Are we missing the point of ‘purpose’?

Corporate social responsibility is on the minds of consumers and employees alike, but co-opted (or feigned) values are more of a detriment than an attribute, the author posits.

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With January having limped to an un-mourned end, we can wave sheepishly goodbye to the new beginnings, dietary restrictions and idealized versions of ourselves we committed to as 2020 dawned.

Yet whatever level of control we fondly believe we have over our personal lives, nothing can match the confidence of the predictions we apply to the world of work at this time of year.

With this being the turn not just of a new year but a new decade, the breadth and scope of the pronouncements have been satisfyingly broad.

Predictions include everything from the demise of human-mediated communication in the face of a new AI age to a return of a long-lost golden era of creative craft.

Has ‘purpose’ run its course?

However provocative or farfetched the fortune telling, one theme seems to unite all commentators as the foundational truth of this century’s third decade: We’ve reached “peak purpose.”

It’s perhaps understandable that the humble, hardworking majority of us are quick to celebrate the passing of this particular obsession.

Most of us are not spearheading a celebrity-studded campaign riding the latest wave of cultural consciousness. Instead, we’re working hard every day to deliver commercial outcomes for equally pressured clients.

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