McLeod & More,
Wednesday, December 7, 2016
If someone asked your team, what’s the purpose of your business? How would they answer? If your team believes, the purpose of your business is to make money; your organization is doomed to mediocrity.
Business expert Lisa McLeod says, “Organizations with a Noble Purpose bigger than money outperform the market by over 350%.” Case in point, McLeod’s client, publicly traded Cloud Company Blackbaud (BLKB) rallied their team around a Noble Purpose and drove stock price up by 70%.
When Mike Gianoni took the helm of the Charleston, SC-based firm in January of 2014, Blackbaud was hurting. Stock price was declining, earnings were flat and customers were frustrated with lack of updates to products.
Most CEOs would have jumped in to rally their team around increasing revenue and earnings. But with McLeod’s help, Gianoni did something counterintuitive. Instead of focusing on money, he infused meaning into the Blackbaud culture. At Town Halls, instead of talking about financials, Gianoni brought in customers to discuss the positive impact Blackbaud products were having on their lives and organizations.
Gianoni wanted his people to know, creating and selling software wasn’t just a job, it was a Noble Purpose that impacted millions of people. He says, “The engineer is sitting there saying, I built that. That’s what people go home and talk to their spouses about. They don’t go home and talk about EBIDAT and stock price.”
Focusing his team on a Noble Purpose bigger than money was the rallying cry Blackbaud needed. Blackbaud’s 2500-plus employees are passionate about their clients. The passion paid off. Blackbaud quickly became a destination employer, and employee engagement scores soared. During Gianoni’s first two years at Blackbaud (BLKB) revenue increased from $504 million to $638 million and stock price is up over 70%. Blackbaud’s sales team used McLeod’s Selling with Noble Purpose model to win the hearts and minds of their people, and their customers.
McLeod says, “Leaders often make the mistake of putting the financials first. But as a leader, you have a choice: you can tell a money story or a meaning story. It’s the meaning story that actually drives performance. The true and noble purpose of an organization is to improve the lives of customers. Financial metrics are lagging indicators. Money is the result of your work, not the purpose of it. When Blackbaud embraced their Noble Purpose (improve life for customers) the money followed.”
McLeod and her team launched The Noble Purpose Institute to help others replicate the Noble Purpose methodology. McLeod says, “Noble Purpose creates competitive differentiation and emotional engagement, which are what actually drive financial success.”
Major organizations like Flight Centre and Roche utilize McLeod’s methodology. And several notable fast tracks like Hootsuite, G Adventures and Explorys have used Noble Purpose to accelerate growth, in some cases doubling, and even tripling revenue, in short time frames. Detailed results HERE.
McLeod says, “Entrepreneurs need a compelling story to attract customers, investors and top talent. I created The Noble Purpose Institute to help entrepreneurs jump start growth.”
Watch the Forbes.com interview with Mike Gianoni and Lisa Earle McLeod
