How do you build a company with Purpose?
I went to an event last month, “Building Companies with Purpose,” that featured representatives from Salesforce, AirBnb, Lyft, and AdRoll. While the speakers worked in the areas of employee engagement, CSR, or Public Policy within their respective companies, it was clear that they couldn’t do their jobs and create impact without senior leaders having first taken steps to embed Purpose into their organizations.
The primary learning was to put in place well-articulated, clear, strong values that can shape culture and guide company and employee decisions and behaviors. In listening to the all of the panelists, it became clear that values set the intention for operating as a company with Purpose and informed day-to-day choices and actions. Each gave examples of how these values came to life:
A few years ago, Airbnb rearticulated its mission as being about “belonging” and continues to further articulate what that purpose means. At the beginning of 2018, CEO Brian Chesky wrote in an open letter: “We imagine a world where every one of us can belong anywhere. A world where you can go to any community and someone says, ‘Welcome home.’” The company also has well-articulated values, two of the four which I’ll call out:
Champion the Mission: Prioritize work that advances the mission and positively impacts the community; Build with the long-term in mind; Actively participate in the community and culture
Be a host: Care for others and make them feel like they belong; Encourage others to participate to their fullest; Listen, communicate openly and set clear expectations
Adam Thongsavat, Deputy Campaign Manager at Airbnb, suggested that this clarity on purpose and values led to the company buying its first ever Super Bowl ad that aired in 2017 in response to President Trump’s first travel ban with copy that read: “We believe no matter who you are, where you’re from, who you love or who you worship, we all belong…. The world is more beautiful the more you accept.” The decision to create the ad and time to produce it was tight (the ad was made in just three days), but having its purpose and values clear allowed Airbnb to respond to a moment this quickly.
While the other companies are more new to the block, Salesforce has been leading the way and acting as a role model in this area for some time. Today on the company’s website, they define their culture on several dimensions, including values:
“We are an Ohana of Trailblazers–inclusive of our customers, employees, partners, and communities…. We take care of each other, have fun together, and work collaboratively to make the world a better place.”
Their values are “trust, growth, innovation, and equality.”
They articulate behaviors to guide actions: “The way we behave — with integrity, transparency, alignment, and accountability.”
Jamie Olsen, Senior Director, Employee Engagement Programs at Salesforce.org talked about how the company has had a culture of giving from the start. They explain it:
“Giving back is at the heart of Salesforce. Through Salesforce.org, we empower nonprofit and educational organizations with technology, community engagement, and strategic grants. From the beginning, giving back was the best decision we ever made — it created a culture that attracts and retains the best and the brightest, and allows our employees to be change makers in their own communities.”
One of Adroll’s values is, “Do right by the customer and community.” This is super clear and set the intention for participating with and giving back to the community, guiding a lot of the company’s employee engagement activities, as led by Shelly Vernick, Director of Employee Engagement and Diversity & Inclusion at the company.
Finally, Lyft also operates with a clear mission and values, as articulated by VP Marketing Melissa Waters in this article:
“The mission to improve people’s lives through the world’s best transportation….
“We have three values all employees are introduced to during on-boarding: be yourself, uplift others, and make it happen.”
Brian McGuigan, Senior Manager of Public Affairs at Lyft, shared how giving back is built into the company with elements such as its Day of Volunteering and an ability for riders to donate to causes after a ride.
The second takeaway from the evening was the power of senior leaders making a stated and real commitment to the company’s Purpose. Again, Salesforce has long been a company that gives back and has pledged 1%, having turned this commitment into an organization and movement for other companies to follow.
“Salesforce.org is based on a simple idea: Leverage our technology, people, and resources to improve communities throughout the world. We call our integrated philanthropic approach the 1-1-1 model. Since our founding, we have given more than $230 million in grants, 3.2 million hours of community service, and provided product donations for more than 37,000 nonprofits and higher education institutions.”
“Pledge 1% invites all entrepreneurs and their companies to commit important resources (product, time, and resources) to support integrating philanthropy into their business from an early stage.”
Similar to Airbnb’s reaction to President Trump’s travel ban, Lyft reacted similarly and made a commitment to support the ACLU.
“This weekend, Trump closed the country's borders to refugees, immigrants, and even documented residents from around the world based on their country of origin. Banning people of a particular faith or creed, race or identity, sexuality or ethnicity, from entering the U.S. is antithetical to both Lyft's and our nation's core values. We stand firmly against these actions, and will not be silent on issues that threaten the values of our community.”
“We stand with you, and are donating $1,000,000 over the next four years to the ACLU to defend our constitution. We ask that you continue to be there for each other - and together, continue proving the power of community.”
Brian Chesky in his same early 2018 open letter noted above shared more about how the Airbnb will commit to its Purpose:
“What is the purpose of a company? I would say its purpose is to realize its vision. But even this is no longer enough. We must realize our vision and ensure our vision is good for society. This means that we must have the best interest of three stakeholders in mind: Airbnb the company (employees and shareholders), Airbnb the community (guests and hosts) and the world outside of Airbnb.”
The third and final lesson was to listen to and leverage the company’s community to shape when and how a company acts. This is an acknowledgement that a company shouldn’t operate from an ivory tower and that consumers want to participate with brands today.
For example, in 2012 after Hurricane Sandy, Airbnb’s community reached out to the company asking how they could offer free accommodations to people who needed housing. The company hadn’t anticipated such a use case, and there was no way to offer an accommodation for free. But the company rallied, and the engineers quickly developed a solution that was deployed to help match hosts and guests. Now Airbnb officially has an offer, Open Homes, that continues to facilitate this support.
Brian McGuigan, Senior Manager of Public Affairs at Lyft, shared how the company back in 2014 had been inspired by drivers’ self-led volunteer efforts and wanted to support other activities that could benefit cities around the country. The Lyft for Good program crowdsourced ideas from drivers and others in the community that Lyft then supported and helped execute.
I appreciated listening to the representatives from these companies, because they offered real examples of how their companies have built Purpose-driven companies and navigate and execute on doing good and contributing to our society. They show us it’s possible and shed light on how senior leaders must build Purpose into their foundation, make a stated commitment to guide company and employee behavior, and continue to listen to their communities to inform a deepening of their efforts.