» Blog Archive Book Review: Purpose

March 23rd, 2009

The Starting Point of Great Companies

Author: Nikos Mourkogiannis

To brilliantly match the title of the book, there is a single strong message through this book, that is: for companies to be successful, they must have a purpose that drives the strategy and values through all levels of an organization.

Purpose is explored with a moral avenue far beyond that of the typical mission and value often on display in companies. It is presented by looking at four specific examples:

Discovery: Adventure’s Challenge

Mourkogiannis explores the way companies can make purpose and morality rooted in the adventures that they take through intellectual curiosity. It ties closely to innovation and I love how the author relates discovery to a choice that enables freedom and opportunity to discover a new world.

Company example: Tom Walton’s IBM

Excellence: Virtue’s Fulfillment

Excellence means holding up high standards and great expectations of performance both internally and in the community of the business.

Company example: The Economist, Warren Buffet

Altruism: Empathy’s Justification

When a business exists primarily to serve its customers beyond the normal expectation or obligation tied in by a contract.

Company example: Sam Walton’s Wal-Mart, Hewlett-Packard, Nordstrom

Heroism: Power’s Effectiveness

Heroism is when a company can demonstrate great achievement and success despite the challenges and setbacks it faces.

Company example: Henry Ford and Microsoft

Final Thoughts

While those are the four themes carried through the book, it is done well with many segments of practical advice and guidelines for discovering purpose and especially for turning that into strategy. The third part of the book explores the areas that I was most captivated by. It looks at purpose from each of these perspectives:

Morality
Innovation
Competitive Advantage
Leadership
Action

These wrap up the implementation of purpose into strategy very well and give the reader a lot of food for thought on their own business strategies. There is plenty of wise advice throughout this book and one that you will certainly enjoy if you are planning strategy and guiding any significant portion of a company. There is certainly a lot of wisdom for an individual perspective as well, even for entrepreneurs, but it is never really explored in that sense within the book, which is something I would have liked to see more of as I think it is much more common with that segment of business on the rise.

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9 Responses to “Book Review: Purpose”

Jay Says:
March 23rd, 2009 at 8:14 PM

Seems to me that this book could apply to people as well. If we as a people are going to survive, we too need a purpose. I like your review format Mike!

Mike King Says:
March 23rd, 2009 at 10:24 PM

Jay, it certainly does. It covers themes that not only let you discover your purpose, but also live it to the highest standards. I would have liked to see Mourkogiannis make more personal associations to the work concepts but I can understand the attention to work for his context. There is much wisdom in this one if even if you aren’t planning to be CEO anytime. Keep in mind you ARE CEO of your life, and much the same applies!

I appreciate the feedback Jay. Thanks.

Stephen - Rat Race Trap Says:
March 24th, 2009 at 10:27 AM

Mike, I’m getting this book, even though I’m approaching 50 I still haven’t read. Purpose drives everything in individuals and so too in organizations. Discovery, Excellence, Altruism, and Heroism – Four wonderful themes. I can’t wait. Thanks for bringing this to our attention. I’m going to read your archived reviews.

Nathalie Lussier Says:
March 24th, 2009 at 5:19 PM

Thanks for this book review. I’m ALWAYS looking for new reading material, and I have a feeling we share a love for similar topics. 🙂 Since I’ve been working on my business (aka focusiness) I’ve noticed that it’s much easier whenever I tap back into my original vision and purpose.

I’m going to add this book to my “to-read” list, just to re-energize my business purpose again.

Mike King Says:
March 24th, 2009 at 7:04 PM

Thanks Stephen and Nathalie for the comments. It’s great to help promote such excellent books and you’ve both noted great reasons why you want to read it.

You might want to consider browsing through my archives for previous book reviews and also through my bookstore where I have all these books in a US and Canadian amazon bookstore for purchase as well as in the audio CD group when I can find them.

Armen Shirvanian Says:
March 25th, 2009 at 8:33 AM

I have noticed a popularity in books dealing with the beginning of various processes or projects, and it makes sense that the focus is there, since a successful start to any procedure speaks volumes about how it will be in the long-term. An initial success can be built upon for ages, if not only by re-informing people about how successful the start was.

On the point about Excellence: Virtue’s Fulfillment, I have been reading The Economist lately, and see that their system of putting out information has put them in the upper echelon of mass-produced publications. Much of their rhetoric makes incisive use of certain phrases, in order to keep a point that they made stick in the reader’s mind as attached to the issue they were talking about.