MIT Sloan Management Review Article on Job, Career, or Purpose?

The importance of purpose is a common refrain in the modern workplace and in the popular press. Organizations and their leaders should work diligently to instill a sense of purpose in each one of their employees, we’re told. But the Great Resignation laid bare the fact that many employees simply don’t care about a company’s purpose; they want a stable career or, sometimes, just a job for the time being. Furthermore, some of those employees will never care about their organization’s purpose.

This notion, which is often glossed over in writings on instilling purpose, should give leaders pause. Oft-cited management advice like “If an employee’s motivation is lacking, try to help them understand how their work contributes to our organization’s purpose” must be called into question if the employee does not and will not ever care about the organization’s purpose.

About the Author

Charn P. McAllister (@charnmcallister) is the director of Northern Arizona University’s Institute for Public and Professional Ethics in Leadership and an assistant professor of management in the W.A. Franke College of Business. Curtis L. Odom is an executive professor of management in the D’Amore-McKim School of Business at Northeastern University in Boston. He is also the managing partner at Prescient Strategists, a distinguished principal researcher at The Conference Board, and a member of the Forbes Coaches Council.

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