Turning Purpose Into Performance

HBR IdeaCast

Harvard Business Review

Leadership, Entrepreneurship, Communication, Marketing, Business, Business/management, Management, Business/marketing, Business/entrepreneurship, Innovation, Hbr, Strategy, Economics, Finance, Teams, Harvard

4.4 • 1.9K Ratings

🗓️ 24 July 2018

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Gerry Anderson, the CEO of DTE Energy, and Robert Quinn and Anjan Thakor, professors at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business and the Olin Business School at Washington University, respectively, discuss how an aspirational mission can motivate employees and improve performance. Anderson talks about his own experience. Quinn and Thakor explain their research showing how leaders can foster a sense of purpose that sharpens competitiveness. They wrote the article “Creating a Purpose-Driven Organization” in the July-August 2018 issue of Harvard Business Review.

Transcript

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0:00.0	When leadership advice feels like buzzwords and platitudes, it's time to get real.
0:05.9	HPR's podcast Coaching Real Leaders brings you behind closed doors as Muriel Wilkins coaches anonymous
0:11.9	leaders through raw honest career questions
0:14.6	that we all face.
0:15.9	Listen and follow coaching real leaders for free
0:18.3	wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to the HBR Ideacast from Harvard Business Review. I'm Kurt Nickish. As president of DTE Energy back in 2004, Jerry Anderson knew he had a problem.
0:52.0	Surveys showed workers at the utility company
0:55.0	were not performing up to their potential.
0:57.0	You know, we weren't a good company then.
1:00.0	Anderson tried to shake things up by adding training, changing incentives, increasing managerial oversight.
1:07.0	The results were disappointing.
1:10.0	That's when he realized his people were not to blame.
1:13.2	His approach was.
1:14.2	I mean, it's a simple thing, but if you want a company to be excellent,
1:20.8	you have to draw people's discretionary energy, their extra energy.
1:25.0	Well, what do you give your extra energy to?
1:28.0	I give it to things I care about and believe in.
1:31.0	On Today's Show, Turning Purpose into performance.
1:35.2	In a bit, we're going to hear from Bob Quinn and Anjan Thacker.
1:38.9	The two business school professors wrote the HBR article, a purpose-driven organization.
1:44.4	It's on the cover of the July-August 2018 issue of Harvard Business Review.
1:49.4	But first we're going to hear from the CEO of a company they wrote about in their article.
	...

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