The Story of Purpose: The Path to Creating a Brighter Brand, a Greater Company, and a Lasting Legacy
Joey Reiman
John S. Wiley & Sons (2013)
The importance of caring for a living
In a previously published book, Thinking for a Living, Joey Reiman shared his thoughts about creating ideas that can revitalize a person’s business, career, and life. In this, his latest book, he shares his thoughts about creating “a brighter brand, a greater company, and a lasting legacy.” The focus is on being passionate about purpose: caring deeply about all the “whys” in one’s life. In a phrase, caring for a living.
“My purpose — and the mission of this book — is to inspire you with the work of the world’s most famous companies and equip you with the tools and strategies you need to make your organization as successful and respected as they are.” Reiman adds, “Most important, you will recognize the power you and your organization have to affect society in a positive and meaningful way.”
To what does the word “story” in the book’s title refer? Think about it: The most effective leaders throughout history were great storytellers who used those skills to attract others who shared their vision, embraced their mission, and became actively engaged in achieving the ultimate goal, whatever it may have been.
Reiman uses his storyteller skills to anchor his insights in real-world human experiences. More specifically, he cites purpose-driven people in companies such as Apple, Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, Nestlé, Newell Rubbermaid, Procter & Gamble, McDonald’s, and Whole Foods Markets. The lessons to be learned from them, Reiman suggests, are directly relevant to almost all other organizations, whatever their size and nature may be.
I presume to add another point: Most of the companies annually ranked among those that are most highly admired and the best to work for are also annually ranked among those that are most profitable and have the greatest cap value in their industry. Coincidence? I don’t think so and neither does Reiman.
These are among the passages of greatest interest and value to me, also listed to suggest the range of subjects that Reiman explores with rigor and eloquence:
o Banking on Purpose (Pages 24-27)
o Principles of a Master Idea (35-38)
o The Power of Beginnings (45-46)
o Culture Fixes What Is Broken (63-66)
o What Are Your Values? (69-70)
o BrightHouse Values and The Value of Values (75-78)
o The Three Ws of [a Sales] Strategy (83-84)
o Locate Your Black Box (96-98)
o Darwin Pays a Visit to Marketing (109-112)
o Heartstorming: The New Brainstorming (133-134)
o Diving into Humanity (143-144)
o Places to Think (151-156)
o Your Motivation: What Drives Your Organization? (182-185)
o Thinking: What’s the Prevailing Mind-set? (186-187)
o How to Make a Dent in the Universe (201-202)
o The Best Business Model on Earth (204-205)
I commend Reiman on his skillful use of various reader-friendly devices that include dozens of bullet-point checklists of key points as well as two end-of-chapter sections for Chapters 1-14, “What is the purpose of this chapter?” and “Purpose Pointers.” These and other devices will facilitate, indeed accelerate frequent review of material later.
No brief commentary such as mine can possibly do full justice to the scope and diversity of material in The Story of Purpose but I hope that I have at least suggested why I think so highly of it and its author. Also, I hope that those who read this commentary will be better prepared to determine whether or not they wish to read the book and, in that event, will have at least some idea of how the information, insights, and counsel provided by Joey Reiman could perhaps be of substantial benefit to them as well as to their own organization.