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Roy Spence

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It's Not What You Sell, It's What You Stand for: Why Every Extraordinary Business Is Driven by Purpose [ITS NOT WHAT YOU SELL ITS WHAT] [Hardcover] Hardcover – January 1, 2009

by Jr. Spence, Roy M (Author)

4.4 82 ratings

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Who is Roy Spence and what makes him the "Pied Piper of Purpose"?

Over the last thirty-five years, Roy Spence has helped organizations such as Southwest Airlines, BMW, the University of Texas, Walmart, the Clinton Global Initiative, and many others achieve greatness by getting them to obsess about one big idea: purpose. With purpose as the North Star, employee engagement is higher, competition is less threatening, customers are more loyal, and innovation flows. It's the secret to developing a more fulfilling work life as well as a healthier bottom line.

Simply put, purpose is a definitive statement about the difference you are trying to make in the world. As Spence writes, "It's your reason for being that goes beyond making moneyand it almost always results in making more money than you ever thought possible." It's not "soft stuff," as some might scoff. Especially during times of great economic uncertainty, purpose is the key to creating and maintaining a high-performing organization. It deserves just as much attention as strategy, execution, and innovation.

A real purpose can't just be words on a piece of paper. It has to get under the skin of every member of your organizationlike Southwest's purpose of "democratizing the skies" or Walmart's of "saving people money so they can live better." If you get it right, your people will feel great about what they're doing, clear about their goals, and excited to get to work every morning. No organization is too big or too small, too niche or too mundane, to benefit from a clearly defined purpose.

Spence and coauthor Haley Rushing share their insider insights and case studies to help youdiscover your organization's purpose, proclaim it to the world, and apply it to everything you do. This book will force you to address some tough and profound questions:

* What difference do we want to make in the world?
* What do we really stand for?
* Do we have purpose-based leaders in key roles?
* Do our employees feel like what they do matters?
* Would our customers miss us if we ceased to exist?
* Do we bring our purpose to life everywhere we canboth internally and externally?

Spence's hard-won lessons will change the way you view your job, your business model, your leadership style, and your marketing. They will help you make money, make a difference, andwith a little luckmake history.

Print length

336 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Unknown
Publication date

January 1, 2009
ISBN-10

161558174X
ISBN-13

978-1615581740
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Greg McKeown
18,946
Paperback
106 offers from $4.34
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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Unknown (January 1, 2009)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 336 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 161558174X
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1615581740

Customer Reviews:
4.4 82 ratings

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Just What I Needed

MBA Students Need To Read

Reviewed in the United States on June 17, 2010

Verified Purchase

This book is way better than I expected. I didn't even know you could write a 300 page book about purpose. I really bought it because Amazon had it at Bargain Price. Mr. Spence spends the book highlighting a few companies: Wal-Mart, Southwest Airlines, Red Cross, AARP, Charles Schwab, John Deere, Whole Foods and others. Yet he clearly shows the correlation between their success and their ultimate purpose. There are many companies that don't have purpose yet they make money and are extremely successful. However, those companies aren't the ones we root for. Those companies are successful at the expense of its stakeholders. The top three things I've learned are:

- Employees need purpose. Many people wake up not knowing why they get up to go to work every morning. If you share your purpose with employees you will become more than just a paycheck to them.

- Defend employees over your customers when necessary. A customer can be replaced but a chastized employee can be a cancer to your organization and make even more customers upset.

- Stick to your purpose and strategy even if competitors are doing something that seems more successful. This is not stubborness, but awareness of the fact that you can't be all things to everyone.

We look at many companies, but I don't think we recognize a purpose in each. He could have added Apple, whose main purpose in recent years has been a kind of anti-Microsoft movement. This purpose moves both employees and customers.

Great Read!

12 people found this helpful

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Russell Straub

Excellent for those seeking to define the "purpose" in their career and personal life

Reviewed in the United States on May 13, 2011

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If you've been feeling like your work life might be lacking a higher calling or purpose - something beyond simply making money, then reading this book will help you begin to articulate a process for determining and defining that "purpose". Overall the book is excellent, although some of the case study type examples might be hard to relate to, most probably will resonate. We've made this a must read for all the staff at our company and have been using it as the reference material for engaging the staff within the company to seek out and articulate our company's purpose. We now feel like articulating a simple, elegant and inspiring "purpose" is essential to give our staff cohesion, direction and inspiration and prevent us from devolving into a band of individuals - "just doing their job" each day. (We're not done yet - this is a really, really hard process.....but it is inspiring to have Roy Spence's decades of experience as a guiding light!) Plus - this is simply one book among a whole collection of books that are must reads at our company - that have been helping provide us all with a common language and inspiration for continuing to grow the business and keeping it fun.

3 people found this helpful

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Jocelyne Daw

What you stand for - critical today

Reviewed in the United States on December 3, 2009

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In today's world of multiple choices, clutter and people who are just too busy to notice or even care, standing for something is the only way forward. Great book, good examples and practical advice to advance how you can stand up and stand out.

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Dean Harrington

Tells you purpose is important, which I already knew.

Reviewed in the United States on May 28, 2018

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If you’ve picked up this book, odds are, you know core purpose is essential to your company’s success. I needed a better “how to” for arriving at our CP, not a reminder of how important it is.

Yes, the book will give you some distinctions and mindsets that will help lead you down the path to identifying your CP but I was hoping for a bit more instruction in that regard.

If you’re not sure CP is important then this book is ideal for you. The author does a good job with that.

One person found this helpful

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M. P. Barry

Thoughtful Business Book

Reviewed in the United States on June 16, 2009

Verified Purchase

Roy Spence has a definitive point of view on understanding and defining purpose and he explains it in a logical, engaging way using examples drawn from his experiences at GSDM's Idea City. Perhaps because I was already familiar with some of the examples that he used, they were especially relevant and instructive.

I read the book on a business trip (Kindle version) and was sufficiently taken by the concept to apply it at work when I returned. The consideration of how each element of strategy would relate to the group's purpose served to sharpen our discussions and I believe the end product (revised strategy) was considerably improved.

I recommended this book as a useful read that succeeds at both conceptual and practical levels, and which will be relevant to anyone engaged in or wishing to understand strategic discussions.

One person found this helpful

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simon k.

Outstanding reference for building brands with purpose

Reviewed in the United States on April 29, 2021

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Well written and very illuminating. A valuable reference for anyone responsible for, or helping to build great brands from the inside out. As relevant today as it was when first published. Not the newest, but still relevant today and one of the best no-nonsense books on the subject. Highly recommended!

Reviewed in the United States on May 14, 2013

Verified Purchase

Very true in todays world, where we are pulled in many directions. It helps younger people understand more about what to do to get ahead and stay true to what they set out to achieve in life. You have a short time to achieve something this will help you find it.
I enjoyed it and took something from it. I used this as the basis for a speech and it did the trick nicely. I also heard a big Australian Business entrapreneur recommend this book at a business luncheon i attended as inspirational reading material.

Mitch
Brisbane

One person found this helpful

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mark j. guay

Great Suff

Reviewed in the United States on January 24, 2014

Verified Purchase

This book clears the "fog of business" tips by instead focusing on why you do business in the first place. I gave it as a gift to aspiring entrepreneurs to save them years of learning the hard way what business is not about. Read this book BEFORE you start a company to save yourself a lot of mistakes.

One person found this helpful

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