Hello friends and supporters,

At Purpose Group, we buy, grow, and hold purpose-driven businesses. We believe business should be a profitable force for good in the world, and we are inspired to help prove that notion one portfolio business at a time.

A “leadership-empowerment company”

The more we continue on our journey—almost two years now—the more we have come to realize that, at our heart, we’re a leadership-empowerment company. Our main job is to help leadership teams build and grow great businesses.

In past updates, I’ve shared the first two steps of The Purpose Playbook™️ process: building a trusting leadership team and developing a team’s PVTV (Purpose, Vision, Tenets, and Values). In this update, I’ll share details about the third phase of our process: implementing The Great Game of Business.

But first…

Most of what I share about Purpose Group is in my book series, The Turnaround Leadership Series. My fifth book, The Purpose Playbook, is available for pre-order. It is focused on helping people implement our process. If you’d like to dive deeper or know someone who could benefit from a purpose-driven operational approach to building their team or business, please consider it!

Phase 3: The Great Game of Business

I am a massive fan of the Great Game of Business, developed by Jack Stack in 1983. Eventually, he produced a book and made his case for building a business that brings everyone together around a common goal, mimicking the mentality and teamwork of a sports team.

I was fortunate enough to play college tennis, and I loved being on a team. As a tennis player, you’re typically a one-person act. Sure, sometimes you play doubles, but for the most part, it’s you versus your opponent.

But in college, you’re on a team. I loved having teammates, working together to improve – individually and as a team – and sharing the common goal of winning the conference championship.

Here’s a shot of me and my doubles partner getting a pep talk from Coach:

After college, while building my first company, Spunlogic, we had a small team for many years. I mistook the camaraderie and esprit de corps for granted, not realizing that, with a small team, that kind of unity is fairly easy. But as my companies grew, it became harder and harder for everyone to be on the same page and excited about the company’s growth.

And then I read Jack’s book, and it all became clear. At its heart, the Great Game of Business is a set of practices that aim to create a more engaged and empowered workforce, ultimately leading to improved business performance. Here’s a breakdown of its key components:

• Open-Book Management: Transparency is central to the Great Game. Employees are given access to financial information and educated on how their actions impact the company’s bottom line. This fosters a sense of ownership and shared responsibility for the company’s success.

• The Game: Business operations are framed as a “game” with clear goals and scorecards. This makes work more engaging and motivates employees to achieve specific targets.

• Employee Ownership: Employees are often given the opportunity to own a stake in the company through stock options or other mechanisms. This aligns their interests with the company’s long-term success.

• Education & Training: Continuous learning is encouraged. Employees are provided with training and development opportunities to enhance their skills and knowledge.

• High-Involvement Planning: Employees are actively involved in setting goals and creating strategies. This empowers them and ensures they are committed to achieving the company’s objectives.

• Sharing the Rewards: When the company performs well, employees share in the financial gains through bonuses or profit-sharing programs. This reinforces the connection between their efforts and the company’s success.

In essence, the Great Game of Business seeks to transform a workplace into a collaborative environment where everyone understands the business, contributes to its success, and benefits from its achievements.

I’ve been practicing The Great Game at my companies for a decade, and I’ve found it, or some system like it, to be a fundamental necessity in bringing a business together toward a common goal.

My fourth book, The Great Team Turnaround, gives a high-level view of the Great Game of Business, and I even include its creator, Jack Stack, in the book as a character. I met Jack at this annual conference a few years back, where I was asked to give a keynote talk on our purpose-driven approach to running the game. I think I captured him well in the book 🙂

(Chunks of The Purpose Playbook exist in the four books I’ve written in The Turnaround Leadership Series, and as I mentioned above, my fifth book is now available for pre-order.)

Trust + Purpose + Teamwork

The Great Game of Business, or some other way to bring an entire company together around a shared goal (with buy-in of the goal and an understanding of how each person contributes to achieving the goal), is the final component to effectively building out The Purpose Playbook. Each component works in a flywheel sort of way to unlock a team’s true potential.

And when that happens…well, I’ve seen people’s lives changed when they find themselves on a team that supports them, working toward a goal they believe in. And that, at the end of the day, is what we’re trying to do at Purpose Group.

And as always, I hope you’re happy.