Common Purpose: How Great Leaders Get Organizations to Achieve the Extraordinary

A solid and readable look at "New Leadership." -- Publishers Weekly, January 18, 2010

Through well-told anecdotes and strong logic, Kurtzman convincingly demonstrates that the essence of leadership is the ability to forge, from a disparate group of individuals, "a creative, dynamic, brave and nearly invincible we." How does one do that? Not by stepping out in front of the group, describing a vision, and leading the charge forward. Rather, Kurtzman's ideal leader is deep in the mix of the organization, causing its values, objectives, and approaches to be internalized by decision makers at every level. -- Harvard Business Review, January-February 2010

Q&A with Joel Kurtzman, author, Common Purpose

What inspired you to write this book?

Years ago, I went to Apple’s Cupertino headquarters to have a discussion with its senior leadership. Not only were people everywhere in the company upbeat and happy, but you could feel the energy snapping through the air. It was very informal — there were even bicycles in some individual’s offices — and people worked day and night. One woman told me she felt she was part of something great and thought of herself as a revolutionary. The next day, I flew to Detroit for meetings and walked into a parts manufacturing company much larger than Apple. As soon as you walked through the doors, you could see, feel and sense the difference. The receptionist did not look up from her newspaper when I walked up to her, people’s faces were downcast; the atmosphere felt lackluster, the CEO was embattled. I began wondering what was responsible for the differences between these two companies. Why was one company so depressing and another so exciting? This led me to the realization that Common Purpose was present at Apple and lacking at the automobile parts company. I spent years testing this hypothesis before writing the book.  

What advice would you give leaders who are trying to unify their people?

Leaders can’t think of themselves as better than their workers, or more favored because they have higher rank. Becoming CEO is not a coronation, it’s a promotion. And CEOs can’t do everything. The purpose of an organization is to combine the efforts of many people to produce results no one on his or her own could achieve alone. Leaders must understand that. They must live the goals they espouse. They must understand that everyone inside the organization is looking at them — scrutinizing them, really — and that every action of theirs is being watched and talked about.  At FM Global, Shivan Subramaniam, the chairman and CEO, decided against buying a corporate jet despite the prodding of his board. Instead, he decided to abide by the same corporate travel rules that every other executive in the company abides by. He even flies on the redeye if he must. By doing this, he sends a powerful signal throughout the company that while he may be the CEO, he’s also an employee, just like everyone else. People value that. People will do almost anything for a leader like that. 

What can people who aren’t “in charge” do to create Common Purpose?

Organization function best when people feel they aren’t being second guessed. They work at their utmost when they have internalized what the company stands for and use those values to make their decisions. If they sense that they are being second-guessed, given conflicting messages, they need to communicate that to the people they work for. They need to make them understand that they take their jobs seriously, even if they rank lower than their bosses. They need to make people understand that they need to own their jobs, so to speak. And, if they are not given ownership of their jobs and allowed to make decisions that are appropriate for what they are doing, they should quit. If a person is frustrated and feels unwanted by his or her organization, the result will be a toxic workplace where people are unhappy and unproductive. If we have only one life to live, we should not spend it in a place where we are not valued or allowed to contribute fully.