How real is your purpose?

People are more motivated to work when a company's purpose is meaningful and aligns with them. Just know this: you can't trick your people for long.

For example, if you work for a tech company in the health and wellness space, your company's purpose is probably something related to better living or longevity.

You would expect to serve people, thus, generate revenue related to better living or longevity. Right?

But, if revenue is generated not by providing valuable resources but by annoying customers to death with pop-up ads, so they sign up for premium accounts just to stop pop-ups, is that really in alignment with the purpose?

If your company can't make money at its proclaimed purpose, maybe there is no market for it. Or, perhaps, something else is wrong.

In the tech health company example, if they can't make money helping people live better or longer, and they spend resources on algorithm maneuvers instead of building expert reputations, the purpose is not real.

The employees know it.

They won't fall for gut-wrenching speeches about how much you care about your customers, when all you're doing is minimal service then badger customers to get them to subscribe.

The employees see it, and it won't take long before customers see it too.

So, if you wonder about mediocrity or employee engagement, here is one thing to assess: How real is your purpose?