The world of business faces unprecedented economic, social, environmental and technological challenges.

At the root of this is a conceptualisation of value creation which defines value in purely economic terms. This takes the form of an obsessive focus on share price and financial ROI, which in turn has led to a drive to maximise revenue and minimise costs in the short term, to the detriment of long term economic, social, and ecological sustainability.

Organisations that are trapped in this cycle are at risk of perishing more than ever, because they are blind to the need to change to a sustainable model.

At the root of this conundrum is a traditional leadership model which places leadership at the top of a pyramid, delegates creativity as a management task without delegating real responsibility or engendering the trust and relationships required for innovation and transformational change.

Purpose driven organisations create the possibility of doing business differently. According to Finbarr Bradley, purpose driven organisations:

• Have a Long term orientation

• See to create Lasting, versus, short term exploitative relationships

• Recognise Limits

• Have Local roots

• Create and are part of Learning communities

• Have expansive perspectives on distributed Leadership

A purpose driven business thrives in a sustainable manner because it engages the creativity of its talent in endless new ways.

Employees stop being a cost to be managed and become the source of innovation and creation, which opens new trajectories for the business to travel.