title: The power of collective ambition.
abstract: In the past few years, some companies have not just weathered the economic storm: They've emerged stronger than ever. How did such players as Four Seasons, Sephora, and Standard Chartered Bank defy conventional logic? Instead of pursuing a single ambition, such as profits, employees defined a collective ambition. As a result, those organizations deepened their engagement with employees and other stakeholders and became sustainably profitable. Purpose, a company's reason for existence, is the central element of collective ambition. The other elements--vision, targets and milestones, strategic and operational priorities, brand promise, core values, and leader behaviors--must be aligned to serve the company's purpose. Articulating the elements of collective ambition can give everyone in the organization a better sense of the company's purpose and how they can contribute to it. Purpose does not have to be about saving the world; providing excellent entertainment or banking services is just as meaningful a purpose as improving health care in emerging economies--as long as it is an authentic representation of why the company exists. To shape and then achieve a collective ambition, companies must strengthen their organizational glue (the collaborative engagement that creates a unified culture) and grease (the disciplined execution that enterprisewide change initiatives require).
authors.affiliation: Kenan-Flagler Business School, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA.
authors.forename: Douglas A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Ready
authors.forename: Emily
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Truelove
mesh_terms: D003132:Commerce; D003258:Consumer Behavior; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D057172:Economic Recession; D017598:Efficiency, Organizational; D006040:Goals; D006801:Humans; D019982:Organizational Case Studies; D014481:United States