Nudge 5: CEO Larry Fink’s letter on purpose
Your job isn’t your purpose, but it says a lot about what that may be. Why this role, this company, this part of the world? It all forms part of your personal brand.
This time last year, BlackRock’s Chairman, Larry Fink shared his letter to shareholders that brought home the importance of ‘purpose’ in an organisation. A company in an industry that is primarily concerned with maximising shareholder value (read: make more money), it was a radical departure from a traditional end-of-year wrap of figures and projections.
“For far too long, asset managers have focused on selling products without placing them in a broader context.”
iShares by BlackRock headquarters in San Francisco. iStock.com/Andrei Stanescu.
In the perhaps pithier words of Simon Sinek: “People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.”
Purpose beyond profit is your secret weapon. It’s best armed by knowing with certainty the good that you’re striving to bring into the world, or the problems you care about tackling.
Fink’s takeaway quote resonated with us at Keogh, “BlackRock’s long-term success depends on our ability to fulfil our mission of helping people build better financial futures and to pursue our ultimate purpose of helping more and more people experience financial well-being.”
Ask your people: “what is our purpose?” Their insights might help build a co-created purpose that speaks to your contribution to broader society.
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