A fresh approach to making purpose work.
#1 Amazon Bestseller In Business Teams Leadership (May 2024)
#3 Most Gifted in Career Guidance (June 2024)
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"Bold. Practical. Timely."
Jessica Jensen, Chief Marketing Officer,
Indeed
"Combining profound research insight with rich field experience, Butler and Price shed new light on how purpose actually works."
Dan Witters, Research Director, Gallup National Health and Well-Being Index
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"Finally, what managers and employees have been missing: a reliable formula for turning purpose into performance."
Jen Sanning, Vice President,
Forrester
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"Captivates from the start."
Jodie Goulden, Founder,
Orgdesign Works
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"Goodbye, empty buzzwords. Hello, actionable tactics."
David Takahashi, President,
Highbridge Human Capital
All formats available for purchase now.
How can WHY work better?
(From the cover of Why Is a Verb: How Well-Managed Teams Turn Purpose into Productivity by Stephen Butler and Karissa Price)
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Everyone wants work to matter.
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Employees want the joy of having impact.
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Leaders want the impact.
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Top value creators, from Apple to Tesla, show what can happen when purpose and productivity mesh.
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Less clear? How to replicate such success.
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Over half a century, experts’ preferred practice—publishing purpose or WHY statements—has become a standard ritual among high aspiration organizations.
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Yet something isn’t working.
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Less than 1 in 3 leaders actually uses these tools.
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Barely 1 in 5 employees feels engaged.
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Productivity growth has fallen to historic lows.​
“I often feel like a musician who can’t hear themselves play.”
- Gen Z Employee
This book proposes a bold new approach, the product of a unique five-year quest by two social scientists-turned-management practitioners.
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Combining years of field work with research insight, it reveals how
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Humans’ distinctive need for purpose has driven our flourishing as a species
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The feeling has been dulled by modern work and life
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Tapping its power means going beyond articulation.
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What emerges is a fresh perspective on what purpose-driven leadership really entails: less talking about the company’s impact, than helping employees feel their own.
Sound good? Curious to learn more? Download an exclusive excerpt.