Douglas A. Ready

Emily Truelove

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 <h4 class="ideainbrief-title">Idea in Brief</h4>
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 Against all odds, some companies come through hard times stronger than ever.
 Sephora was nearly out of business a decade ago, yet the beauty retailer is now opening an average of two stores a week—a turnaround launched at an especially low moment for consumer luxuries.
 For the Four Seasons hotel chain, bookings are up dramatically since 2008, even though the recession struck a considerable blow at luxury travel.
 The French food giant Danone struggled for decades to make its mark in the United States, fighting Americans’ lack of interest in yogurt. Now the company is poised to triple its U.S. growth over the next few years.
 How do they do it? Instead of focusing on one goal, employees shape a collective ambition: a shared sense of purpose, how the company will fulfill it and track progress, and how leaders and others will behave every day as they achieve and sustain excellence.
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</article-ideainbrief>The latest recession hit hard, and many businesses suffered serious damage. But some came out stronger than ever. There were winners even in industries where you might have expected the most serious blows—luxury businesses like hospitality and beauty, for instance. A handful of players, in those industries and others, not only weathered the storm but found a renewed sense of purpose. How did they become the exceptions?

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Reprint: R1112F 
In the past few years, some companies have not just weathered the economic storm: They&#8217;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&#8217;s reason for existence, is the central element of collective ambition. The other elements&#8212;vision, targets and milestones, strategic and operational priorities, brand promise, core values, and leader behaviors&#8212;must be aligned to serve the company&#8217;s purpose. 
Articulating the elements of collective ambition can give everyone in the organization a better sense of the company&#8217;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&#8212;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).

The Power of Collective Ambition

Reprint: R1112F 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).

The Power of Collective Ambition

Summary.

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