Purpose and Profit: A False Choice

It is easy for organizations to stay anchored to a purpose or strategy that felt relevant years ago. Yet in today’s environment, what once inspired alignment can quietly become misaligned with market realities. Jonathan Trevor’s recent article in MIT Sloan Management Review reminds us that purpose and profitability are not opposing forces, they must reinforce each other. Sustainable performance comes when leaders align purpose with real external demand, helping teams connect their daily work to a mission that matters. A great read for anyone shaping strategy in a changing world.

📈 Why Purpose Alone Isn’t Enough… and Profit Is Not the Enemy. I'm pleased to share my latest article in MIT Sloan Management Review, in which I argue that true strategic alignment comes from aligning both purpose and profitability, because: ➡️ A purely profit-driven company is hollow, with neither long-term vision nor intrinsic motivation for employees. ➡️ A lofty purpose disconnected from what customers value is just window-dressing, destined to fail. ➡️ The sweet spot lies in purpose that’s validated by market demand, guiding strategy and energising performance. Drawing on my research at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, I outline a practical framework to help leaders craft strategies where purpose and profit reinforce each other, creating not just lasting performance but also meaningful work. I’d love to hear how others are working to integrate purpose with business results. What challenges are you seeing—and how are you tackling them? Read the full article → https://lnkd.in/ej6FE5kA #Leadership #Strategy #PurposeDriven #BusinessPerformance

Effective organisational management and success require a well-defined strategic plan that encompasses a clear mission, vision, and values, coupled with ongoing strategic alignment and execution. A Strategic Plan guides decision-making across all levels, articulating goals, strategies, and financial forecasts. Cascading these goals through the organisation fosters clarity and accountability, ensuring that everyone's work is aligned with broader objectives. Challenges often arise from poor sponsorship, no ownership, lack of engagement/visibility, and misalignment. Employing frameworks like OKRs or Balanced Scorecards can aid in this process, blending long-term goals with short-term agility, ultimately enhancing cross-functional cohesion and driving organizational performance. And the bigger challenge; organisations need to keep the plan and the goals real and lived in the day-to-day. The choice, style and number of goals along with the story they carry into your organisation all need to be considered. And how do you help people connect their day to day back to the organisational goals. Let's start to explore. https://lnkd.in/guiCuajc #strategy #organisationaldesign #culture #goals #KPIs #OKRs #BalancedScoreCard #leadership #management #strategicplan #teams #purpose

In strategy formulation, many leaders struggle with making the hard choices. They often default to action planning instead of building an integrated set of choices that enable the organization to win. Most organizations remain wedded to the status quo, which makes it difficult to craft transformative strategies. Focus is everything in strategy. At its core, strategy is problem solving. It starts with identifying your most painful, high stakes problems and then creating strategies to solve them. My concern is that too often, organizations mistake action plans for strategy. Action planning without a clear underlying strategy only reinforces existing problems. A true organization wide strategy can be documented in fewer than ten pages. By that, I mean a real strategy, one that tackles the fundamental challenges, not a long list of tasks. Remember, each high stakes problem deserves its own strategy.

Planning, Strategy, and Maximum Management: The Trifecta of Business Success In business, success is rarely accidental. It emerges at the intersection of vision, strategy, and disciplined execution. As a business philosopher, I see every enterprise as a system—an organism that requires deliberate thought, planning, and oversight to thrive in a complex and competitive world. Planning is more than a checklist. It is the conscious act of mapping desired outcomes and understanding causality. Peter Drucker, in The Practice of Management (1954), emphasized that “plans are only good intentions unless they immediately degenerate into hard work.” Planning alone, without actionable strategy, is inert. Strategising is the art of translating plans into competitive advantage. Michael Porter’s seminal work, Competitive Strategy (1980), demonstrates that understanding the forces shaping your industry and positioning your organization accordingly is what separates leaders from laggards. Strategy is not a static map; it is a dynamic process of anticipating challenges and creating leverage. Maximum management ensures that strategy is executed with precision. Henri Fayol, often called the father of modern management, argued in General and Industrial Management (1916) that planning, organizing, commanding, coordinating, and controlling are the pillars of effective management. Without oversight, even brilliant strategy collapses. From a philosophical standpoint, business is a moral and intellectual exercise. The failure to plan, strategise, or manage effectively is not just operational—it reflects a lack of foresight and responsibility to stakeholders, employees, and society at large. The enterprise, like a living organism, requires balance, coordination, and purposeful action. In today’s volatile and interconnected economy, businesses that integrate planning, strategy, and maximum management are not merely surviving—they are authoring their future, shaping markets, and contributing to societal development. As I often argue in my work on post-sovereignty thinking, whether in nation-building or corporate leadership, freedom without structure is chaos; vision without strategy is wasted; and strategy without management is impotent. #BusinessPhilosophy #StrategicManagement #Drucker #Porter #Fayol #Leadership #BusinessStrategy #Planning #Execution #CorporateWisdom #PostSovereigntyThought

Growth starts inside. Too many leaders overlook this truth—and it’s costing them. At RED HILLS CONSULTING GROUP, LLC, we’ve seen how often organizations chase external wins while ignoring the internal challenges holding them back. Budgets are tight. Change fatigue is real. And leaders are under pressure to deliver quick results. But here’s the reality: broken systems, siloed teams, and inefficient processes quietly bleed organizations of time, money, and morale. You can’t deliver your mission externally if your foundation is shaky internally. In our latest blog, we share why organizations hesitate to invest in operational excellence, what’s really at stake, and how fixing the inside first unlocks long-term growth. 👉 Read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/ePiU3qjU #VisionToValue #OperationalExcellence #SocialImpact

Strategy is only the beginning. Execution is what drives results. In today’s competitive business landscape, many organizations have a clear strategy—but struggle to bridge the gap between vision and execution. Aligning strategy with execution is the cornerstone of sustainable growth. 🔹 Building strategies rooted in values, vision, and data 🔹 Turning strategy into action through metrics, leadership, and collaboration 🔹 Overcoming execution pitfalls that derail progress The difference between “a plan on paper” and real success comes down to execution. 👉 Read the full article to explore how strategy and execution together create lasting impact.

Growth starts inside. Too many leaders overlook this truth—and it’s costing them. I’ve been asking myself a hard question: 👉 Why do so many organizations hesitate to invest in operational excellence—the very thing that unlocks growth and sustainability? Budgets are tight. Leaders are under pressure for external wins. Change fatigue is real. But ignoring internal challenges has a cost: broken systems, siloed teams, and inefficiencies quietly bleed organizations of time, money, and morale. At Red Hills Consulting Group, we help leaders move from vision to value by: ✅ Clarifying direction ✅ Aligning people + processes ✅ Optimizing performance ✅ Making change stick In my latest blog, I share why organizations hesitate, what’s really at stake, and how fixing the inside first unlocks long-term growth. 👉 Read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/e8Q5giM2 #RedHillsConsulting #VisionToValue #OperationalExcellence

Why some strategies succeed—and others fail I recently came across a McKinsey Quarterly article, “How Strategy Champions Win.” The authors argue that “strategy champions” stand out not only because they design bold strategies but also because they mobilize their organizations effectively. They translate vision into clear initiatives, budgets, and leadership roles—embedding strategy into the DNA of the company. I agree with much of this (minus the nod to hiring McK 😉) — but I’d add that the real challenge often lies earlier: in the thoughtful design of strategy itself. Too often, companies skip the hard work of: 👉 Engaging shareholders: Boards see glossy decks and dividend forecasts but rarely a real discussion with owners and others (not just within the management board) about strategic trade-offs. 👉 Honest assessments: Strategic workshops produce often vague insights (“the market is tough”) but not the courage to admit that a company in a low-margin niche can’t magically achieve high-margin results without deeper changes than just cutting X% of the lowest-paid workforce. Sometimes the bravest move is admitting that ambitions require 6+ years, not 3. Just look at Asia vs. Europe in the automotive industry: patience, honesty, and commitment delivered results. 👉 Budget realism: Transformations demand upfront investment and trade-offs. Strategies fail when every new project must somehow “find” its own resources and deliver payback in 12 months. Without board-level commitment to resource reallocation, change never scales. McKinsey is right: mobilization is crucial. But if the strategy itself isn’t well-designed and grounded in reality, even the best execution will only deliver suboptimal results. ❓ What’s your experience—where do you see the biggest challenge: in design or in mobilization? #Strategy #Leadership #Transformation Read more: [How Strategy Champions Win](https://lnkd.in/dZjV9vcm)

📌 Annual Planning vs. Foresight-Driven Strategy: The Thinking Shift Leaders Need In my previous post, I shared why strategic foresight matters more than annual plans — especially in times of mega disruption. Here’s the next layer. When organizations plan only 12 months ahead, the mindset often becomes: 👉 What do we have now? What do we lack? Therefore, what can or can’t we do this year? That creates a culture of constraints and reaction. But when organizations plan with foresight — 5, 8, even 10 years out — the mindset changes. The question becomes: 👉 Where do we want to be? What must we build, strengthen, or invest in now to get there? That creates a culture of possibility and direction. It’s like planning a long holiday trip. 🌍 First, you set the destination, the, expectation and objectives. 🛫 The route, timing, or stops may change depending on disruptions. But the outcome stays the same. Strategy works the same way: • Annual plans = optimize for what exists today. • Foresight-driven strategy = anchor on where you want to be, and flex the journey to get there as many factors are shifting. In times of mega disruption, this distinction matters more than ever. Without a long-term destination, organizations risk being pulled in every direction by short-term pressures. 💭 How does your organization approach this? Do you plan based on what you have now, or do you start with the destination in mind and work towards it? #business #strategy #innovation #changemanagement #humanresources