The Purpose Playbook (Part 2 of 3)

Hello friends and supporters,

At Purpose Group, we buy, grow, and hold purpose-driven businesses. We believe business should be a force for good in the world, and we’re inspired to help prove that notion one portfolio business at a time.

We’ve loved working with our two portfolio companies (Gerald Printing & Liberty Imaging and Alloy) thus far, and each are at different phases of The Purpose Playbook™️. Gerald/Liberty is deeply into Phase 2, which I’m excited to share more about in this newsletter.

A “leadership-empowerment company”

The idea of helping more companies bring their Purpose to life (through The Purpose Playbook™️) while inspiring their team members toward the growth of the business is what drives us forward, and it all starts with leadership.

I often refer to our business as a “leadership-empowerment company.” At the heart of what we do is helping leadership teams build and grow great businesses.

Since starting Purpose Group, I’ve been asked many times, “How can you expect to put Purpose into the businesses you acquire?”

As I see it, there are two answers to this question. The first and easiest answer is: we don’t expect to do that. We aren’t trying to “put” Purpose into our companies — we believe every company has a unique Purpose within it, and it’s our job to help the team members of our companies find and bring to life their company’s Purpose. And then to live it every day.

The more practical answer is that we have a proven process that we deploy over a roughly 12-month time period to help our businesses authentically and collaboratively find and embody their Purpose, with an operational framework that ties their business success to their Purpose, Vision, Tenets, & Values (PVTV™️). We call this The Purpose Playbook.

(Chunks of The Purpose Playbook exist in the four books I’ve written in The Turnaround Leadership Series, and I’m currently writing a fifth book to bring the concept to life in more depth. The name of that book will be, wait for it…The Purpose Playbook.)

Phase 2: PVTV

The first of three core components of our process is to build a trusting and capable leadership team. Without a leadership team that believes in and supports each other, none of what we want to accomplish is possible.

Once you have a leadership team that is supporting each other and rowing in the same direction, you have make sure that direction is fully defined! And this is where we introduce PVTV.

Purpose, Vision, Tenets, & Values, or PVTV, is at the heart of our Purpose Playbook. One way to explain our PVTV process is to think of Purpose and Values as the heart of the company, and Vision and Tenets as the strategy. (There are obviously a myriad of definitions for all of these terms, and we have our own twist on each.)

There is an art to helping a company find and amplify its Purpose and Values, and I do believe that these things already exist in every business — they simply need to be nurtured and pulled to the forefront. Our process is collaborative and inclusive, striving for succinct and specific language.

Once the business has its Purpose and Values identified, the next phase is to identify the Vision (where the company wants to be in 3-5 years) and the Tenets (how they are going to achieve that Vision).

Purpose and Values, if done properly, will be evergreen and unchanged over time. Vision and Tenets should be assessed annually, ensuring that the business is on track to hit its financial and operational goals. I’ll talk more about this in the next newsletter when I unpack phase three.

Gerald Printing & Liberty Imaging’s PVTV

I’m excited to share that earlier this year, we brought the entire Gerald/Liberty team together for a full-day summit, and, with a few follow-on meetings after, we landed on what I think is an exceptional PVTV for the company:

Our Purpose is to bring visions to life.

Our Vision is to become the first choice for our clients and teams.

We will do this by…

Developing a strong and fulfilled team,

Creating a consistent sales and marketing strategy for one brand,

Building an efficient operating environment, and

Meeting the financial expectations of our stakeholders

We believe in…

dependability,
putting in the work,
showing respect, and
being trustworthy…
all while having fun.

As in most things, it's all about the execution

Ultimately, all of the work to create a company’s PVTV is lost if there isn’t an execution plan to bring it to life on a daily basis. Sadly, I’ve found this to be the most common end result of going through this process as a business: a lot of hard work at first with very little follow-through, resulting in a disenfranchised team. Our ongoing PVTV process is rigorous and built on the premise of consistent and authentic communication. And that’s the phase we’re in now with Gerald/Liberty, and I’m excited to share that at this point every member of the Leadership Team can recite the PVTV by heart, and several other team members have stepped up and memorized it as well ❤️

Not for nothing, some assume that we expect to sacrifice growth or profit in order to help our businesses become purpose-driven. This is the exact opposite of our thinking. We expect our companies to outperform the market because they are purpose-driven.

Thanks for your support and belief in what we are building at Purpose Group. We appreciate you being on this journey with us.

And as always, I hope you’re happy.