Pablo Cardona is a professor at the International University of La Rioja. An academic and consultant in the field of business management, talent management and leadership, Cardona has dedicated much of his career to studying and promoting the development of management by missions, a management model focused on organisational purpose and people motivation. During the 10th Symposium Companies with Human Side, we will reflect on “The Great Multiplier of Purpose”.

What is the Great Multiplier of Purpose? 

The Great Purpose Multiplier is the multiplier effect that is achieved by generating an enriching dynamic (what we call fluidity) between the purposes of the company, employees and customers. This effect results from the fact that the three-way interaction reinforces the benefits that can be achieved simply by adding the benefits of the three possible bilateral relationships, namely: company-employee, company-client and employee-client.

What relationship do the three spheres (company, customer and employee) have and how do they contribute to the global purpose?

These three areas are the basic components of business activity. They are not the only stakeholders (because it also includes ownership, society, suppliers, etc.), but they are the main actors of the business activity. A comparison could be made with a football team. While there needs to be a president, a management team, a coach, equipment suppliers, etc., those who play the game are the goalkeeper, defenders, midfielders and strikers. These players are the main actors in football. The interaction between these actors is fundamental to the success of the activity.

What are the biggest challenges companies face when trying to integrate purpose?

The biggest challenge is consistency, which is tested in difficult times. In the Symposium, I will give the positive example of Victorinox, the company that makes the well-known Swiss knives. When air travel with these knives was banned in the wake of 9/11, sales of this product plummeted by 30% overnight. But they managed to keep their workforce safe as a founding value of the company. This consistency exercise strengthened employee loyalty and the company’s reputation with customers. 

The challenge of maintaining consistency is not easy and I will explain how they are doing it today. A negative example I will talk about is Nike, which has traditionally spent a lot of its budget on its brand and corporate reputation with customers. Yet for many years, it failed to value the relationship with its employees (in some cases, minors working in harsh conditions in poor countries). This lack of interest in the company-employee relationship also damaged its reputation and forced the company to change its policy with its employees. To this day, the misalignments between the purposes of the three spheres seem to be repeated.

How do you think the importance of purpose in companies will evolve in the coming years?

As the production process and customer experience incorporates AI, purpose will become even more of a differentiator for companies. Creativity is increasingly easy to copy, imitate and improve, and here, China, a country traditionally deficient when it comes to innovation, is a case in point.  One thing that technology cannot break is the synergy of purpose between company, employee and customer, because this synergy is not on a technological level, but rather on an emotional level.