Q &A

The importance of ‘having a purpose’ is not a new idea; it has been discussed since the time of the ancient Greeks. Why write a book about it now?

Quite frankly, society has lost its way, and there is no better time than the present to start bringing up the concepts of what the Greeks — along with Peter Drucker, Charles Handy and many others — have been writing about for years: what are we here for? Are we here to serve ourselves — or, in the case of a publicly-traded company, our shareholders? Or, are we here to serve all of society’s stakeholders?

Since Milton Friedman came on the scene in the early 1970’s, for the better part of the past 46 years, our for-profit organizations have steered towards a very selfish manifestation of why the organization exists. Meanwhile, not-for-profit and public sector organizations have morphed into a very bureaucratic, ‘power-monger’ model, which doesn’t serve their true purpose, either. I honestly believe we need a reset.

You have said the ‘ecosystem way of thinking’ is key to enabling prosperity going