Sustainable business transformation (SBT) continues to be a focus in the private sector and a challenge to deliver successfully at scale. The board or C-suite may consider the investment too high, the outcomes intangible, the revenue growth limited. Or perhaps the political landscape changes so drastically that companies wonder, “Why even bother?”

However, by abandoning SBT efforts (or not embarking on the journey) some companies are leaving real financial results on the table in the form of top-line growth and bottom-line optimization. Those companies are also opting out of the collective power of SBT by the private sector that is so critical to progressing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs).

Large corporations tend to overlook the fact that successful integration of sustainable business models consistently results in product innovation, new market entry, and commercial longevity — potential financial impacts that should not be ignored. Proven benefits include cultural performance improvement, increased employee retention and progression, improved talent recruitment, and customer loyalty, greatly strengthening the financial business case for SBT.

Companies also overlook the potential for broader economic impact. Harvesting the business value of sustainability for themselves is one thing, but we must not lose sight of the societal and planetary-level economic value that can be derived from the corporate collective. The economic impacts of scaled, private-sector SBT are tremendous.

In fact, a holistic economic business case is a critical piece of any company’s strategic spear. Importantly, the extent to which companies realize the long-term benefits of their economic business case turns on two factors: (1) their ability to derive tangible, measurable value from those sustainability efforts and (2) leadership’s ability to stay the course as the market twists and turns and externalities present peaks and valleys of opportunity and risk.

This brings us back to why so many companies abandon their SBT efforts. They are missing a Constancy of Purpose that serves as a guidepost across business cycles. It’s time to right-size (if not super-size) our SBT expectations by committing to the Constancy of Purpose required to realize it.

Purpose-Driven Leadership Leads to Sustainable Transformation

A strong economic business case doesn’t begin by defining a purpose but by making each individual in the business feel empowered to pursue and accountable for achieving it. This requires infusing the purpose from top to bottom; across sales, marketing, product development, and operations; and from leaders to analysts. Unfortunately, the concept of purpose has been conflated with mission, ambition, values, and other strategies over time (not to mention devalued in the era of “wokeness”), making it difficult to define, let alone achieve.

Here, we reference purpose as being rooted in sustainability, environmental impact, or an otherwise SDG-aligned, planetary-related outcome(s).

Historically, purpose has served as a “what” or a “why.” In Accelerate, leadership strategist John Kotter calls this “The Big Idea”: a strategic vision, direction, or objective otherwise intended to unify leadership, employees, and customers around a raison d'être. This definition holds true in the sense that it can serve as the connective tissue between ambition, effort, and outcomes.

A more novel proposal positions purpose as a “how” that is delivered with constancy:

• It exists as a bedrock foundation that is unchanging (or changing rarely and minutely over business cycles).

• It serves as a unifier that carries an organization through the headwinds and tailwinds of our modern polycrisis.

• Rather than a standalone value driver, it’s an enabler of a larger economic business case that permeates the organization, elevates the brand, and positively impacts society.

• It’s a tool to adapt to rapidly shifting priorities, market urgencies, and socioeconomic volatility that businesses face with increasing frequency and inconvenient timing.

• It acts as a cultural catalyst throughout the organization and comes to represent the spirit of “how we do things here,” readying the business to accelerate and adapt at the right time, every time.

Ultimately, purpose can generate a business that possesses cultural empowerment and resilience that is otherwise unattainable. Successful long-term integration of purpose is the key to creating a strong economic business case. This is not accomplished in a single business cycle but over many cycles of change.

Kotter’s attempt at an integration framework to realize The Big Idea centered around a dual operating system in which management hierarchy at the top meets adaptive networks grown organically somewhere in the center. Our framework differs in two ways. First, it is focused on achieving SBT- and SDG-related outcomes. This requires an evolved depth of purpose and the stamina of generations of leadership to reinforce. Second, it pushes the boundaries and spirit of The Big Idea beyond a short-term market opportunity into a broader economic business case — and what some might consider the moral high ground of purpose.

Ultimately, purpose-led people and products produce purposeful profits. These organizations are positioned to achieve SBT, grow sustainably, and meet evolving consumer demands. By simultaneously leveraging purpose as “what,” “why,” and “how,” companies can authentically integrate it into business operations and across the value chain, from product design and go-to-market relationships to leadership development and performance management.

The company’s top leaders must build trust with shareholders, employees, and customers, and purpose must be infused into critical decision-making, especially in times of crisis. If the relationship between purpose and business decisions is not visible with constancy, the company risks becoming a promoter of green or purpose-washing.

[For more from the authors on this topic, see: “Unlocking the Economic Value of Sustainable Transformation via Constancy of Purpose.”]