To Build a Great Company, Focus on Purpose, Not Profits.

It’s an unusually warm fall Thursday afternoon in Eastern Market, Detroit.

I’m on week two of rebuilding the GreenLancer website. A true labor of love. Wix, our ‘drag and drop’ website builder, is once again giving me trouble and I can’t get the right spacing on mobile.

My eyes are tired from staring at the screen all day. Where did that button go? Did I write the meta description for that product page yet? Why won’t the form show up properly on the contact us page?

I’m so in the weeds I don’t even realize it’s way past time to pack up and go home.

“What are we doing here?”

It’s a question I come back to often as it relates to work.

Not hopelessly, but to inspire bigger ideas.

What are you doing here? At your job? At your company? In your career?

Sometimes, you can get so focused on the tactical you lose sight of what that bigger picture even is.

It’s easy for us to see the big picture at GreenLancer. We’re a crucial piece to accelerating the adoption of renewable energy by making it simple for solar and EVC installers to find qualified, scalable design and engineering solutions which allows them to install projects faster.

What we’re doing has a direct impact on the future of our world.

And while not all companies have an inherent purpose, they can, and they should.

Because it’s the difference between your team always getting stuck in the weeds or being able to pick their head up and see the bigger purpose of what they’re doing to stay engaged in the long run.

Photo courtesy of GreenLancer

What does it mean to be a Purpose-Driven Company?

We’ve seen a growing number of businesses moving from a strictly profit focus to embracing broader purposes that bring value beyond the bottom line and addressing global challenges; climate change, social inequality, community development, etc.

It gives their employees purpose beyond the day-to-day. That purpose keeps employees engaged, fulfilled, and feeling like their work has meaning.

Let’s be clear, purpose-driven is not fluffy, and it has a real impact on the companies who live it. It means your numbers follow your purpose, and not vice versa. It means you prioritize some social, environmental, or ethical goal alongside your financial performance.

It’s pursuing a vision and mission beyond just making money. 

This could mean local impact through volunteer work, charitable activities, and support for social and environmental causes. It could be providing value to the world directly through the company's work; or a blend of the two.

A great example is Ben & Jerry's. An ice cream company with a long-standing social and environmental responsibility commitment. The company sources Fairtrade-certified ingredients, supports numerous social justice initiatives, and advocates for environmental sustainability. 

How Working for a Vision-Driven Company Shapes Our Experiences

Anecdotally, you already know that having a sense of purpose improves your sense of fulfillment. But let’s look at the numbers.

Particularly, Gen Z and millennials want to work for companies that align with their values.

Numerous surveys, including the 2024 Deloitte Global 2024 Gen Z and Millennial Study, reflect how much these generations value purpose-driven work

• 86% of Gen Zs and 89% of millennials say having a sense of purpose is important to their overall job satisfaction and well-being
• 44% of Gen Zs and 40% of millennials report having turned down an employer based on their personal ethics or beliefs
• 46% of Gen Zs and 42% of millennials say they have already changed or plan to change their job or industry due to climate concerns
  
  

There’s this fundamental human need to contribute — to others, to society, to a greater purpose. It’s seemingly wired into our DNA. Contributing and being useful makes us feel a sense of purpose and connection.

Photo courtesy of GreenLancer

It can create motivation, add direction to our lives. It can compel us to generate massive impact.

We’re just starting to see the importance of working for and being a purpose-driven company. This trend will continue to grow and separate the profit-only-losers from the purpose-driven-winners.

So if workplaces that create positive change also create positive ROI, it seems that by focusing not strictly on profits, that you’ll end up with more profits.

Funny how that works.

Curious about our own purpose-driven organization? Learn more about what we do at GreenLancer.

About Matt Rea

Matt is a revenue executive with over 10 years of experience leading teams at startup and growth stage companies. He is currently the VP of Revenue Operations at GreenLancer where he leads the marketing, sales, and customer success efforts of the company to grow revenue.

To learn more about GreenLancer, visit www.greenlancer.com. They are currently hiring! If you’re interested in working with a mission-driven organization and a supportive employee culture, check out their open roles and apply now.