Purpose is not a message

It is a decision. Every single day.

Dear readers,

the beginning of the year is such a moment. A time when you might pause, look back and look forward at the same time. You review strategies, redefine goals and set good intensions for the year to come.

And amid all the planning, a quieter, more fundamental question often emerges: Do all these efforts, projects, meetings and decisions truly add up to something bigger? Are you merely functioning and pursuing targets or are you shaping something and making a contribution that carries meaning beyond day-to-day operations?

It is precisely at this point that a question arises, one that rarely appears on an agenda, yet often resonates deeply within:

What are we doing all this for?
What do we truly stand for?

This question is not a sign of uncertainty. On the contrary, it is a sign of maturity. Organizations that dare to ask it are not looking for a rhetorical answer. They are searching for something that endures: a purpose that is not a buzzword, but a source of orientation. And this is where the tension begins.

This January, the question holds special significance for us as well. KellerPartner is celebrating its 10th anniversary. Ten years in which not only our structures and services have evolved, but above all our understanding of what we stand for and want to stand for as an organization.

Looking back and looking ahead inevitably leads us to the same core question that occupies many organizations at the start of a new year: Why do we exist beyond goals, plans and operational pressure?

What purpose really means and why it matters

Purpose is often misunderstood, largely because it has been overstretched or used too superficially in some contexts. In its true sense, however, purpose describes something both very simple and very essential: an organization’s reason for being.

It does not answer the question of where a company wants to go — that is the role of vision. Nor does it define how it operates on a day-to-day basis — that is the mission. Purpose goes deeper. It describes why an organization exists and the contribution it seeks to make to people, markets and society.

Purpose is therefore not a slogan, but an identity-defining core. An ethical compass that connects economic objectives with social responsibility. It provides orientation, brings people together across functions and creates clarity in complex situations.

Yet this very ambition carries a risk. Where purpose is articulated but not lived, a gap emerges between aspiration and reality — a gap increasingly referred to as purpose washing.

Today, many organizations make bold claims: operating sustainably, taking social responsibility seriously, creating meaningful impact. As long as these statements are backed by decisions, priorities and structures, they carry real power. Problems arise when the communicated purpose and the lived reality drift apart.

Typical fault lines appear, for example, when sustainability is prominently promoted but systematically deprioritized in moments of trade-off or when diversity is celebrated while leadership structures remain largely homogeneous.

Purpose washing is rarely the result of deliberate deception. More often, it emerges from structural tensions, between short-term performance targets, established leadership cultures and the desire to appear socially relevant. Yet the effect is the same: purpose loses its credibility.

When aspiration and everyday reality diverge, the consequences are tangible. Employees experience this gap directly. What may have started as an inspiring message is perceived as an empty promise. Cynicism grows, identification declines and commitment weakens particularly among generations for whom values-based leadership is not a bonus, but a given.

Externally, the impact is just as significant. Stakeholders are quick to interpret purpose as a strategic fig leaf. Trust erodes. In a public environment that increasingly demands values-based legitimacy, this can have serious consequences up to and including the loss of an organiation’s “social licence” to operate.

From a strategic perspective, purpose then loses its true function. Instead of creating clarity, it becomes a hollow phrase. Its potential to provide orientation, focus and cultural cohesion remains untapped.

Purpose works when it s embedded

Experience and research alike show this clearly: people work differently when they can see a meaningful connection between their daily work and a larger purpose. Engagement increases, trust grows, commitment deepens. Decisions become clearer, leadership more comprehensible, teams more resilient.

But these effects do not occur automatically. Purpose only becomes effective when it is not left at an abstract level, but embedded in everyday practice: in decision-making processes, in leadership behaviour and in the way people interact with one another. It must serve as a reference point, especially when trade-offs and conflicts arise.

Not every discrepancy between aspiration and reality is purpose washing. Contradictions are inevitable in complex organizations. What matters is how they are handled. Credibility emerges where organizations do not conceal their ambivalences, but address them openly where purpose is taken seriously even when it becomes uncomfortable.

Taking purpose seriously does not mean living it perfectly. It means making it binding. Taking responsibility. Looking closely where it hurts. Questioning structures and incentive systems. Enabling leaders to embody purpose rather than merely quoting it.

Credibility is not created through flawless staging, but through a visible commitment to implementation. Through the willingness to engage with one’s own contradictions—and to allow development to emerge from them.

What Purpose Can Achieve in the Long Term

When purpose truly takes effect, it does so quietly rather than loudly. Conflicts become more constructive because a shared orientation provides guidance. Leadership gains depth because decisions are more thoughtfully grounded. Teams collaborate more closely because a shared sense of meaning is more powerful than a collection of individual goals. And employees experience their work as more meaningful because they can see their contribution in a broader context.

Purpose does not make organizations perfect, but it makes them more coherent. It creates an internal framework that provides stability when external conditions become uncertain. And it enables future-shaping that goes beyond mere output.

Perhaps this is its greatest strength: purpose does not only answer why an organization exists, it also reveals how serious it truly is about that answer.

Yours, Daniel Keller

Image source: Photo by Freepik