There is a story about a NASA janitor in the early 1960s. President Kennedy asked him what he did for the organisation.
He replied.
“I am helping put a man on the moon.”
That is purpose.
It creates direction.
It aligns action.
It tells people why their work matters.
Purpose connects personal meaning to the team mission.
Buckingham and Goodall call this the link between the best of me and the best of we.
High performing teams need both.
People need to know how their work matters.
Teams need to know why they exist.
Purpose holds those two truths together.
Purpose is talked about often these days. It is almost assumed that we should start with why.
From our point of view, purpose is why a team exists. It anchors behaviour. It guides decisions.
If actions cannot be linked back to purpose, you are off track.
Below is a curated set of insights and examples that reinforce the importance we place on purpose and help clarify what purpose actually is.
What Purpose Does
Creates direction and belief
Leaders build belief when they connect personal meaning to a higher purpose. Kerr in Legacy makes this clear.
Woodward in How to Win is direct. Teams cannot sustain high performance without shared direction.
Frankl reinforces this. Success and happiness arrive as by products of being dedicated to a worthwhile cause.
Rosten described purpose as making a difference and mattering to others.
Aligns actions and decisions
A clear mission creates common purpose and sets priorities. This is shown in Lessons From the Hanoi Hilton.
If mission and values are not shaping daily decisions, they are just words on a page. Olson is blunt on this point.
Mandis in The Real Madrid Way describes values as a behavioural compass. They guide decisions under pressure.
Maximises performance
Mandis also shows how purpose, values and culture maximise performance in talent dependent environments.
Buckingham and Goodall in Nine Lies About Work reinforce that people perform best when they believe in the mission and have clarity.
Self determination theory shows that competence, autonomy and relatedness drive sustained motivation.
Pink calls this the third drive, the engine behind high performance.
Creates alignment through shared meaning
Alignment emerges from shared meaning, not from force. Buckingham and Goodall make this point repeatedly.
Blanchard shows that clarity of purpose, goals, roles and expectations has the strongest impact on performance.
There is a difference between meaning at work, which relates to mission and environment, and meaning in work, which relates to daily tasks. Strong teams connect both.
Grounds identity and behaviour
Purpose shapes identity. It shapes behaviour.
Woodward points to teamship and the need for agreed, observable behaviours that express purpose.
Coyle in The Culture Code shows how stories reinforce purpose.
Jiwa and Carr highlight how narrative keeps ambition and direction on track.
Centres the why rather than the scoreboard
Mandis draws a clear line between goals and missions with values.
Buckingham and Goodall argue that most organisations suffer from a deficit of meaning, not a deficit of goals.
James Clear shows that purpose sits behind the systems and habits that sustain performance long after a target is achieved.
What Purpose Is Not
Not slogans or decoration
If purpose is not shaping behaviour and decisions, it is cosmetic. Olson is clear on this.
Not just culture talk
Culture is how things are done.
Purpose is why we choose to do them that way.
Purpose lives at the team level, not in corporate statements.
How Purpose Shows Up in High Performing Teams
Real Madrid
Mandis shows that Real Madrid start with values and community identity.
Purpose and values act as an organisational playbook.
They guide decisions even when there is pressure to compromise.
Hanoi Hilton POWs
Fretwell and co authors show how shared mission kept people unified under extreme adversity.
Purpose defined priorities and behaviours when everything else was stripped away.
How Leaders Activate Purpose
Make it personal and shared
Leaders help people connect the best of me to the best of we.
When individuals understand how their strengths support the team purpose, belief and alignment rise quickly.
Buckingham and Goodall speak directly to this.
Lancaster uses the NASA story to show how people need to see how their role supports the mission.
Translate purpose into behaviours
Woodward emphasises clear behavioural standards.
Connolly and Rianoshek offer a simple rhythm. Align. Act. Adjust. Keep purpose alive in the conversation.
Use purpose to prioritise
Burgis in Wanting shows how purpose helps leaders navigate competing values.
Why It Matters
Purpose fuels meaning, motivation, resilience and belonging.
Bodanis highlights how fairness and purpose support performance under pressure.
Storr shows that humans seek significance.
Iggulden and Wyndham remind us that time without purpose feels heavy.
There is a line that captures it well. The opposite of addiction is not sobriety. It is purpose.
Without purpose, teams drift. They become work groups rather than teams. Performance becomes inconsistent.
Purpose is the shared why that directs choices, aligns behaviour and sustains performance. It becomes real through story, standards and daily decisions.
References and Further Reading
- Bodanis, D. The Art of Fairness. Abacus, 2020.
- Blanchard, K. Leading at a Higher Level. FT Press, 2006.
- Bregman, R. Moral Ambition. (Rosten quote).
- Buckingham, M., & Goodall, A. Nine Lies About Work. HarperBusiness, 2019.
- Burgis, L. Wanting. St. Martin’s Press, 2021.
- Carr, J. Before & Laughter. Quercus, 2021.
- Clear, J. Atomic Habits. Avery, 2018.
- Connolly, M., & Rianoshek, R. The Communication Catalyst. Berrett Koehler, 2005.
- Coyle, D. The Culture Code. Bantam, 2018.
- Deci, E. & Ryan, R. Self Determination Theory.
- Frankl, V. Man’s Search for Meaning. Beacon Press, 1946.
- Fretwell, P. et al. Lessons From the Hanoi Hilton. Naval Institute Press, 2013.
- Iggulden, C. The Gates of Athens. Michael Joseph, 2020.
- Jiwa, B. What Great Storytellers Know. Story of Telling Press, 2014.
- Kerr, J. Legacy. Constable, 2013.
- Lancaster, S. Connect! Vermilion, 2015.
- Mandis, S. The Real Madrid Way. BenBella Books, 2016.
- Olson, A. “Why Rewriting Mission, Vision and Values Is a Distraction.” Inc., 2023.
- Pink, D. Drive. Riverhead Books, 2009.
- Storr, W. The Status Game. William Collins, 2021.
- Woodward, C. How to Win. Hodder & Stoughton, 2012.
- Wyndham, J. The Day of the Triffids. Michael Joseph, 1951.
