Conscious Capitalism. John Mackey
purposes have unique expressions at each business, we find it helpful to group them into a set of well-known and timeless categories (table 4-1). There’s no intrinsic reason why business should be different from any other human endeavor. The same enduring ideals that animate art, science, education, and many nonprofit organizations can and should also animate business. These were articulated by Plato as the transcendent ideals of the Good, the True, and the Beautiful. Humankind has been seeking to create, discover, and express these transcendent ideals for thousands of years.
TABLE 4-1
Four categories of great purposes
| The Good | Service to others—improving health, education, communication, and quality of life |
| The True | Discovery and furthering human knowledge |
| The Beautiful | Excellence and the creation of beauty |
| The Heroic | Courage to do what is right to change and improve the world |
Plato considered these three ideals ends in themselves, not as means to other higher ends. Those who pursue the Good want to serve others because it is intrinsically rewarding to do so, not because they anticipate some favorable consequences from doing so. The pursuit of Knowledge or Truth is its own reward, whether or not that knowledge is ever used in a particular way. The creation of Beauty is an intensely soul-satisfying, uniquely human experience. People create beauty because their desire to do so arises from deep within. Their creation need not be seen or experienced by anyone else to make it worthwhile; it need only please its creator.
To these three, we have added the Heroic to complete a framework of higher purposes that we find most great businesses seek to express in some form. The following examples illustrate how these four enduring ideals are being expressed by great businesses in the world today.
The Good
The first great purpose that great businesses often express is the Good. The most common way this ideal manifests itself in business is through service to others. This is a deeply motivating purpose that is emotionally very fulfilling to individuals who truly embrace this ideal. Authentic service is based on genuine empathy with the needs and desires of others. Genuine empathy leads to the development, growth, and expression of love, care, and compassion. Businesses dedicated to the great purpose of service to others seek ways to grow the emotional intelligence of their organizations so they can nourish and encourage love, care, and compassion toward customers, team members, and the larger community.
While any category of business can be motivated by the heartfelt purpose of service to others, we find that service and retail businesses that depend greatly on the goodwill of their customers are most likely to express this particular purpose and devote themselves to it wholeheartedly. An excellent example is The Container Store, which creates value for its customers by providing excellent service and quality products that help people better organize their lives. The company thinks of itself as a business that helps people have a higher quality of life, expressed in the statement “Get organized, be happy.”
Zappos defines its purpose as “delivering happiness.” It does this through great customer service, high-quality products, competitive prices, and fast delivery. In a sense, the quest for delivering happiness is a fairly accurate synonym for the pursuit of the Good. Other examples of service-oriented businesses that exemplify the great purpose of the Good include Amazon.com, Nordstrom, JetBlue, Wegmans, Bright Horizons, Starbucks, The Motley Fool, and Trader Joe’s.
The True
The second great transcendent purpose that animates many great businesses is the True, which we define as the “search for truth and the pursuit of knowledge.” Think about how exciting it is to discover and learn something that no one has ever known before, which advances humankind’s collective knowledge. Through such advancements, the quality of human life is improved, the cost of our lifestyles declines, and we can live healthier and more fulfilling lives. We are collectively better off as a result of that pursuit of knowledge.
This great purpose is at the core of some of the most creative and dynamic companies in the world today. Google is an excellent example of a company with this kind of purpose, expressed early on in the company’s history as “to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.” This purpose statement is clear and simple, yet profound. It makes clear why the company exists and how it creates value. The statement also provides managers with a great deal of strategic direction. Google started out by simply indexing the Web and allowing for fast searches of textual information. Over time, it has expanded into books, audio information, video content, still images, personal picture collections, maps (recently adding indoor maps for shopping malls and airports), the skies, the ocean floor, medical records, your own desktop, company Web sites, and so on, all the while remaining true to its original purpose. Few of us can get through a day without googling at least once and usually multiple times. Google makes us feel like the entire knowledge of the world is available to us whenever and wherever we want it, with the touch of a few buttons or clicks.
Wikipedia is another organization that has enabled people to pursue knowledge quickly and efficiently. Companies like Intel and Genentech have invented new and incredible technologies such as the microprocessor and biotechnology, furthering humankind’s potential in numerous ways. In fact, many businesses in biotechnology or computer hardware and software are good examples of companies whose highest purpose is the discovery of new knowledge that enhances, extends, or otherwise improves our lives. Amgen and Medtronic are other examples of great companies motivated by the excitement of discovery and the pursuit of knowledge. These companies have greatly benefited humankind through their successful pursuit of this great purpose.
The Beautiful
The third great transcendent purpose at the core of great businesses is the Beautiful, which can be expressed in business through “the pursuit of beauty and excellence, and the quest for perfection.” A company that expresses beauty in the world enriches our lives in numerous ways. While we more commonly experience the Beautiful through the work of creative artists in music, painting, film, and handicrafts, we also see it expressed through certain special companies that have tapped into this powerful purpose as they pursue perfection in their chosen field. True excellence expresses beauty in unique and inspiring ways that make our lives more enjoyable.
An excellent example is Apple, with its single-minded focus on creating “insanely great technology” that has made our lives better. People love the beauty of Apple’s products (such as the iMac, iPod, iPad, and iPhone), not just in their appearance and the value they create for us, but also in the simplicity and fun of the interactions we have with them.
Four Seasons and BMW are other businesses that are motivated by excellence to create beautiful things and experiences that approach perfection.
The Heroic
The fourth type of purpose is the Heroic, describing businesses that are motivated by a desire to change the world, not necessarily through service to others or through discovery and the pursuit of truth, or through the quest for perfection, but through a powerful Promethean desire to really change things—to truly make the world better, to solve insoluble problems, to do the really courageous thing even when it is very risky, and to achieve what others say is impossible. When Henry Ford first created the Ford Motor Company, it was a heroic company whose purpose was “Opening the highways to all mankind.” At a time when only the wealthy could afford cars and the freedom they provided, Ford truly changed the world in the early part of the twentieth century.
A hero is defined as “a person of distinguished courage or ability, admired for brave deeds and noble qualities.” A heroic company takes risks and perseveres in the face of enormous odds. It maintains and strengthens its human qualities while doing so, all in service of changing the world for the better in some tangible way.
One of the best examples of a truly heroic enterprise is the Grameen Bank, started by Muhammad Yunus, in Bangladesh. His brilliant and beautiful vision was