Purpose Beyond Profit: Why Business Needs a Higher Purpose

The Great Disconnect

When you stop and think about it — what do you really want out of life?

Most people don’t answer with bigger salaries or higher profits. These are important, but they are often a means to an end. Most people answer with words like family, growth, contribution or leaving something better than they found it.

And yet, for many employees, work has become the one place they don’t experience these things. It’s a source of income, not inspiration, connection, meaning or impact.

We call this The Great Disconnect.

Historically, business leaders have viewed business merely as a way to create economic value: meet customer demand, operate efficiently, and create profit.

But that’s only half of the story.

John Mackey, co-founder of Whole Foods Market, once offered a powerful metaphor:

“Of course [a business and a person] has to make money — just like my body has to make red blood cells if I’m going to live. But the purpose of my life is not to produce red blood cells.”

In the same way, the purpose of business is not to make a profit.

A Higher Purpose: People and Performance

As we celebrate the 10th anniversary of Everybody Matters, and the release of a revised and expanded edition, we return to a simple but profound belief from Bob and Kyle Chapman:

The purpose of business is to create both human and economic vibrancy, each elevating the other.

Not one or the other. Both. Each elevating the other.

What does this look like in practice?

When leaders treat employees with dignity and respect, challenge them to grow, and hold teams accountable as an act of caring for each other, it unlocks greater human potential for your business. This approach taps into deeper creativity, intrinsic motivation, and collaboration so employees can focus on supporting customers and driving results — not protecting themselves.

And when leaders create great strategies, drive customer demand, innovate and build efficient and resilient business models, it produces an engine for better performance.

In combination, the people-and-performance approach unlocks greater human potential to achieve greater performance.

When both are present, they compound. When one is missing, both eventually erode.

It’s not people or performance. It’s people and performance.

A Call for Leaders

This truth sounds simple, but acknowledging a higher purpose for your business doesn’t automatically bridge The Great Disconnect.

Many organizations put eloquent words on their website, but they aren’t lived out day-to-day.

The number one way that purpose lives out is through leaders.

Leaders can no longer rely solely on expertise in strategy, finance, and operations. They must lead in a way that creates human and economic vibrancy — holding both as the path to success.

The role of leaders, then, is to:

• Articulate a clear, higher purpose.
• Lead with care and accountability.
• Run a high-performing business.
• Grow and develop people along the way.

Taking Action

If you’re wondering where to start, consider these next steps:

• Assess your business. At your next leadership meeting ask: “On a scale of 1–10, how well are we creating both human and economic vibrancy? Do we prioritize one over the other?”
• Articulate a purpose beyond profit. Beyond making money, why does your business exist — and who does it exist for? Write it down and share it.
• Bring your purpose to life. Bridging The Great Disconnect happens when leaders bring a higher purpose to life in how they create strategy, make decisions, build relationships, and run operations.