in the New York Times on Black Friday with a simple statement: “Don’t Buy This Jacket.” The advertisement featured the company’s best-selling R2 jacket with a clear message against consumerism. “The environmental cost of everything we make is astonishing,” the ad reads. “There is much to be done and plenty for us all to do. Don’t buy what you don’t need. Think twice before you buy anything.”
The result? Record-breaking sales of $10 million — five times higher than expected — whose excess profit the company sent off to charitable organizations in support of environmental causes.
