statement of purpose in business plan examples

9 Examples: How to Write a Purpose Statement

By Status.net Editorial Team on September 30, 2023 — 15 minutes to read

• Key Elements of a Purpose Statement Part 1
• How to Write a Purpose Statement Step-by-Step Part 2
• Identifying Your Goals Part 3
• Defining Your Audience Part 4
• Outlining Your Methods Part 5
• Stating the Expected Outcomes Part 6
• Purpose Statement Example for a Research Paper Part 7
• Purpose Statement Example For Personal Goals Part 8
• Purpose Statement Example For Business Objectives Part 9
• Purpose Statement Example For an Essay Part 10
• Purpose Statement Example For a Proposal Part 11
• Purpose Statement Example For a Report Part 12
• Purpose Statement Example For a Project Part 13
• Purpose Statement Templates Part 14

A purpose statement is a vital component of any project, as it sets the tone for the entire piece of work. It tells the reader what the project is about, why it’s important, and what the writer hopes to achieve.

Part 1 Key Elements of a Purpose Statement

When writing a purpose statement, there are several key elements that you should keep in mind. These elements will help you to create a clear, concise, and effective statement that accurately reflects your goals and objectives.

1. The Problem or Opportunity

The first element of a purpose statement is the problem or opportunity that you are addressing. This should be a clear and specific description of the issue that you are trying to solve or the opportunity that you are pursuing.

2. The Target Audience

The second element is the target audience for your purpose statement. This should be a clear and specific description of the group of people who will benefit from your work.

3. The Solution

The third element is the solution that you are proposing. This should be a clear and specific description of the action that you will take to address the problem or pursue the opportunity.

4. The Benefits

The fourth element is the benefits that your solution will provide. This should be a clear and specific description of the positive outcomes that your work will achieve.

5. The Action Plan

The fifth element is the action plan that you will follow to implement your solution. This should be a clear and specific description of the steps that you will take to achieve your goals.

Part 2 How to Write a Purpose Statement Step-by-Step

Writing a purpose statement is an essential part of any research project. It helps to clarify the purpose of your study and provides direction for your research. Here are some steps to follow when writing a purpose statement:

• Start with a clear research question: The first step in writing a purpose statement is to have a clear research question. This question should be specific and focused on the topic you want to research.
• Identify the scope of your study: Once you have a clear research question, you need to identify the scope of your study. This involves determining what you will and will not include in your research.
• Define your research objectives: Your research objectives should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. They should also be aligned with your research question and the scope of your study.
• Determine your research design: Your research design will depend on the nature of your research question and the scope of your study. You may choose to use a qualitative, quantitative, or mixed-methods approach.
• Write your purpose statement: Your purpose statement should be a clear and concise statement that summarizes the purpose of your study. It should include your research question, the scope of your study, your research objectives, and your research design.

Research question: What are the effects of social media on teenage mental health?

Scope of study: This study will focus on teenagers aged 13-18 in the United States.

Research objectives: To determine the prevalence of social media use among teenagers, to identify the types of social media used by teenagers, to explore the relationship between social media use and mental health, and to provide recommendations for parents, educators, and mental health professionals.

Research design: This study will use a mixed-methods approach, including a survey and interviews with teenagers and mental health professionals.

Purpose statement: The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of social media on teenage mental health among teenagers aged 13-18 in the United States. The study will use a mixed-methods approach, including a survey and interviews with teenagers and mental health professionals. The research objectives are to determine the prevalence of social media use among teenagers, to identify the types of social media used by teenagers, to explore the relationship between social media use and mental health, and to provide recommendations for parents, educators, and mental health professionals.

Part 3 Section 1: Identifying Your Goals

Before you start writing your purpose statement, it’s important to identify your goals. To do this, ask yourself the following questions:

• What do I want to achieve?
• What problem do I want to solve?
• What impact do I want to make?

Once you have a clear idea of your goals, you can start crafting your purpose statement. Your purpose statement should be a clear and concise statement that outlines the purpose of your work.

For example, if you’re writing a purpose statement for a business, your statement might look something like this:

“Our purpose is to provide high-quality products and services that improve the lives of our customers and contribute to the growth and success of our company.”

If you’re writing a purpose statement for a non-profit organization, your statement might look something like this:

“Our purpose is to improve the lives of underserved communities by providing access to education, healthcare, and other essential services.”

Remember, your purpose statement should be specific, measurable, and achievable. It should also be aligned with your values and goals, and it should inspire and motivate you to take action.

Part 4 Section 2: Defining Your Audience

Once you have established the purpose of your statement, it’s important to consider who your audience is. The audience for your purpose statement will depend on the context in which it will be used. For example, if you’re writing a purpose statement for a research paper, your audience will likely be your professor or academic peers. If you’re writing a purpose statement for a business proposal, your audience may be potential investors or clients.

Defining your audience is important because it will help you tailor your purpose statement to the specific needs and interests of your readers. You want to make sure that your statement is clear, concise, and relevant to your audience.

To define your audience, consider the following questions:

• Who will be reading your purpose statement?
• What is their level of knowledge or expertise on the topic?
• What are their needs and interests?
• What do they hope to gain from reading your purpose statement?

Once you have a clear understanding of your audience, you can begin to craft your purpose statement with their needs and interests in mind. This will help ensure that your statement is effective in communicating your goals and objectives to your readers.

For example, if you’re writing a purpose statement for a research paper on the effects of climate change on agriculture, your audience may be fellow researchers in the field of environmental science. In this case, you would want to make sure that your purpose statement is written in a way that is clear and concise, using technical language that is familiar to your audience.

Or, if you’re writing a purpose statement for a business proposal to potential investors, your audience may be less familiar with the technical aspects of your project. In this case, you would want to make sure that your purpose statement is written in a way that is easy to understand, using clear and concise language that highlights the benefits of your proposal.

The key to defining your audience is to put yourself in their shoes and consider what they need and want from your purpose statement.

Part 5 Section 3: Outlining Your Methods

After you have identified the purpose of your statement, it is time to outline your methods. This section should describe how you plan to achieve your goal and the steps you will take to get there. Here are a few tips to help you outline your methods effectively:

• Start with a general overview: Begin by providing a brief overview of the methods you plan to use. This will give your readers a sense of what to expect in the following paragraphs.
• Break down your methods: Break your methods down into smaller, more manageable steps. This will make it easier for you to stay organized and for your readers to follow along.
• Use bullet points: Bullet points can help you organize your ideas and make your methods easier to read. Use them to list the steps you will take to achieve your goal.
• Be specific: Make sure you are specific about the methods you plan to use. This will help your readers understand exactly what you are doing and why.
• Provide examples: Use examples to illustrate your methods. This will make it easier for your readers to understand what you are trying to accomplish.

Part 6 Section 4: Stating the Expected Outcomes

After defining the problem and the purpose of your research, it’s time to state the expected outcomes. This is where you describe what you hope to achieve by conducting your research. The expected outcomes should be specific and measurable, so you can determine if you have achieved your goals.

It’s important to be realistic when stating your expected outcomes. Don’t make exaggerated or false claims, and don’t promise something that you can’t deliver. Your expected outcomes should be based on your research question and the purpose of your study.

Here are some examples of expected outcomes:

• To identify the factors that contribute to employee turnover in the company.
• To develop a new marketing strategy that will increase sales by 20% within the next year.
• To evaluate the effectiveness of a new training program for improving customer service.
• To determine the impact of social media on consumer behavior.

When stating your expected outcomes, make sure they align with your research question and purpose statement. This will help you stay focused on your goals and ensure that your research is relevant and meaningful.

In addition to stating your expected outcomes, you should also describe how you will measure them. This could involve collecting data through surveys, interviews, or experiments, or analyzing existing data from sources such as government reports or industry publications.

Part 7 Purpose Statement Example for a Research Paper

If you are writing a research paper, your purpose statement should clearly state the objective of your study. Here is an example of a purpose statement for a research paper:

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of social media on the mental health of teenagers in the United States.

This purpose statement clearly states the objective of the study and provides a specific focus for the research.

Part 8 Purpose Statement Example For Personal Goals

When writing a purpose statement for your personal goals, it’s important to clearly define what you want to achieve and why. Here’s a template that can help you get started:

“I want to [goal] so that [reason]. I will achieve this by [action].”

Example: “I want to lose 10 pounds so that I can feel more confident in my body. I will achieve this by going to the gym three times a week and cutting out sugary snacks.”

Remember to be specific and realistic when setting your goals and actions, and to regularly review and adjust your purpose statement as needed.

Part 9 Purpose Statement Example For Business Objectives

If you’re writing a purpose statement for a business objective, this template can help you get started:

[Objective] [Action verb] [Target audience] [Outcome or benefit]

Here’s an example using this template:

Increase online sales by creating a more user-friendly website for millennial shoppers.

This purpose statement is clear and concise. It identifies the objective (increase online sales), the action verb (creating), the target audience (millennial shoppers), and the outcome or benefit (a more user-friendly website).

Part 10 Purpose Statement Example For an Essay

“The purpose of this essay is to examine the causes and consequences of climate change, with a focus on the role of human activities, and to propose solutions that can mitigate its impact on the environment and future generations.”

This purpose statement clearly states the subject of the essay (climate change), what aspects will be explored (causes, consequences, human activities), and the intended outcome (proposing solutions). It provides a clear roadmap for the reader and sets the direction for the essay.

Part 11 Purpose Statement Example For a Proposal

“The purpose of this proposal is to secure funding and support for the establishment of a community garden in [Location], aimed at promoting sustainable urban agriculture, fostering community engagement, and improving local access to fresh, healthy produce.”

Why this purpose statement is effective:

• The subject of the proposal is clear: the establishment of a community garden.
• The specific goals of the project are outlined: promoting sustainable urban agriculture, fostering community engagement, and improving local access to fresh produce.
• The overall objective of the proposal is evident: securing funding and support.

Part 12 Purpose Statement Example For a Report

“The purpose of this report is to analyze current market trends in the electric vehicle (EV) industry, assess consumer preferences and buying behaviors, and provide strategic recommendations to guide [Company Name] in entering this growing market segment.”

• The subject of the report is provided: market trends in the electric vehicle industry.
• The specific goals of the report are analysis of market trends, assessment of consumer preferences, and strategic recommendations.
• The overall objective of the report is clear: providing guidance for the company’s entry into the EV market.

Part 13 Purpose Statement Example For a Project

“The purpose of this project is to design and implement a new employee wellness program that promotes physical and mental wellbeing in the workplace.”

This purpose statement clearly outlines the objective of the project, which is to create a new employee wellness program. The program is designed to promote physical and mental wellbeing in the workplace, which is a key concern for many employers. By implementing this program, the company aims to improve employee health, reduce absenteeism, and increase productivity. The purpose statement is concise and specific, providing a clear direction for the project team to follow. It highlights the importance of the project and its potential benefits for the company and its employees.

Part 14 Purpose Statement Templates

When writing a purpose statement, it can be helpful to use a template to ensure that you cover all the necessary components:

Template 1: To [action] [target audience] in order to [outcome]

This template is a straightforward way to outline your purpose statement. Simply fill in the blanks with the appropriate information:

• The purpose of […] is
• To [action]: What action do you want to take?
• [Target audience]: Who is your target audience?
• In order to [outcome]: What outcome do you hope to achieve?

For example:

• The purpose of our marketing campaign is to increase brand awareness among young adults in urban areas, in order to drive sales and revenue growth.
• The purpose of our employee training program is to improve customer service skills among our frontline staff, in order to enhance customer satisfaction and loyalty.
• The purpose of our new product launch is to expand our market share in the healthcare industry, by offering a unique solution to the needs of elderly patients with chronic conditions.

Template 2: This [project/product] is designed to [action] [target audience] by [method] in order to [outcome].

This template is useful for purpose statements that involve a specific project or product. Fill in the blanks with the appropriate information:

• This [project/product]: What is your project or product?
• Is designed to [action]: What action do you want to take?
• By [method]: What method will you use to achieve your goal?
• This app is designed to provide personalized nutrition advice to athletes by analyzing their training data in order to optimize performance.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the key elements of a purpose statement.

A purpose statement should clearly communicate the main goal or objective of your writing. It should be concise and specific, providing a clear direction for your work. The key elements of a purpose statement include the topic or subject matter, the intended audience, and the overall goal or objective of your writing.

How can a purpose statement benefit your writing?

A purpose statement can help you stay focused and on track when writing. It can also help you to avoid going off-topic or getting bogged down in unnecessary details. By clearly identifying the main goal or objective of your writing, a purpose statement can help you to stay organized and ensure that your writing is effective and impactful.

What are some common mistakes to avoid when writing a purpose statement?

One common mistake is being too vague or general in your purpose statement. Another mistake is making your purpose statement too long or complex, which can make it difficult to understand. Additionally, it’s important to avoid including unnecessary information or details that are not directly relevant to your main goal or objective.

How can you tailor your purpose statement to your audience?

When writing a purpose statement, it’s important to consider your audience and their needs. You should tailor your purpose statement to your audience by using language and terminology that they will understand. You should also consider their level of knowledge or expertise on the subject matter and adjust your purpose statement accordingly.

What are some effective templates for writing a purpose statement?

There are many effective templates for writing a purpose statement, but one common approach is to use the following structure: “The purpose of this writing is to [insert goal or objective] for [insert audience] regarding [insert topic or subject matter].”

Can you provide examples of successful purpose statements?

• “The purpose of this report is to provide an analysis of the current market trends and make recommendations for future growth strategies for our company.”
• “The purpose of this essay is to explore the impact of social media on modern communication and its implications for society.”
• “The purpose of this proposal is to secure funding for a new community center that will provide educational and recreational opportunities for local residents.”
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How to Write a Purpose Statement That Serves Its Purpose (With 10 Examples)

If you had 5 minutes – or better yet, 5 seconds, could you describe WHY your organization exists? Would your colleagues describe it in the same way? And more importantly, would they FEEL a strong connection to the company's purpose?

Companies with a clear business purpose statement, and that use their purpose statement to connect with employees, customers, and key stakeholders at a deeper level, have an edge.

Why Company Purpose Matters Even More Today

It’s not a new concept: we tend to feel a bit better going to work or buying a product or service when we know there’s a greater reason for being behind it. It’s often a deciding factor between choosing one brand or company over another. What is new, though, is that the world we live and work in today calls for even more of a spotlight on purpose.

According to a 2021 McKinsey study , nearly 70% of employees are reflecting on purpose because of the pandemic. And, based on a PwC survey , 83% of employees rated “meaning in day-to-day work” as important to them. This has a downstream impact on hiring, morale, retention, and performance.

Your purpose statement is the foundation for how you can attract and retain talent, differentiate your culture, accelerate performance in a competitive, crowded marketplace, and re-energize employees who may be fatigued, apathetic, or skeptical.

The same McKinsey study found that employees who say that they live their purpose at work are:

• 6.5 times more likely to report higher resilience,
• 4 times more likely to report better health,
• 6 times more likely to want to stay at the company, and
• 1.5 times more likely to go above and beyond to contribute to the company (which is the employee engagement outcome many leaders and teams try to achieve).

For these reasons and more, our team believes that every organization should have a purpose statement and should know how to use it to tell your story on the inside and out for business impact so employees, customers, investors, shareholders, potential employees, and customers, and your many other stakeholders and partners see that they have a place in your company’s purpose.

What the Purpose Statement Is

A company purpose statement is its reason for being. It should answer these questions: Why do we exist beyond making money? What would the world lose if we didn’t exist? It goes beyond who you are and what you do. It’s your why and the impact your organization has on others.

Here are six characteristics of great purpose statements:

• Articulate the movement they’re ultimately championing and/or why the company is on the journey they are
• Are grand and aspirational while also believable
• Are differentiated so when viewed together with the mission, vision, and values of your company they are unique to your organization
• Are specific and create clarity, so they mean something to your company
• Are memorable and repeatable
• Have a tone and content that reflects the culture of the organization and fits them like a glove

Done right, company purpose statements are an important aspect of decision-making inside an organization so that it’s consistent with the company’s purpose.

10 Company Purpose Statement Examples

Here are 10 purpose statement examples across a variety of industries with a few thoughts on what makes them strong:

• AT&T: We create connection. This is both aspirational and ties to the company and its products and services over the years – which makes it believable. While it isn’t specific to a product, it creates clarity about what the company sees as its ultimate reason for being – to create connection. This is what we mean by “fitting like a glove”.
• Charles Schwab Corporation: To champion every client's goals with passion and integrity. It speaks to the larger reason for being a company in the financial services industry. It is specific to the movement it focuses on (championing clients’ goals) and it reflects the culture of the organization (passion and integrity). It’s both aspirational and believable.
• CVS Health: Bringing our heart to every moment of your health™ This captures the essence of the company’s focus around people’s lives and health. It’s memorable and repeatable and is used as a tagline. It ties in its brand as well (the heart), which also speaks to company culture and its intended service experience.
• Kellogg’s: Creating better days and a place at the table for everyone through our trusted food brands. You see the statement, company name, think of the products, and know that they go hand in hand. It speaks to the movement the company is championing (better days and a place at the table for everyone). It is grand and aspirational while also being believable. It’s specific and speaks to its industry (trusted food brand).
• Ford Motor Company: To help build a better world, where every person is free to move and pursue their dreams. This is grand and aspirational as well as entirely believable. If you run the screen of “what would be at risk if the company didn’t exist?” the mind goes to images of people not being able to get to their jobs, school, to travel, and be where they want to be. In reading this purpose statement, you learn quite a bit about the company and what it stands for (build a better world, be free to move, help people pursue their dreams).
• Virgin Atlantic: Everyone can take on the world. It speaks to the culture of the company, is easy to remember, and is memorable. It’s aspirational and yet feels believable in the sense that its products and services actually help people “take on the world”. There’s a swagger to this phrase that exudes confidence, feels empowering, and feels right at home with the brand. When you see this purpose statement and think about the company and what it’s all about, you can see (and almost feel) how they belong together.
• McDonald’s: To feed and foster communities. It’s memorable, repeatable, and naturally ties to the business it is in. It also signals in a believable way that its aspirations go beyond food and are also about building communities.
• NIKE: To move the world forward through the power of sport. It’s clear, easy to remember, and specific to the business. You know the industry right away which helps differentiate them (power of sport). It’s aspirational (moving the world forward) and also believable. When you read the purpose statement, you can visualize the essence of the company and its products that help people move.
• Novartis: To reimagine medicine to improve and extend people's lives. It’s specific to the industry (healthcare) and speaks to why the company exists (reimagine medicine) and its higher level reason for being (improve and extend people’s lives). It’s clear and easy to remember.
• Kroger: To feed the human spirit™ This speaks to its industry and focus as a business (food). It’s easy to remember and repeat, reading like a slogan. It’s also aspirational in that it speaks to feeding more than the “person” but also the “human spirit”.

How a Purpose Statement Fits Into Your Company’s Mission, Vision, and Values

Purpose is one of several elements of your organization’s DNA that make your company uniquely you. Together, these define who you are as a company and what you stand for. They serve as your North Star for your business – what you do, why you do it, and how you do it.

• Purpose statement: An organization’s reason for being (beyond making a profit) and how the products/services benefit people. It answers the questions for your customers and employees: why do we exist and what would the world lose if we didn’t exist? It has an external focus and remains constant over time. Purpose statements could be centered on society, customers, or community. All the other elements of the DNA tie back to the purpose statement.
• Mission statement: The mission states what the company will do to realize its business purpose. It comes from the perspective of inside the organization. The key elements to the mission statement are that it states the type of business/work you do today, is forward-looking, and speaks to your capabilities. It focuses on what you do and how you do it. A mission statement guides decision-making and informs business strategy, and it could evolve over time while your organization’s purpose remains the same.
• Vision statement: Paints a picture of what our company’s future looks like if we’re successful. It answers the question. It’s a statement of where the organization is heading. It’s future-oriented and aspirational. It’s also connected to the hearts and minds of people and captures hopes and dreams.
• Values and behaviors: These make up the desired ways of work (or culture) that employees need to live to advance the purpose, mission, and vision. Values describe the principles that are expected of employees, and behaviors are the tangible, observable, measurable elements that can be implemented. Both values and behaviors are intended to help employees know what’s expected of them and to guide how they show up at work. They define the company’s culture and personality, and answer the question: What does our company look like in action? Values and behaviors can happen in pockets but are aspirational for others.

Put another way…

• The purpose GUIDES you.
• The mission FOCUSES you.
• The vision INSPIRES you.
• The values ALIGN you.
• The behaviors MEASURE you.

These elements of a company’s DNA form a strategic framework that helps employees know what matters most for the organization, and how day-to-day business plans and tasks fit into the larger whole and greater good. It’s also an important way for employees to see how their sense of purpose fits (or doesn’t) with the place they work.

It’s like a stack of jigsaw puzzle pieces that fit together to form a cohesive picture for everyone to see and share in common.

How to Know When You Need to Update Your Purpose Statement

Because the purpose statement guides your company, it’s important to regularly calibrate between your purpose statement and changing dynamics to ensure they stay connected in all the right ways. Here are some defining moments in a company that signal when it’s time to review your purpose statement and determine whether it’s time to update it:

• New CEO / leadership team: With new leadership comes new perspective on the business. It’s a time when leaders are evaluating the business, weighing options, and setting new directions for the company that will make an impact. It’s important to also evaluate the purpose statement of the company and line it up.
• Merger and/or acquisition: This is a major change to your company that warrants a calibration to your purpose statement (and mission, vision, and values) as new entities, teams, products, and services are at play. It’s a good time to evaluate whether the purpose statement remains true to the company in its new state. At a minimum, it’s critical to drive awareness of your company’s purpose with employees, customers, and other stakeholders so they fully understand and appreciate it.
• New strategy: Purpose statements and company strategy must go hand in hand so if your company has a new strategy (or is working on a new strategy ), check that the purpose statement is still consistent and relevant.
• Significant transformation: Congruency between the company’s purpose and actions is essential. When big changes are happening in a company it’s key to calibrate so the transformation efforts continue to sync and support the company’s purpose and strategic direction. And, if the transformation is changing direction for a company, then the purpose statement (and mission, vision, and values) may need to evolve.
• Recruitment, retention issues, or other people-related issues: More than ever, employees want to work for companies that share a common sense of purpose and values. If your organization is struggling to recruit and retain employees, check your purpose statement and see if it’s as relevant and compelling as it needs to be.
• Heightened competition: Employees, customers, and investors look for differentiation and companies with an edge. Your purpose statement says a lot about your company – who you are, what you stand for, why you exist, and what’s at risk if you’re not there. When competition is fierce, it’s time to look at your purpose statement to see if it defines you accurately, speaks to your aspirations, and helps you stand out.
• Annual strategic planning: Make it a habit to check your purpose statement (along with your vision, mission, and values) annually in the context of your company’s strategic planning, so the most important elements of your organization guide decision-making for key priorities and plans for the year. It’s the ultimate litmus test to see that priorities and plans support your company’s purpose statement (and overall DNA). And, if they don’t line up, to have strategic conversations about what’s changing and why and whether it warrants updating your purpose statement.

How to Write a Purpose Statement

Apply these principles as you consider your approach to developing your company’s purpose statement:

• Make it a strategic business exercise – that sets the direction for your vision, mission, values, and strategy and is the foundation for how people know you as a company. Keep it from being a word-smithing exercise.
• Be intentional – Dig deep to understand the origin of the company and follow that thread through to who you are today, and why you will continue to exist in the future.
• Let leaders set the tone and involve others with purpose – The purpose statement should be shaped by the leadership team and key influencers in the company and then vetted and fine-tuned with employees so that they have shared meaning and ownership. This is bigger than any one person or team writing the purpose statement.
• Iterate – Work a smart process and let the process work so as people’s thinking evolves, the purpose statement captures it.
• Connect to your culture – Let the essence of your culture come through in how you describe the essence of your company.
• Go beyond the ordinary – If you lined up your purpose statement with others in your industry (or even other industries), check that it stands out from the rest.
• Have a plan – This is how you’re going to create the purpose statement and what you’ll do to introduce it to your key stakeholders inside and outside the company.

Steps to Writing Your Purpose Statement

Whether creating a purpose statement from scratch or refreshing an existing one, follow these steps to guide you. How you approach writing your purpose statement may vary depending on where you are as an organization, your starting point, and your culture.

• Intake Compare your current purpose statement with how your organization shows up in internal and external artifacts to see what’s consistent and what’s not. Ask: What’s similar and what’s different that we should consider for the new purpose statement?
• Develop Your Roadmap Determine your plan of action to get to a purpose statement that your organization is fully aligned around. Ask: What are the key steps and milestones to drive toward?
• Identify Your Stakeholders and Engagement Plan Map your plan for who and how you’ll engage people from across your organization in the process. Consider who your champions will be, who will be hands-on in co-creation, and who you want to involve along the way to preview or test concepts. If there are many stakeholders, consider a working group or committee of representatives to advance the work in a more manageable way. And then involve others to preview and test the committee’s work. Ask: When the purpose statement is drafted, who do we need to have on board so they support it and what’s the best way to get those people involved?
• Conduct Stakeholder Listening Based on your engagement plan, hold listening sessions with key stakeholders to understand their thoughts on the business and how that translates to the company’s purpose. Summarize what you’re hearing. Ask: What are the common themes and where are there different points of view that warrant more conversation and alignment?
• Co-create the Purpose Statement Gather all the key stakeholders to co-create the purpose statement together in a hands-on, interactive way. Have a facilitator lead the session and leverage all the work done in Steps 1 through 4. You can walk out with a solid draft of the purpose statement that the group is aligned around and that’s ready to test drive with others.  Ask: Do we have a purpose statement that we all understand, believe in, and can champion?
• Test the Purpose Statement Involve other stakeholders for input and buy-in. Get the draft purpose statement in front of employee groups and see what they say. You can also have key groups of leaders and working group members test drive the purpose statement with their teams. Ask: What resonates, where is further clarification needed, and in what ways do we see this purpose statement being lived in the company?
• Discuss and Refine the Purpose Statement Use the learnings as fodder for discussion with your core working group and champions about what changes to make in the purpose statement and to inform your communications before you revise and finalize the purpose statement. Ask: What feedback warrants changes to the purpose statement? What concepts will require more communication to help people understand?

Key Learnings from Developing Purpose Statements

We’ve worked with many clients to create their purpose statement (and their mission, vision, and values as well). Here are four things to keep in mind:

• The process is as important as the statement – How you engage people and bring them along on the journey is just as important as what the final words are of your company’s purpose statement. You need a purpose statement that will guide the company – and its people – for years to come and that requires involvement from people.
• Involve skeptics – Some may think of this work as a word-smithing activity or that culminates in posters that no one ever reads. To those people, we say … let’s get you involved in this process so we can make sure that doesn’t happen. Build a plan that is skeptic-proof. I’ve heard from many leaders as they go through this process that they were skeptical about this work at first and then became the biggest advocates of the purpose statement they created and the process that was taken to build it.
• Avoid shortcuts that may cause shortcomings – On paper, a purpose statement is just a few words but getting a room full of people (let alone a whole company) to align around the meaning behind the words looks easier than it is. We believe in a “go slow to go fast” approach that by working a smart process you’ll get to a better outcome faster and that will have lasting power. Watch out for shortcuts that can cause shortcomings – for example, skipping listening or testing may save a few days, but you lose out on important insights and cut people out of being involved who could have become champions.
• Embrace input – It can be nerve-wracking to draft a purpose statement and then take it to pockets of the organization for input not knowing if it will be liked or overhauled. However, it’s better to bring people along on the journey and get input before things are finalized for prime time. In addition, when people are engaged earlier, they tend to be more positive. We worked with a client to preview their company’s DNA (including the purpose statement) with more than 1,000 people. The reception was extremely positive and where there was feedback, it was hugely helpful. Most importantly, when it came time to roll out the final content, people were on board and ready to champion it because they had been a part of the process.

You’ve Crafted Your Purpose Statement – Now What?

Having a clear purpose statement is a big step to celebrate. It’s also just the beginning as you think about how to embed it into the organization. Consider these next steps:

• Define your terms – A purpose statement is just a few words, but every single word matters and needs to mean something. Have specific definitions for each word so people in your organization know what it means and use the terms consistently.
• Align the rest of the strategy to the purpose statement – The purpose statement anchors many other components of your company’s strategic framework so everything needs to ladder back to it, including the mission, vision, values, culture, business plans and priorities, and KPIs and metrics. Identify where there are connections to make and/or disconnects to address. Create a strategic framework that shows visually how all the pieces connect together.
• Plan the rollout and activation – Have a plan for how to communicate the company’s purpose across the organization. Think of it in terms of launching, activating, and sustaining so you can embed the purpose in how people think and work. Make it part of the everyday storytelling inside and outside the company. This takes time, consistency across voices and channels, and purposeful communication.

Case Study: A Purpose-Driven Function

We worked recently with a large function in a global organization through these steps. The function originally needed help to roll out and embed their new strategy to its 7,500 employees, but early on it became clear that before employees could align around a strategy, they first needed to come together with one shared purpose. Working these steps led to many defining moments, including:

• During discovery, an employee survey led to useful insights that guided the leadership team’s focus and helped them address some opportunities, and it served as a follow-up loop for communicating the purpose and strategy.
• Leader listening uncovered a wide range of perspectives on the organization’s purpose and path forward. This was critical to uncover early on, so the work to follow could bridge the gaps and bring the leaders together as one aligned team.
• The process of co-creating the purpose statement worked. It got some grumbles at first. “Really, we need to break up into groups and do flip chart exercises?” Yes... and did they ever rise to the occasion. In a few short hours, the group co-created a purpose statement and started using it in the same meeting to make some critical business decisions. It was an instant payoff and the leadership team knew it. They later described that as a defining moment for their leadership team and their company.
• Leaders played an active role in talking about the purpose statement with their teams and ensuring a common understanding of the meaning of each element of the purpose.
• Next-level leaders (directors and above in this case) became immersed in their purpose, mission, vision, values, and strategy at an offsite meeting where every moment of the day was designed purposefully to bring the company’s DNA to life in ways that made it real, relevant, and actionable for them, so they could take the same experience and energy back to their teams to get them grounded in it.
• The purpose statement took on a life of its own as leaders enrolled their teams in it. They held rallies, decorated their sites with signage, gave employees swag, made it part of everyday conversation, and even got teams writing songs about the purpose statement. It took hold because people got inspired and excited about it.

To learn how we helped another organization define its new DNA following a merger of equals, check out this case study .

Final Thoughts

Be purposeful when creating your company’s purpose statement so that it’s strategic, you have organizational buy-in, and it’s tied to business goals for the best outcome. Follow these steps so that your organization has a purpose statement that effortlessly describes why you exist and guides your company for the future in a way that sets you apart, and that employees, customers, and other key stakeholders know and believe in.  

As you reflect on your company’s purpose statement, would it benefit from being updated?

—Kate Bushnell

This quick guide covers a methodology you can use to co-create your purpose statement and maximize leader and employee buy-in. Download Maximizing Strategy Development & Rollout with Top Leaders   today!

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How to Write a Purpose Statement for Your Company (+31 Examples)

A good purpose statement is at the heart of every strong brand.

Purpose gets right to the heart of why you do what you do as a business. It speaks to profound reasons why employees and customers want to be associated with your brand.

That’s why defining your company’s purpose in a clear, concise purpose statement is key to creating a more impactful brand .

But what is a purpose statement? Why is it important? And how is a purpose statement different from a mission statement?

If you’re looking for answers to questions, or want to learn how to write a purpose statement for your company, this post has everything you need.

We’ll unpack a purpose statement definition, look at purpose statement examples in the world’s most successful brands, and show you how to define a powerful purpose statement for your own brand.

What is a Purpose Statement?

The difference between a purpose statement and a mission statement, the benefits of a strong purpose statement, 5 qualities of a strong purpose statement, how to write a purpose statement, 31 purpose statement examples, the takeaway.

A purpose statement is a short sentence that describes the reason a company exists beyond making money.

Your purpose is the answer to the most fundamental question you face as organization: “Why?”

Why does your business exist? What drives you to get out of bed in the morning to go to work? Why do you work long hours or make sacrifices to keep your business moving forward?

Purpose is the primary driver that motivates your team, especially during difficult or challenging times. But purpose is equally important for customers, as well. Research shows that today’s customers want to buy from and associate themselves with purpose-driven brands.

Also known as a core purpose, business purpose, or company purpose, a purpose statement is an essential component of the brand compass , a strategic messaging system that also includes vision , mission , and values .

So, what’s the difference between a purpose statement and a mission statement?

The answer is fairly straightforward. Where a purpose statement describes the simple, profound idea behind why an organization exists, a mission statement is a more detailed account. Your mission statement outlines what you plan to do as an organization, how you plan to achieve it, and whom you’re doing it for.

You can think of your purpose statement as describing the emotional or philosophical motivation behind your business, while your mission statement is a strategic roadmap for your business’s success.

Organizational purpose isn’t just for environmentally or socially conscious brands, either. A well-crafted purpose statement that powerfully communicates your organization’s raison d’être is one of the best ways to connect with those you serve on a more profound, human level.

As we’ll see below, connections like these are a powerful way to boost brand loyalty among customers and employees alike. Let’s take a closer look some of the most immediate benefits of a strong purpose statement.

Attract & Retain Top Talent

Today’s employees are looking for more than competitive salaries and attractive benefits packages. The best talent out there wants to work for purpose-driven companies. This makes purpose an indispensable component to effective employer branding .

This fact has been borne out by multiple studies of late. Take the findings from Porter Novelli’s Purpose Perception Study , which surveyed 1,200 adults ranging in age from 18 to 69.

The study found that:

• 78% of employees are more likely to want to work a purpose-driven company
• 72% are more likely to be loyal to that company
• 72% are more likely to forgive that company if it makes a misstep

Not only does clearly defining and communicating your company purpose put your business in a more competitive position in the labor market, it also ensures that the employees you do hire will stick around longer. Reduced turnover means more cohesive company culture and better brand alignment . It also means the investments you make in your workforce will have larger, longer-term dividends.

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Improve Productivity

The benefits of a clearly articulated purpose don’t end with attracting talent and building culture. Business purpose is a powerful driver when it comes to employee productivity.

The simple truth is that inspired employees are more productive employees. As we’ve already seen, purpose gives your team motivation that goes beyond a paycheck and a benefits package. It gives them a reason to get out of bed in the morning.

When workers have a purposeful reason for putting in long hours that goes beyond mere financial compensation, they are more likely to see personal sacrifices as worth it. A more cohesive company culture filled with more motivated employees naturally leads to a more inspired, more productive team.

Inspire Your Customers

Where employees want to work for purpose-driven brands, customers want to buy from them. We see evidence of this fact borne out in study after study.

Porter Novelli found that purpose matters in important ways to vast majorities of consumers:

• 66% of customers consider a company’s purpose when making purchase decisions
• 78% are more likely to remember a company with a strong purpose

In today’s marketplace, it’s simply no longer good enough to compete on the basis of cost or quality alone. Today’s customers expect more from the businesses they engage with. They want to align themselves with brands that share their values. That starts with purpose.

Brands with a clearly defined, authentic sense of purpose will always have an edge in our increasingly socially conscious consumer landscape.

Meaningfully Differentiate Yourself from the Competition

Speaking of competition, your core purpose is one of the most profound ways to set your brand apart from similar brands in your industry.

Not only are customers more likely to recognize, remember, and engage with a purpose-driven brand, they’re also more likely to purchase it over the competition. In fact, 71% of customers say they would purchase from a purpose-driven company over the alternative when cost and quality are equal.

The fact is, if you haven’t clearly defined your purpose statement, you can’t very well build a purpose-driven brand. And if you haven’t built a purpose-driven brand, you’re missing out on a fundamental opportunity to create meaningful competitive differentiation , connect with customers, and gain market share.

The numbers don’t lie. Both internally and externally, business purpose is an essential ingredient of business growth.

So, what separates a strong purpose statement from a less effective one? There are five qualities that every good business purpose statement should have.

A strong purpose statement is:

Purpose starts first and foremost with authenticity. The two ideas are inextricably linked. So, what does it mean for a company purpose to be authentic?

An authentic purpose statement is one that is borne from an honest accounting of who you are as an organization, where you started, and where you’re headed. It is a genuine sentiment that reflects your true character and values and that’s aligned with your brand positioning .

An authentic purpose is ultimately also a human idea. It isn’t about your own business’s growth but about the change you hope to affect in the world. Which is a good segue to our next essential quality of every strong purpose statement.

A strong corporate purpose isn’t just honest and genuine, it’s also deep and meaningful. Your purpose should mean something—both to those within your organization and to those you serve.

A profound purpose is an idea that makes people think. It should convince both your customers and your employees that you stand for something beyond quarterly reports and balance sheet figures.

Many brands find profound purpose in environmental and/or social impact, but not every purpose has to be centered on an ESG-oriented value proposition . A profound purpose can be as simple as making the world a happier, safer, or more enriching place.

The best purpose statements aren’t just authentic and profound, they are also inspiring. Your purpose, remember, is the reason you do what you do as an organization. It is by its very definition a motivational idea.

Describing that motivation in a way that inspires people to act is the best way to get the most mileage out of your purpose statement—and build brand equity in the process. Your purpose statement should inspire your employees to find deeper meaning in the work they do, giving them the impetus they need to push through challenging times.

Your business purpose statement should also inspire your customers. Not just to buy your products and services (although, as we’ve seen, that’s one of the most tangible benefits of a well-crafted purpose), but also to associate themselves with your brand. Customers inspired by purpose will always be your best brand advocates.

A quick Google search will turn up business purpose examples of all shapes and sizes. This includes long, run-on sentences that unpack not just why a company does what it does, but also what, how, and for whom. As is the case with nearly all writing, however, the best of the bunch are the shortest ones.

A purpose statement should be as concise as possible for two reasons. One, your organizational purpose is the answer to one question and one question only: why? Second, the shorter the statement, the more powerful it becomes.

You’ll see this firsthand in the purpose statement examples we’ve collected below. While we limited our list to the best purpose statements we could find, you’ll see that even among these highlights, the shortest and simplest statements outshine the others.

Take Netflix’s “To entertain the world” or Kroger’s “To feed the human spirit.” Both leave little room for doubt when it comes to the profound reasons why these companies exist—and do so in as few words as possible.

The final quality of a strong purpose statement is clarity. After all, your corporate purpose can be as authentic and concise as possible, but if it’s vague or ambiguous it won’t be very meaningful or inspiring to those who hear it.

A clearly stated core purpose is one that isn’t too abstract or philosophical. It doesn’t beat around the bush when it comes to plainly answering the question “why?”

We’ll explore more about how to craft a clear, concise purpose statement in our next section, but suffice it to say that when it comes to communicating the singular reason your business exists, clarity is kind.

Think of the five essential qualities above as the ultimate criteria for the final draft of your purpose statement. But one of the keys to writing a strong purpose statement is not to worry too much about checking all of the boxes when you first get started.

Let’s take a closer look at what the process looks like when you’re ready to write your company purpose statement.

So how do you write a business purpose statement of your own? We’ve boiled it down to three simple steps that are sure to result in an effective and impactful statement.

1. Identify Your Purpose

The first step in the process is brainstorming and ideation. This is the “no bad ideas” phase, where the goal isn’t to worry about conciseness or clarity, but rather to come up with a handful of ideas to choose from.

Put together a small team of your most creative minds in front of a whiteboard and start by asking yourself the following questions:

• Why do we exist as an organization?
• Why do we do what we do as a business (beyond making money or increasing shareholder value)?
• What positive change are we looking to affect in the world?
• Why do we get out of bed in the morning to go to work (beyond a paycheck)?
• What is it that drives us to put in extra effort or push through challenging times?
• Why do we work long hours or put up with the occasional unruly customer or make any of the sacrifices we do to keep our business moving forward?

Once you have a handful of ideas, try to identify a single idea or theme that is behind them all. The goal is to get to the heart of why you do what you do.

Pro tip: if you think you’ve put your finger on it, ask “why?” again. Is it to better your community? To make people happy? To make the world a safer place? You’re looking for a central, profound idea behind everything you do.

Imagine yourself as the precocious, insatiably curious kid, who keeps asking why until you get to the heart of the matter.

2. Articulate Your Purpose

Once you think you’ve hit on the idea that is at the root of why you do what you do, the next step is to craft it into a purpose statement.

Now, because purpose statements are essentially answers to the question “why?” most of them take a similar format.

So, “Why do you do X?”

“We do X to Y”

Or, more simply:

Purpose statements that start with an infinite verb like this are by nature actively oriented. And actively oriented statements will always be more inspiring and motivational than passively oriented statements.

Try following a similar format with your purpose statement. In the sentence, “We do X to Y,” what are your X and Y?

Maybe you “sell electric vehicles to keep people moving.” Or maybe you “design cutting-edge apps to navigate the world.” Or perhaps you “produce fertilizer to make the world a greener place.”

Whatever your answer might be, whittle it down to just the Y:

To keep people moving.

To navigate the world.

To make the world a greener place.

Remember, when it comes to purpose statements, the shorter the better. Try to boil it down to a single idea and aim for no more than 6 or 7 words. Don’t worry about the “what” or “how.” The goal is not a statement that says “To do X because of Z so that Y.” You’re just looking for “To Y.”

3. Communicate Your Purpose

The final step of any good purpose statement is to use it as inspiration throughout your business. As we’ve already seen, purpose should be at the very heart of everything you do as an organization.

From your business model to your branding to your marketing and beyond—all of it makes more sense and is more impactful when you start with “why.”

Internally, your purpose statement should be an integral part of brand compass messaging that your entire team is familiar with. It should be documented in your brand guidelines and be used as a cornerstone of internal communications.

Externally, your organizational purpose should be the starting point for your brand story . As we’ll see in out next section, the world’s most compelling brands are those with purpose-driven brand experiences .

Customers instinctually gravitate towards brands with an authentic sense of purpose that shines through in everything from their brand messaging to their brand design .

Purpose has become increasingly more important to Fortune 500 brands like those listed here. Let’s take a look at how these brands have articulated their purpose statements—and leveraged them to build more meaningful connections with those they serve.

AT&T’s Purpose: “To connect people to greater possibility – with expertise, simplicity, and inspiration.”

BlackRock’s Purpose: “To help more and more people experience financial well-being.”

Coca-Cola’s Purpose: “Refresh the world. Make a difference.”

CVS’s Purpose: “Bringing our heart to every moment of your health.”

Intel’s Purpose: “To create world-changing technology that improves the life of every person on the planet.”

Kohl’s Purpose: “To inspire and empower families to lead fulfilled lives.”

Kroger’s Purpose: “To feed the human spirit.”

MetLife’s Purpose: “To help our customers navigate life’s twists and turns.”

Ralph Lauren’s Purpose: “To inspire the dream of a better life through authenticity and timeless style.”

Target’s Purpose: “To help all families discover the joy of everyday life.”

Verizon’s Purpose: “To give people the ability to do more.”

Walgreens’ Purpose: “More joyful lives through better health.”

Walmart’s Purpose: “To help people save money so they can live better.”

REI’s Purpose: “To awaken a life-long love of the outdoors.”

Amazon’s Purpose: “To be Earth’s most customer-centric company.”

Netflix’s Purpose: “To entertain the world”

Disney’s Purpose: “To entertain, inform and inspire people around the globe through the power of unparalleled storytelling.”

Google’s Purpose: “To organize the world’s information”

Zappos’s Purpose: “To deliver WOW.”

Red Bull’s Purpose: “To give wings to people and ideas”

Lyft’s Purpose: “To improve people’s lives with the world’s best transportation.”

Adidas’s Purpose: “Through sport, we have the power to change lives.”

Apple’s Purpose: “To empower creative exploration and self-expression.”

Chobani’s Purpose: “To make better food for more people.”

IKEA’s Purpose: “To create a better everyday life for the many people.”

Lego’s Purpose: “To inspire and develop the builders of tomorrow.”

SAP’s Purpose: “To help the world run better and improve people’s lives.”

Microsoft’s Purpose: “To empower every person and organization on this planet to achieve more.”

Airbnb’s Purpose: “To help people to belong anywhere.”

Tesla’s Purpose: “To accelerate the planet’s transition to sustainable energy.”

Patagonia’s Purpose: “To save our home planet.”

A powerful purpose statement is one of the best ways to foster brand loyalty and build brand equity. By identifying your organization’s reason for existing beyond making money and articulating a clear, concise, and authentic statement that communicates that reason, you can set the stage for creating deeper connections with customers and employees alike.

Take inspiration from the growing list of Fortune 500 brands, whose business purpose examples are listed above. Few things are more powerful than purpose when it comes to creating a profound brand experience that speaks to audiences on a deeply human level.

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Home - Blog - Best Purpose Statement Examples From the Fortune 500

Published on August 16, 2021

The best purpose statements weave values into the corporate DNA.

Nearly every company has a mission statement, but what about a purpose statement? Among the Fortune 500 companies, 425 have a mission statement. This is expected: Missions are mainstays in corporate governance frameworks. However, less than a quarter of Fortune 500 companies have gone out of their way to write a purpose statement.

Purpose statements are founded on what companies and organizations do best to advance or improve people’s lives. Companies that excel at purpose move beyond a statement of social responsibility . They reinvent themselves from the inside out, based on their purpose, and then measure their impact. 

While some view purpose as a reputation-enhancing initiative , other companies have it woven into the DNA of who they are . While neither is inherently superior, this contrast is clear from the placement of companies’ purpose statements. In presenting purpose statement examples, we noted that presenting purpose as part of “Our Story” is different from detailing it only in an environmental, social and governance (ESG) report. 

We have identified the emerging space for brand purpose in The Purpose Report . Purpose should be leveraged. Consumers care about purpose-driven initiatives and want companies to care too. 4 in 5 people surveyed believe a brand or company should have a purpose beyond making money. Companies that incorporate brand purpose into their corporate governance stand to gain. 

The best purpose statements weave values into the corporate DNA. These purpose statement examples reflect statements found on Fortune 500 company websites, not necessarily reality. Each reader must examine a company’s culture, content and actions to understand whether a company is purposeful.

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What Is an Example of a Purpose Statement?

A purpose statement can be a corporate branding slogan incorporated into logos or a positioning statement deep within a corporate social responsibility report. Many Fortune 500 purpose statements are featured on the company’s website home page or About section, and here we’ve linked to each of them. These purpose statements show how major companies value their products as a social good in themselves, independent of the values and principles that produced them.

Customers purchase goods and services as a means to an end, and a purpose statement captures that ultimate end goal to improve their lives and the lives of others. They may not be labeled as such, but they reveal the change we want to see in the world.

These 114 Fortune 500 companies find their corporate purpose meaningful enough to share it with the world explicitly.

ABM Industries : To take care of the people, spaces and places that are important to you.

Advance Auto Parts : To execute our mission: Passion for customers … passion for Yes!

Advanced Micro Devices : Technology enabling a better world.

Aecom : Built to deliver a better world.

Allstate : We help customers realize their hopes and dreams by providing the best products and services to protect them from life’s uncertainties and prepare them for the future.

Ally Financial : Our giving back efforts are focused on reducing barriers to economic mobility through financial education, affordable housing, workforce preparedness and digital job training.

American Family Insurance : We’re dedicated to inspiring, protecting and restoring your dream.

AmerisourceBergen : We are united in our responsibility to create healthier futures.

Applied Materials : We are dedicated to conducting our business in an environmentally and socially responsible way, taking action to protect the health and safety of workers, customers and neighboring communities.

Aramark : Our purpose revolves around our mission to enrich and nourish lives: We strive to create a better world by considering the company’s environmental, economic, social and ethical dimensions.

Archer Daniels Midland : We unlock the power of nature to enrich the quality of life.

Assurant : We protect what matters most.

AT&T : Inspire human progress through the power of communication and entertainment. 

Bank of America : To help make financial lives better through the power of every connection.

Bank of New York Mellon : Powering global investments to help our clients succeed.

Becton Dickinson : We will consistently provide superior products and services in pursuit of our purpose of advancing the world of health.

BlackRock : To help more and more people experience financial well-being.

Booz Allen Hamilton Holding : We empower people—our colleagues, our clients, our communities—to change the world. 

BorgWarner : BorgWarner chooses to be a leader — in serving our customers, advancing our technologies and rewarding all who invest in us. 

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Campbell Soup : Real food that matters for life’s moments. 

Cardinal Health : To improve people’s lives by merging innovation and technology with healthcare.

CarMax : To drive integrity by being honest & transparent in every interaction.

Casey’s General Stores : To make the lives of our guests and communities better every day.

CDW : To help our customers achieve their goals by providing them with the technology advice and products they need, when they need them.

Centene : Transforming the health of the community, one person at a time.

Charles Schwab : To champion every client’s goals with passion and integrity.

CHS : To create connections that empower agriculture.

Coca-Cola : Refresh the world. Make a difference.

Cognizant Technology Solutions : We innovate to find a better way—for the clients who depend on us, the customers who rely on them and the communities who count on us all.

Commscope Holding : We create lasting connections.

Corteva : To enrich the lives of those who produce and those who consume, ensuring progress for generations to come.

Coty : To celebrate and liberate the diversity of your beauty. 

CSX : To capitalize on the efficiency of rail transportation to serve America.

CVS Health : Helping people on their path to better health.

Danaher : Helping realize life’s potential.

Dick’s Sporting Goods : We create confidence and excitement by personally equipping all athletes to achieve their dreams.

eBay : To empower people and create economic opportunity for all.

Ecolab : To make the world cleaner, safer and healthier – helping businesses succeed while protecting people and vital resources.

Eli Lilly : Lilly unites caring with discovery to create medicines that make life better for people around the world.

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Entergy : To grow by providing customers with low-emission, reliable energy at reasonable cost; superior service; a strict focus on safety; operational excellence and engaged employees.

Equitable Holdings : Helping our clients live their lives with confidence is at the core of who we are as a company and individuals.

Erie Insurance Group : To provide our policyholders with as near perfect protection, as near perfect service as is humanly possible and to do so at the lowest possible cost.   

Expedia Group : To bring the world within reach.

Fiserv : To deliver superior value for our clients through leading technology, targeted innovation and excellence in everything we do.

Fluor : We transform the world by building prosperity and empowering progress.

Foot Locker : To inspire and empower youth culture

Ford Motor Co. : To drive human progress through freedom of movement.

Fortive : Essential technology for the people who accelerate progress.

Fortune Brands Home & Security : To fulfill the dreams of home. 

Arthur J. Gallagher : Tomorrow starts with confidence. What will tomorrow bring? How will you face it? And most importantly, what can you do today to make sure you’re positioned for success? Wherever you grow, we’ll be there.

General Electric : We rise to the challenge of building a world that works.

General Mills : To make food the world loves. 

W.W. Grainger : We keep the world working. 

Graybar Electric : Graybar strives to be a profitable, progressive business that provides employees with long-term career opportunities and the financial means to achieve a high quality of life, both while working and into retirement.

HD Supply Holdings : To improve our associates’ lives and equip them with the tools needed to provide exceptional customer experiences every day.

The Hershey Co. : Giving underserved children the skills and support they need to be successful.

Hess : To be the world’s most trusted energy partner.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise : To advance the way people live and work.

Hormel Foods : Inspired people. Inspired food. 

Huntington Bancshares : To make people’s lives better, help businesses thrive, and strengthen the communities we serve.

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Ingredion : We bring the potential of people, nature, and technology together to make life better.

Intel : To create world-changing technology that enriches the lives of every person on earth.  

Interpublic Group : Interpublic is committed to operating sustainably.

IQVIA Holdings : Our solutions enable life sciences companies to innovate with confidence, maximize opportunities and, ultimately, drive human health outcomes forward.

JLL : We shape the future of real estate for a better world.

Kellogg : Nourishing families so they can flourish and thrive.

Kohl’s : To inspire and empower families to lead fulfilled lives.

Kroger : To feed the human spirit.

Kyndryl : We make the complex simple to enable customer innovation.

M&T Bank : To make a difference in people’s lives. 

MASCO : Delivering better living possibilities.

Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance : To help people secure their future and protect the ones they love.

Mastercard : We work to connect and power an inclusive digital economy that benefits everyone, everywhere by making transactions safe, simple, smart and accessible; Connecting everyone to Priceless possibilities.

MetLife : To help our customers navigate life’s twists and turns.

Molson Coors Beverages : Uniting people to celebrate all life’s moments.

Mondelez International : We empower people to snack right. 

Newell Brands : To make life better every day for hundreds of millions of consumers where they live, learn, work and play. 

Newmont : To create value and improve lives through sustainable and responsible mining.

NRG Energy : We bring the power of energy to people and organizations.

Office Depot : It’s all about doing the right thing – for our shared planet, our valuable communities, and the future of how we service and support our customers.

Oneok : Grow our businesses safely, profitably and in an environmentally sustainable manner while maintaining financial strength.

Owens & Minor : Owens & Minor insists on inclusion, support, and respect. 

Owens Corning : Our people and products make the world a better place.

Parker-Hannifin : Enabling Engineering Breakthroughs that Lead to a Better Tomorrow.

Pfizer : Working together for a healthier world.

Phillip Morris International : To deliver a smoke-free future. 

PPG Industries : Achieve superior shareholder returns.

Principal Financial : To give you the financial tools, resources and information you need to live your best life.

Procter & Gamble : We will provide branded products and services of superior quality and value that improve the lives of the world’s consumers, now and for generations to come.

PVH : We power brands that drive fashion forward – for good.

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Ralph Lauren : Our purpose at Ralph Lauren is to inspire the dream of a better life through authenticity and timeless style. 

Realogy Holdings : Opening Doors – an all-encompassing description that reflects a larger idealistic motivation for coming to work each day. 

Robert Half International : To help people find meaningful employment and businesses identify the talent they need to grow. 

Rush Enterprises : To provide superior customer service with every interaction and support our customers whenever and wherever they need us. 

S&P Global : We accelerate progress in the world by providing intelligence that is essential for companies, governments and individuals to make decisions with conviction.

Securian Financial Group : Helping our customers build secure tomorrows.

J.M. Smucker : Feeding connections that help us thrive – life tastes better together.

Sonic Automotive : Deliver an experience for our guests and teammates that fulfills dreams, enriches lives and delivers happiness. 

Southwest Airlines : Connect people to what’s important in their lives through friendly, reliable, and low-cost air travel.

Stanley Black & Decker : For those who make the world.

Starbucks : As it has been from the beginning, our purpose goes far beyond profit. We believe in the pursuit of doing good.

State Street Corp. : We help create better outcomes for the world’s investors and the people they serve.

Target : To help all families discover the joy of everyday life. 

TD Ameritrade Holding : We exist to transform lives and investing for the better. 

Tech Data : To continuously satisfy the world’s ever-evolving demand for technology.

Truist Financial : To inspire and build better lives and communities.

Tyson Foods : Raising the world’s expectations for how much good food can do.

Union Pacific : The people of Union Pacific deliver North America’s safest, most reliable and most efficient supply chain solutions.

United Airlines : Connecting people. Uniting the world.

Verizon Communications : Verizon’s core purpose is to give people the ability to do more. 

VF : We power movements of sustainable and active lifestyles for the betterment of people and our planet. 

Walgreens Boots Alliance : We help people across the world lead healthier and happier lives.

Wells Fargo : To help our customers succeed financially.

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The Poetry of Purpose: Inspirational Purpose Statement Examples

Discover what an effective purpose statement is, read insightful purpose statement examples, and learn how to drive your career, projects, or business.

Directing a business, a project, or even your own career can be an uphill battle if you lack a central point of focus and purpose.

What do you hold onto when priorities seem muddled? How do you lead your team toward shared goals? How do you assure clients that you’re on the same page as them?

That’s what a well-crafted and clearly defined purpose statement is for.

Whether you’re drafting a purpose statement for personal development, a project, or a business, this guide is made for you. Dive in to get a sharper understanding of what a purpose statement is and how to write one — plus, inspiration from insightful examples.

What are purpose statements?

A purpose statement or vision statement explains your “why.” It helps others understand why you do what you do.

However, a purpose statement isn’t just about setting goals or making plans — it’s also about giving those goals and plans real meaning. It’s what adds  soul  to the process.

There are three main kinds of purpose statements: personal (for you), project (for a specific task), and business (for a company). Each of these is crafted to address the unique needs, challenges, and aspirations of its particular area, but they all share the same aim: to bring about clarity, direction, and motivation.

Personal purpose statement

A personal purpose statement highlights what drives you, your goals, and what you truly care about. It covers not only where you want to go but also why you want to go there and the principles you’ll honor along the way.

A personal purpose statement has transformative power, bringing clarity to the chaos, direction amid distractions, and an unwavering foundation when life’s storms hit.

A helpful tip to help you craft your purpose statement is to reflect on moments in the past when you felt most fulfilled or when you made a difference, no matter how small.

With a personal vision statement, every choice and step you take is anchored to something bigger. Crafting one can improve your quality of life, filling your days with purpose, depth, and contentment.

Project purpose statement

A project purpose statement includes a clear declaration of the intent and goals of a project. It provides detailed information about the project objectives, the method that will be used to achieve them, and the values the project aspires to uphold.

Clearly defined objectives lay out the expected outcome of the project. Whether it’s the development of a new software solution or the unveiling of a new product line, these objectives need to be communicated so everyone involved has a clear understanding of what to aim for.

The method, or the plan of action, is where the  project scope  is defined. The scope outlines the specific steps, the extent of the work to be done, and the limits of the project. Defining the project scope helps manage expectations and ensures that resources are used efficiently and the project remains on track.

Values serve as the ethical cornerstone of a project. They set the guiding principles for decision-making so that the project upholds its integrity in the face of challenges.

One of the main benefits of a project purpose statement is its ability to bring clarity and alignment, which increases team engagement. In fact,  78% of adults  are more likely to want to work for a company that leads with purpose. A project purpose statement ensures all involved stakeholders are on the same page, which is essential for building trust and motivating team members.

Business purpose statement

A business purpose statement defines a company’s core values, goals, and mission. It goes beyond profit margins and product lines to capture the overarching ethos and culture that the business champions.

A business purpose statement is instrumental in integrating  strategies for team collaboration . Having a clear vision and values ensures that everyone in the company, regardless of their position, shares the same objectives. This unified approach fosters a more cohesive, efficient, and motivated work environment in which everyone feels they are contributing to a shared goal.

Moreover, when a company is clear about its purpose, this resonates with customers. Notably,  71% of consumers  prefer to buy from a company with a strong purpose.

‎Purpose statement vs. value statement vs. mission statement

“Purpose statement,” “value statement,” and “mission statement” are common buzzwords in the workplace. But how do they differ? Let’s take a quick look at each of them, using the golden arches of McDonald’s as our guide.

Purpose statement

A purpose statement addresses the reason a company exists. It is the driving force for what a company hopes to ultimately achieve. McDonald’s  purpose  is “to feed and foster communities,” which emphasizes its commitment to not just serving food but also positively impacting communities.

Mission statement

A mission statement is about the present moment and how the company operates day-to-day to fulfill its purpose. It’s more specific and action-oriented than the purpose statement.  McDonald’s mission , “Making delicious feel-good moments easy for everyone,” shows that its daily objective is to provide enjoyable and convenient meals.

Value statement

A value statement articulates the principles and beliefs that guide a company’s actions and decisions. It represents the company’s core ethics.

Here is McDonald’s value statement:

Serve:  We put our guests and people first.

Inclusion:  We open our doors to everyone.

Integrity:  We do the right thing.

Community:  We are good neighbors.

Family:  We get better together.

These values outline the principles that dictate how Mcdonald’s conducts business and interacts with stakeholders.

Purpose statement examples

Ever stumbled upon a phrase or slogan from a brand that made you nod in agreement or even see the company in a new light?

That’s the power of an inspirational purpose statement. Looking at purpose statement examples is like window shopping for ideas and inspirations. It can guide you in finding your own words and direction.

Moreover, reading the purpose statements of businesses you admire can help you consider your own priorities and goals.

Personal purpose statements

A personal purpose statement offers a clear view of what fuels your passion and shapes your choices. Merging this clarity into your work can lead to more meaningful experiences and connections.

Here are some examples:

• “I am committed to maximizing my daily output and making the most of my day doing productive tasks.”
• “Building bridges, not walls, in teamwork is my mantra; I believe in harnessing collective strength through collaboration.”
• “Every challenge is a stepping stone, and I aim to achieve success by facing every obstacle head-on.”
• “Clear, open, and effective communication is the foundation of all my interactions, as I value clarity and mutual respect.”
• “I prioritize meaningful relationships, nurturing trust, understanding, and growth in every personal and professional connection.”

Why are personal purpose statements effective?

These statements provide clear direction and intent. They’re concise yet powerful because they convey the individual’s core values and principles in each respective domain.

Project purpose statements

A project purpose statement explains the core objectives and values of your initiative. It paves the way for more structured, impactful, and meaningful outcomes.

Here are some guidelines for writing your statement:

• Productivity:  “Our goal is to work smarter and boost our daily output by 20% by optimizing existing workflows.”
• Delivery:  “We aim to deliver our products on time, making sure 95% of our orders get to our clients when promised.”
• Time management:  “With meticulous planning and execution, we will reduce turnaround time by 15%.”
• Teamwork/collaboration:  “Our project should include the contributions of every team member, leading to a collective achievement of our goals.”
• Innovation:  “To drive forward-thinking solutions in the 21st century, we will push the boundaries of what’s possible and encourage continuous improvement.”

Why are project purpose statements effective?

When employees understand a project’s value, they feel a heightened sense of purpose and are more committed.

Business purpose statements

A well-written business purpose statement inspires trust, loyalty, and motivation within not just the team but also customers.  Sixty-three percent of employees  say that they feel motivated in companies that clearly define and communicate value to customers.

‎Take a look at these real-world examples:

• Satisfying customers:  Amazon’s vision is “to be Earth’s most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online.”
• Business values:  Patagonia believes in “building the best product, causing no unnecessary harm, and using business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis.”
• Taking care of employees:  Starbucks promises “to nurture and inspire the human spirit — one person, one cup, and one neighborhood at a time.”
• Commercial success:  Apple aims “to bring the best user experience to its customers through its innovative hardware, software, and services.”
• Innovation:  Tesla, the pioneer of electric vehicles, is on a mission “to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.”

Why are purpose statements effective?

Purpose statements like these resonate deeply with both employees and consumers. With  66%  of consumers factoring in a business’s purpose during purchase decisions, clear objectives and values hold great sway.

‎How to utilize purpose statements

While crafting a powerful purpose statement is important, you need to weave it into the very fabric of your organization to maximize its impact. It’s not enough to simply have a purpose statement — the real magic happens when it’s applied and practiced daily.

As we dive deeper into this section, we’ll explore practical ways to breathe life into your purpose statement and make it a tangible force that drives your business.

Using personal purpose statements

Personal purpose statements can give you daily motivation and guidance in the workplace. Here are some strategies you can implement to integrate your personal purpose statement into your professional life:

1. Mindful morning rituals

Win the morning, win the day.

Start your day off by reflecting on your purpose statement. Use Motion to set a recurring reminder each morning, prompting you to read and meditate on your statement. This practice will help set the tone for the day and align you with your core purpose.

2. Task prioritization

Every task carries its own weight and significance. So move the ones that align most closely with your purpose statement to the top of your to-do list.

Motion can help you automatically prioritize your daily tasks based on your goals so you’re consistently focused on what matters most to you.

3. Reflective reviews

At the end of the week, use Motion to track and review the progress you’ve made. This is an easy way to reflect on your accomplishments and assess how they fit into your personal purpose statement. It not only gives you a sense of achievement but also provides insights into areas that need improvement.

Using project purpose statements

Having a well-defined project purpose statement and integrating it into the way you manage your teams, tasks, and workflows can help you stay aligned with your core purpose.

Seventy percent of employees  say that their sense of purpose is defined by their work. This makes an effective project purpose statement essential for getting your team on board and improving their sense of purpose.

Here are some strategies you can use to integrate a purpose statement into your projects:

1. Frequent reiteration

At the beginning of each meeting or brainstorming session, revisit the project’s purpose statement. A brief reminder can keep everyone focused and on track.

2. Visual displays

Incorporate your purpose statement into project documentation, dashboards, or even as a pinned note in a collaboration tool.

For example, Motion lets you attach documents, spreadsheets, pictures, and more to a project or task. Having your project purpose statement visible can serve as a constant touchstone on which to base your decision-making.

3. Communication alignment

Leverage communication tools, like Motion, to announce your purpose statement and gather feedback.

‎Open and public communication ensures that everyone understands and buys into the purpose, fostering a collective commitment.

Using business purpose statements

Implementing an effective business purpose statement means aligning all employees, directing the company, and sharing the vision with clients and potential customers.

Consider the following strategies to integrate your business’ purpose statement:

1. Employee onboarding and training

From day one, introduce new hires to the company’s purpose statement. Make it a central part of their onboarding orientation.

‎Use Motion’s meeting assistant to schedule regular training sessions with the team. Doing this can help emphasize your business purpose statement’s significance and help everyone uphold it.

2. Marketing and branding

Your external communications, whether advertising, PR, or social media, should reflect your purpose statement. This not only attracts customers that agree with it but also reinforces your commitment to it. Once it’s out in the open, there’s an added responsibility to consistently deliver on it.

3. Regular feedback

Set aside times during quarterly or annual reviews to revisit the purpose statement. Encourage feedback on how well it’s being integrated, and identify where improvements can be made. This process helps refine its application over time.

Motion helps you realize your purpose

A strong, clear, and tailored purpose is essential to have at every level.

With tools like Motion, you can ensure that your purpose statement comes to life in your everyday life and professional life, projects, and every aspect of your business.

If you can remember your priorities, integrate them into your actions, and communicate them clearly, your purpose statement can be your true North Star.

At Motion, our purpose is to empower individuals like you to navigate the complexities of life with confidence and clarity. We believe that everyone has the potential to achieve greatness, and it starts with harnessing the power of productivity.

Put your purpose statement into action by signing up for our  7-day free trial .

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How to write an effective business statement of purpose

By  Michael Feder

This article has been vetted by University of Phoenix's editorial advisory committee.  Read more about our editorial process.

This article has been reviewed by Kathryn Uhles, MIS, MSP , Dean, College of Business and IT

At a glance

• A purpose statement is a one- or two-sentence statement that defines a company’s purpose and goals.
• A purpose statement is similar to a mission statement or vision statement , but whereas those exist primarily for internal employees and stakeholders, purpose statements are designed for customers as well.
• Want to learn how to write an effective purpose statement and other business skills? Check out online business degree programs at University of Phoenix. 

What is a purpose statement?

Every business, regardless of size, industry or revenue structure, needs a purpose statement. The statement should capture a company’s purpose, vision and values and summarize its main goal in one or two sentences.

A purpose statement is a single, concise, declarative statement that identifies why a company exists. It is shared with customers and helps inform business decisions by outlining a business’s direction and how it aims to inspire and positively impact others.

Just like social capital , a purpose statement can cultivate goodwill with customers . People may prefer buying from, or partnering with, companies that maintain a high moral standard . It’s important for companies to maintain those high standards, both for customer visibility and to drive operations forward.

Purpose statement vs. mission statement vs. vision statement

A mission statement, vision statement and purpose statement sound similar, but they actually fulfill different roles. A mission statement best describes a company’s overarching goal . A vision statement is a declarative statement about a company’s purpose . Both statements are often only shared internally with employees or key stakeholders.

Mission statements should describe an organization’s reason for existing. They might describe the mindset of a business’s leaders, list and define core values, or describe how a company inspires to improve or change the world. 

A purpose statement, meanwhile, defines a company’s purpose as a means to direct activities . It is meant to be shared not only internally but also with potential customers or brand participants.

To this end, purpose statements should address customers and connect what the business does with whom it does it for. Consider this a person-first version of the mission statement , with customers at the center of a business’s objectives.

What makes a purpose statement effective?

Several elements go into writing an effective purpose statement. When creating one for your company, make sure you prioritize elements like clarity, honesty and an understanding of your business’s sector .

Even if potential customers aren’t familiar with your brand, they should be able to understand what you do just by reading your statement. Make it concise, use active verbs and eliminate unnecessary details so you can focus on your main, customer-focused goals .

Exaggerating or including false information can harm your business. Misrepresentations of your company can lead to overpromising and underdelivering — two of the quickest ways to alienate customers.

For best results, be transparent and accurate .

Positioning

An honest purpose statement should also highlight what makes your company stand out from the competition. This element requires an understanding of your industry and a strong competitive analysis .

Try to help potential customers choose your business over the competition by highlighting your organization’s advantages, all while being careful not to belittle other companies.

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How to write a purpose statement.

When writing a purpose statement for your organization, address your target audience while emphasizing elements that make your company different from the rest. You will need to decide who writes and contributes, and who can provide feedback about how the statement resonates with employees.

1.   Decide who will write the purpose statement

First and foremost, decide who will write the statement. This may not be easy, particularly for companies with large marketing departments and multiple executives. Some companies might have several employees who want to write or contribute. In other cases, it might be difficult to find anyone to volunteer.

For best results, make sure someone with a business background writes your organization’s purpose statement. Ideally, this person should have a business degree that included course content in operations, communication and business management.

The best purpose statements are sometimes written by employees with a master’s degree in business . These individuals can leverage executive-level business leadership and administration skills to create something that resonates with all company representatives.

If your company can’t agree on one person, consider making the statement a collaborative effort . Schedule a meeting or two when everyone can share their thoughts. You can use the ideas to form the initial draft before distributing it throughout the company for feedback.

2.   Address your audience

Your purpose statement should be all about your audience. Keep it directed toward your potential customers and describe the elements of your organization that might appeal to them.

This is an opportunity to describe your company’s reason for existence , with customers as your direct audience. Craft the messaging with the recipients in mind, and don’t be afraid to emphasize how important customers are to the company’s continued success.

3.   Consider what makes your company stand out

Your company is unique no matter how many other competitors might be in your field. Your statement should highlight your company’s unique features as compared to every other company operating in your sector and should align with your overall business plan.

Focus on the goods and services that make you a better fit for customers than other providers. To do this, you’ll need consider everything that makes your company stand out. This step is vital when starting a new business since it will help you focus on your organization’s best qualities.

4.   Get feedback

No matter how confident your company might be in the first draft of your purpose statement, it’s still a great idea to get feedback . Give internal employees the chance to read the statement, and remain open to what they have to say about it.

Getting feedback while drafting your purpose statement can help you gain a fresh perspective on your business. You’ll learn to view your company through other employees’ eyes. You’ll also achieve a more complete definition of your company’s purpose.

Examples of strong purpose statements

So, how do you pull it all together? Indeed.com has some examples , including:

• “We strive to protect wildlife through education about endangered species.”
•  “Our purpose is to bring awareness to the need for medical supplies in overpopulated cities.”
• “We work toward building a safe and secure community by implementing emergency calling systems.”

Joseph Aranyosi, associate dean of the College of Business and Information Technology at University of Phoenix, offered a few more:

• “Our purpose is to provide sustainable food alternatives that can help to minimize greenhouse gases and reduce global warming.”
• “We offer affordable healthcare options for low-income patients to proactively address medical issues and reduce healthcare costs.”
• “We develop automated customer service solutions and custom-built social media apps to promote small business growth.”

Gain critical business skills with an online degree

University of Phoenix offers several business degrees that prepare students with skills for a variety of career paths. Whether you’re looking to build the fundamentals or advance your skill set, there’s a degree program for you. Here are just a few online business programs at University of Phoenix to consider:

• Associate of Arts with a concentration in Business Fundamentals — From management to accounting, the skills learned in this program are essential for anyone looking to advance their business education. 
• Bachelor of Science in Accounting — Businesses around the world rely on skilled accountants to manage their finances and make profitable business decisions.
• Bachelor of Science in Business — Knowledge of the ins and outs of running a business can spell the difference between success and failure in a competitive business world. 
• Bachelor of Science in Communication — It’s one thing to have a great idea, it’s another to properly communicate that idea to a large audience. Develop skills to be a media relations specialist, copywriter and more in this degree program.
• Master of Business Administration — Advance your business skills beyond the fundamentals and prepare yourself for higher leadership roles. This degree program can prepare graduates for careers as business managers, operations directors and more.
• Master of Management — Take your understanding of business organization and management to an advanced level. This degree program is perfect for those with experience in the workforce who are looking to take on greater leadership roles. 
• Doctor of Business Administration — Expand your understanding of organizations, work environments and industry. This program invites participants to delve into cutting-edge research in the field of business and develop skills for solving complex organizational problems. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Michael Feder is a content marketing specialist at University of Phoenix, where he researches and writes on a variety of topics, ranging from healthcare to IT. He is a graduate of the Johns Hopkins University Writing Seminars program and a New Jersey native!

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Purpose Statement: All You Need to Know

Every organization in the world knows “what” they do, most know “how” to do it, but only a few know “why” they do what they do. This “why” isn’t about profit maximization. It’s the reason for the organization’s existence.

See also: Mission Statement

What is a Purpose Statement

A purpose statement is one that clearly explains this “why” and its impact on human, societal, or environmental goals. It addresses the question – “What would the world lose if the company disappeared?” in the most believable, authentic, and inspiring words.

The simplest and most popular definition of a purpose statement is “A higher-order reason for an organization’s existence that goes beyond making money and adds value to society.” [1]

Why having a purpose is important

At its best, a purpose can act as a North Star, a guiding light that allows everyone in the organization from the leadership to the newest employee to understand what they must accomplish and serves as a filter for daily decisions.

In an organization with a well-defined purpose statement, every employee understands the “Why” behind the organization’s existence, defines it in the same way, and more importantly, feels a strong connection to that purpose.

While this might sound theoretical, its real-world implications are profound.

A study by Korn Ferry titled “People on a mission” found that organizations that took the challenging steps of defining their core purpose not only saw strong bottom-line results but also transformed all aspects of their business.

The study revealed such companies posted compounded annual growth rates (CAGR) of 9.85% compared to 2.4% for the whole S&P 500 Consumer Sector [2].

A purpose can also strongly influence an organization’s ability to attract and retain talent and customers. However, it has less effect on suppliers, prices, and other legal aspects:

Elon Musk’s companies, Tesla, and SpaceX, though very different in terms of what they do, exemplify the role of a well-defined purpose in shaping success.

As quoted by Mr. Musk, “Putting in long hours for a corporation is hard. Putting in long hours for a cause is easy.” This statement is well supported by the fact that Tesla and SpaceX have consistently ranked among the top choices for engineering talent in the US [3].

Post-pandemic, the significance of a company’s purpose has grown even more pronounced and had a downstream impact on hiring, morale, retention, and performance of employees.

According to a 2021 McKinsey study [4], nearly 70% of employees are reflecting on purpose because of the pandemic. The same study also found that employees who said they live their purpose at work were:

• Six and a half times more likely to report higher resilience.
• Four times more likely to report better health.
• Six times more likely to want to stay at the company.
• One and a half times more likely to go above and beyond for the company’s success.

In another PwC survey [5], 83% of the employees rated “meaning in day-to-day work” as important.

Elements of a good purpose statement

Before we define the elements of a purpose statement, it is important to distinguish between a company’s Purpose, Vision, Mission, Values, and Positioning.

Starting with the Purpose, an organization’s Vision, Mission, Values, and Positioning can be imagined as layers with each influencing the other as shown:

Many organizations use the terms Purpose and Mission interchangeably; However, the purpose defines the “why” while the mission is a big, bold step that is part of the ‘how’.

Purpose statements vary from being vague (e.g., Kroger’s “To feed the human spirit” [6]) to grandiose (e.g., Intel’s “create world-changing technology that improves the life of every person on the planet” [7]) to boring (e.g., Decathlon’s “to be useful for people” [8]).

A well-crafted purpose statement must represent the organization’s aspirations and send clear signals about what the company stands for. Creating one is as much a creative act as a strategic one.

A Harvard study analyzed 66 purpose statements from leading organizations around the world and gathered insights from senior leaders and employees. The learnings were used to develop a diagnostic framework that helps craft the best purpose statement for an organization based on its specific situation [9].

Known as the “SABRE” framework, it is based on five dimensions – four dimensions of content (i.e., what the purpose means) and one dimension of statement formulation (i.e., how the purpose statement itself is worded):

Must address a Societal cause

At a foundational level, a purpose statement must address a specific, pressing human, societal, or environmental need that the organization seeks to address or alleviate. However, not all organizations directly address such needs by virtue of their operations.

General-purpose companies, such as Microsoft or Airbnb, do not have a direct social or environmental impact due to their day-to-day operations, whereas social-purpose companies, such as Tesla, prioritize addressing social or environmental issues as a core mission alongside profitability.

Purpose statement for general-purpose organizations

Regardless of their type, an organization can still incorporate elements of societal impact into its purpose statement.

For example, Microsoft defines its purpose as “to empower every person and organization on the planet to achieve more” [10] which goes to show that even when a company is not directly involved in a societal cause, its purpose can still include elements of societal aspects.

Microsoft’s purpose can manifest itself in both ways, general purpose (its cloud computing business) as well as social purpose (X-Box adaptive controller for disabled kids, Office accessibility tools, AI for the visually impaired etc.).

Similarly, Airbnb’s purpose statement – ‘create a world where anyone can belong anywhere’ [11] is both grounded in everyday experience and stretches to an incredibly ambitious goal that seeks to break down barriers caused by cultural, geographical, and racial differences.

Airbnb went a step further to introduce the “Open Homes” program [12] which has helped countless people with temporary housing in times of natural calamities and crisis – a classic example of a social purpose manifestation.

Purpose statement for social-purpose organizations

It is easier to include the societal element in the purpose statement of companies that have a social purpose built into their core operations.

Tesla is a classic example. Its purpose statement is simple yet very powerful – “Accelerating the world’s transition to sustainable energy” [13].

This conveys huge environmental ambition and directly relates to what Tesla does – develop products that are not only sustainable but far superior to fossil-fuel alternatives, which might one day put an end to the era of fossil-fuel transport on the planet.

Must be Authentic

Stakeholders, both internal and external, look for companies in which they can place their trust. An organization’s stated purpose must accurately and honestly reflect its true aims. Otherwise, it can erode confidence and credibility in the eyes of these stakeholders.

ExxonMobil, for example, states its purpose as “Fueling the world safely and responsibly” [14]. However, the company downplayed the adverse impact of climate change for decades despite the knowledge of its causes and dangers since the 70s [15] [16].

Exxon has since been one of the prime targets of activists and politicians angered by the oil industry’s efforts to block action on climate change. Similarly, Philip Morris International’s purpose statement (which it changed in 2016) is “to deliver a smoke-free future”, but in 2022 alone, it shipped over 621 billion cigarettes [17].

Authenticity is also crucial to maintaining employee motivation and engagement. When employees perceive a mismatch between the stated purpose and the daily realities of organizational life, it can lead to disenchantment and, ultimately, the decision to quit.

For example, Volkswagen’s values include “sustainability and community: for the future. for everyone” [18]. However, when the group was hit by the Dieselgate emission scandal, its employee satisfaction took a significant hit.

Before the scandal broke, VW was rated the best in almost every dimension of workplace satisfaction when compared to peers such as BMW, Mercedes, and its own subsidiary, Audi.

When news of its emissions testing misconduct emerged, those positive numbers tanked, and VW was rated worst in 12 out of 13 dimensions of an employment survey [19].

Leaders can identify gaps between a company’s stated purpose and its actual direction by including questions related to the purpose statement in regular employee surveys.

Companies that misrepresent themself in their purpose statement also end up disappointing customers and investors which can give rise to accusations of purpose-washing, dilute brand value and damage reputation [20].

Must be Believable

A good purpose statement must be believable in the sense that it must be within the power of the organization to allocate resources and assess progress towards fulfilling that purpose.

Statements that are too grandiose, such as a small NGO claiming to “eliminate hunger in the world” or vague statements such as “to help make the world better” often fail the believability test and end up being uninspiring. Stakeholders then end up asking “But how?”.

For example, AT&T’s statement – “Connecting people to greater possibility – with expertise, simplicity, and inspiration” [21] scores high on the believability dimension as it aligns perfectly with AT&T’s operations in wireless communication and is well within the means of its resources.

Must be relevant to Beneficiaries

A clear purpose statement can not only clarify but also inspire desired behaviors toward its beneficiaries. But to do that, it must clearly indicate who the beneficiaries are – the segment of society (or the environment) it intends to benefit.

In a 2020 survey by PwC that covered over 2,000 CEOs, more than half the respondents (51%) failed to mention any beneficiaries (the who) in their purpose statements [22].

Statements that fail to mention beneficiaries remain all but abstract.

For example, statements such as “to improve profit, sustainable growth, and long-term stability” and “improve health and well-being” could potentially create confusion as to whose health are we talking about — is it customers, employees, the public, or another group?

A good way to avoid this is to put the beneficiaries at the forefront of the statement and reference how the organization benefits them.

For example, S&P Global’s purpose statement – “We accelerate progress in the world by providing intelligence that is essential for companies, governments and individuals to make decisions with conviction” clearly communicates the role of S&P along with the section of stakeholders it intends to serve [23].

Must be Engaging

This is the dimension of a purpose statement that lays emphasis on how it is worded.

Great purpose statements are engaging and inspiring and appeal to the heart as much as to the mind. They are crisp, impactful, and leave a lasting impression on memory. In contrast, when statements are too long, they become unclear and lose their grip on people’s attention.

For example, compare Mastercard’s:

“We work to connect and power an inclusive digital economy that benefits everyone, everywhere by making transactions safe, simple, smart and accessible, Connecting everyone to Priceless possibilities” [24]

with that of Bank of America’s:

“To help make financial lives better through the power of every connection.” [25]

While Mastercard’s statement is detailed and lays emphasis on inclusivity, safety, and accessibility, it is also lengthy and less likely to be remembered. In contrast, Bank of America’s purpose statement is concise, powerfully conveys its intent, and leaves its mark in the memory.

While there are no definite guidelines as to how a purpose statement must be worded, the following guidelines come in handy:

• A purpose statement must be inspiring – It must be aspirational, inspirational, and even poetic and must reveal the “engine” that keeps a company running.
• Must be as short and sweet as possible to aid memorability. (For example, Google’s short yet powerful – “To organize the world’s information”)
• Must have an outcome (For example, Barbie’s “To inspire the limitless potential in every girl”)
• Must create tension – a great purpose statement must unite conflicting intentions that create a space for continuous innovation and growth. For example, IKEA’s “To create a better everyday life for the many people” [26] conveys the company’s goal to make durable, sustainably made furniture (which can be expensive) but at the lowest possible cost.
• Must strike a balance between aspiration and precision. It must be aspirational but not vague, precise but not limiting and must leave room for a company to grow. For example, Lego’s “To inspire and develop the builders of tomorrow” [27]
• It should be systemic and rational but also emotional; it should resonate with members of the organization and inform their decision-making.

A purpose statement can evolve with time

Companies are not static. There are many examples of successful companies that reinvented their business. Samsung started as a company trading dried fish and groceries while Nokia started as a pulp mill.

As a company grows or the context around it changes, its purpose may need to be reframed.

For example, Tesla changed its purpose statement from “we exist to accelerate the planet’s transition to sustainable transport ” to “we exist to accelerate the planet’s transition to sustainable energy .”

Tesla’s offerings today expand beyond cars into products such as solar roofs, power-wall batteries that power homes during outages, and megapacks that stabilize renewable energy electric grids during peak power demand.

Additionally, with the shift towards stakeholder capitalism, companies are forced to redefine what success looks like and how to achieve it. With the change in the traditional mindset of maximizing value for shareholders to maximizing it for all stakeholders, companies are increasingly finding their very purpose questioned.

For example, British Petroleum (BP) has been an energy company involved in extractive industries since its founding. In 2020, BP changed its purpose to reflect its commitment to become a net-zero carbon emitter. Its purpose statement changed from “Making energy more” to “reimagining energy for people and planet” [28].

Delivering value with purpose: The 5P framework

Companies that live by their purpose radiate authenticity and do well by doing good. Leaders allocate capital and resources with purpose in mind while employees use purpose as a guiding star for decision-making. Customers, suppliers, partners, and investors in such companies recognize their value proposition.

But developing such dynamics can be hard. It requires leaders to embed purpose throughout the organization.

McKinsey & Company has proposed a five-step framework that companies can use to make purpose real, steer clear of potential vulnerabilities, and help unlock meaningful value [29]:

Called the 5Ps framework, it consists of five critical elements:

1. Portfolio strategy and products

Demonstrating purpose in the products and services requires a two-step process. First, the business portfolio must align with the company’s purpose. Second, a company must fill out its businesses with products and services that match its chosen portfolio and winnow out those that don’t.

While most companies will not have the choice of starting from a clean slate in terms of the industries and sectors, almost all can identify ways to reshape their business mix in an active, purposeful way.

For example, BP has reimagined what an energy company can be. It not only exited its petrochemicals businesses but also announced plans to shrink its legacy oil & gas businesses by 40% by 2030.

BP is on the path to scale up its low-carbon energy businesses such as bioenergy, hydrogen, and electric-vehicle charging, and to put itself on a path to become a net-zero carbon emitter by 2050 or sooner [30].

Google’s parent company, Alphabet prioritizes “freedom and focus” and in line with it, google restricts Play Store apps that promote gambling and those that offer personal loans with excessive annual percentage rates.

Likewise, toy companies are genuinely embracing diversity, equity and inclusion by learning and collaborating with identity-based communities to improve products. Mattel, the company that manufactures Barbie now offers dolls in a wide variety of body sizes, skin tones, hair textures, and ability status [31].

2. People and culture

As every purpose is about human beings, a company’s employees and its stakeholders serve as sources of strength and a hard check against inauthenticity. An organization’s purpose must align at critical points with its people and culture.

This process starts with hiring. As changing people can be hard, managers must actively screen for individuals who share values that align with the company’s purpose. Human resource decisions must be grounded in purpose and must drive people’s development and career pathways.

Mindsets and behaviors linked to company purpose must be well-articulated and “role-modeled”. Aligning with purpose is not about management saying some nice words and calling it a day. Unless it is reflected in key performance indicators (KPI), benefits are limited.

People want purpose and meaning from their work. Organizations that can genuinely satisfy this need are the ones with the most engaged employees. Passionate employees radiate enthusiasm to customers and communities alike.

Studies have shown that organizations with engaged employees achieve earnings-per-share growth that is more than four times that of their competitors [32].

3. Processes and systems

This element addresses the “how” of the business model: the operational initiatives and governance mechanisms that an organization depends upon to realize its purpose.

While some aspects of these elements are dictated by regulations and industry standards, an organization must go beyond to be the best and set an example. Embedding purpose into a company’s processes and systems requires looking beyond a firm’s four walls.

For example, Patagonia, whose purpose is “to save our home planet”, does not stop at being carbon-neutral in its own processes. Acknowledging that the bulk of its emissions (95%) comes from its supply chain and materials manufacturing, Patagonia has stood up and taken responsibility for all of it.

It holds itself accountable by setting ambitious goals across the company and its network of partners in alignment with a set of standards based on its Science Based Target Initiative (SBTi) [33].

4. Performance metrics

As only that which gets measured gets managed, it is crucial to measure purpose. This means identifying the KPIs attached to a company’s purpose, tracking them over time, and incenting employees to meet purpose targets.

Since purpose expresses what a company stands for and aspires to be, purpose metrics should extend beyond the day-to-day operations to include allocation decisions such as capital expenditures and M&A, as well as company-wide transformation initiatives.

Organizations are increasingly adopting such practices. For example, a global study that looked at the prevalence of ESG-linked pay for executives found that 38% of the listed firms followed the practice in 2021 compared to just 1% in 2011 [34].

Companies can use a range of KPIs and tools but, because every purpose is unique to an organization, off-the-shelf solutions are seldom as effective as the ones that are carefully tailored.

Companies can also go beyond monetary incentives to encourage community outreach by celebrating offices and employees who contribute measurably to the organization’s mission. Behavioral economics principles can be used to “nudge” for positive behavior, such as energy saving or waste reduction.

Sometimes, simply showing employees and other stakeholders how the organization is progressing along metrics such as diversity or sustainability reinforces the purpose and helps build momentum for more.

5. Positions and communication

A company’s purpose must be hardwired into its positions, communications, and external engagement. Artificial expressions of purpose ring false, and stakeholders recognize inauthenticity.

Sadly, In the rush to stand for something, organizations have risked putting the purpose ‘story’ ahead of the purpose plan and actions. When ‘purpose promise’ does not match the ‘purpose experience’, organizations face a real risk of reputational damage.

For example, when McDonald’s launched ‘McPlant’, its meat-free burger, critics were quick to point out McDonald’s inaction on sustainability issues and the lack of a clear link between the launch of ‘McPlant’ and its current sustainability plan.

McDonald’s has been years behind competitors like White Castle and Burger King in fully introducing plant-based burger options [35].

Purpose-washing: The dangers and how to avoid it

Companies today are in a rush to match their core purpose with the values of society, such as inclusion, fairness, and respect and have become more outspoken about environmental and social issues.

Customers, employees, investors, and communities are increasingly expecting businesses to express a clear and public position on issues that matter to them.

Unfortunately, such highly visible pledges of purpose commitment have, paradoxically, also resulted in public concern and backlash. 56% of people now believe that purpose-driven marketing is a way for firms to promote their goods, rather than a real commitment to solve social or environmental problems [36].

What is purpose-washing

When an organization’s purpose statement is communicated to external stakeholders, a lack of perceived authenticity can easily escalate into accusations of purpose-washing – a term that combines the concepts of greenwashing and woke-washing.

Greenwashing refers to companies portraying themselves as environmentally conscious even though their actions do not align with their claims. Woke-washing is an accusation that arises when companies claim to care about socio-political issues, but stakeholders believe they do not.

In both cases, claims that are based on a broader purpose that goes beyond economic profit maximization are not perceived as consistent with actions.

Examples of companies accused of purpose-washing

The below table gives an overview of companies in different industries that have faced accusations of purpose-washing for varied reasons:

Source: Purpose-washing: What it is, and how to avoid it, King’s Business School [36]

Numerous companies across industries have come under fire for misalignment between their stated purposes and actual behavior for a variety of reasons and to different degrees.

Staying clear of purpose-washing

In addition to the obvious ethical concerns, negative consequences of purpose-washing include a decrease in trust, damaged reputation, and substantive financial losses. When organizations take a public stance based on their purpose, they join a broader public conversation on the topic.

According to research by Paul A. Argenti, professor of corporate communication at Dartmouth College’s Tuck School of Business [45], there are three considerations that managers must bear in mind when they speak in public or take a stand on matters related to their purpose:

Does the issue align with the organization’s strategy?

An organization’s strategy is based in part on the company’s mission and values. If there is a misalignment with the issue being spoken out on, such statements will be viewed as inauthentic.

Can the organization meaningfully influence the issue?

If the organization does not have the expertise and resources to make a difference or is not willing to commit financial resources towards the cause, then the organization risks being seen as hypocritical or being accused of “woke-washing.”

Will the constituencies agree with speaking out?

Every organization works with constituencies – distinct groups or entities that have a stake or interest in the organization’s decisions and actions. (e.g., customers, investors, employees, etc.). If the key constituencies agree with the position taken by the organization, then the risk of disrupting future business is greatly reduced. However, when these constituencies disagree, it becomes crucial to discuss and carefully weigh the position based on relative importance to business.

If a company meets all the above conditions, it can join or even initiate a public conversation around its purpose without the risk of being accused of purpose-washing. However, if only two of the conditions are met, it is better to wait and join the debate later rather than acting as a conversation starter.

When just one condition is met, it is critical to keep track of the situation and determine

whether and when it is suitable to voice a stance. If none of the conditions are met, the company should refrain from commenting on the matter.

Initiating effective purpose-driven campaigns

Once an organization decides to take a public stance, three guiding principles are important.

First, it must carefully consider how to communicate its commitment in a meaningful manner. It is insufficient to merely issue campaigns and merchandise relating to their purpose as the perception of authenticity relies strongly on stakeholders correctly interpreting the alignment of the stated purpose with the company’s practice.

Second, the stance must be unambiguous. Research indicates that staying neutral and thus not taking a clear stance, can lead to a lack of perceived authenticity [46]. While striving for fair representation is vital, it is also critical that a company’s stance is clear, well-thought-out and displays a real commitment to its principles.

Finally, the message must be consistent for it enhances authenticity.

Thus, purpose can be a source of powerful competitive advantage, but only when it is genuine and infused into an organization’s business model.

Read also: Mission Statement

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8. “About us”. Decathlon, https://sustainability.decathlon.com/about-decathlon . Accessed 08 Apr 2024.

9. “What Makes a Great Corporate Purpose Statement”. Harvard Business Review, https://hbr.org/2023/09/what-makes-a-great-corporate-purpose-statement . Accessed 07 Apr 2024.

10. “What we value”. Microsoft, https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/about/values . Accessed 07 Apr 2024.

11. “Airbnb 2019 Business Update”. Airbnb, https://news.airbnb.com/airbnb-2019-business-update/ . Accessed 07 Apr 2024.

12. “Airbnb’s Open Homes platform hopes to house 100,000 displaced people”. The Spaces, https://thespaces.com/airbnbs-open-homes-platform-hopes-to-house-100000-displaced-people/ . Accessed 07 Apr 2024.

13. “About”. Tesla, https://www.tesla.com/about . Accessed 07 Apr 2024.

14. “Who we are”. Exxon Mobil, https://corporate.exxonmobil.com/who-we-are . Accessed 07 Apr 2024.

15. “Exxon’s Climate Denial History: A Timeline”. Greenpeace, https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/fighting-climate-chaos/exxon-and-the-oil-industry-knew-about-climate-crisis/exxons-climate-denial-history-a-timeline/ . Accessed 07 Apr 2024.

16. “ExxonMobil loses bid to nix climate change lawsuit”. The Associated Press, https://apnews.com/article/climate-environment-darren-woods-lawsuits-9650332ea94d2ee22eb415e80b142134 . Accessed 07 Apr 2024.

17. “Is PMI Really Creating a ‘Smoke-Free Future’?”. Exposetobacco.org, https://exposetobacco.org/news/pmi-smoke-free-future/ . Accessed 08 Apr 2024.

18. “Our Values and Actions”. Volkswagen, https://www.vw.com/en/our-values-and-actions.html . Accessed 08 Apr 2024.

19. “How Volkswagen Rallied Its Employees After Its Emissions Scandal (At Least For Now)”. Forbes, https://www.forbes.com/sites/karstenstrauss/2017/07/26/how-volkswagen-rallied-its-employees-after-its-emissions-scandal-at-least-for-now/ . Accessed 07 Apr 2024.

20. “The Evolution Of Purpose Wash And How To Avoid It”. CEO Today, https://www.ceotodaymagazine.com/2020/12/the-evolution-of-purpose-wash-and-how-to-avoid-it/ . Accessed 07 Apr 2024.

21. “Our Purpose”. AT&T, https://about.att.com/pages/corporate-profile . Accessed 07 Apr 2024.

22. “Why corporate purpose statements often miss their mark”. PwC, https://www.strategy-business.com/article/Why-corporate-purpose-statements-often-miss-their-mark . Accessed 08 Apr 2024.

23. “We are S&P Global.”. S&P Global, https://www.spglobal.com/en/who-we-are/ . Accessed 08 Apr 2024.

24. “About Mastercard”. Mastercard, https://www.mastercard.us/en-us/vision/who-we-are.html . Accessed 08 Apr 2024.

25. “Our company”. Bank of America, https://about.bankofamerica.com/en/our-company . Accessed 08 Apr 2024.

26. “The IKEA vision and values”. IKEA, https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/this-is-ikea/about-us/the-ikea-vision-and-values-pub9aa779d0 . Accessed 08 Apr 2024.

27. “Purpose”. Kirkbi, https://www.kirkbi.com/about/purpose/ . Accessed 08 Apr 2024.

28. “Presentation – Bernard Looney”. BP, https://www.bp.com/content/dam/bp/business-sites/en/global/corporate/pdfs/investors/2q-strategy-2020-bernard-looney-strategy-overview.pdf . Accessed 08 Apr 2024.

29. “More than a mission statement: How the 5Ps embed purpose to deliver value”. McKinsey & Company, https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/strategy-and-corporate-finance/our-insights/more-than-a-mission-statement-how-the-5ps-embed-purpose-to-deliver-value . Accessed 08 Apr 2024.

30. “Insight: Inside BP’s plan to reset renewables as oil and gas boom”. Reuters, https://www.reuters.com/business/sustainable-business/inside-bps-plan-reset-renewables-oil-gas-boom-2023-03-07/ . Accessed 08 Apr 2024.

31. “She’s a Barbie girl, in a new world”. Mashable, https://mashable.com/feature/barbie-diverse-inclusive . Accessed 08 Apr 2024.

32. “The Power Of Purpose: The Business Case For Purpose (All The Data You Were Looking For Pt 2)”. Forbes, https://www.forbes.com/sites/afdhelaziz/2020/03/07/the-power-of-purpose-the-business-case-for-purpose-all-the-data-you-were-looking-for-pt-2/ . Accessed 08 Apr 2024.

33. “The Climate Crisis Is Our Business”. Patagonia, https://www.patagonia.com/climate-goals/ . Accessed 08 Apr 2024.

34. “Executive Compensation Tied to ESG Performance: International Evidence”. SHIRA COHEN, IGOR KADACH, GAIZKA ORMAZABAL, STEFAN REICHELSTEIN, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1475-679X.12481 . Accessed 08 Apr 2024.

35. “Hold the beef: McDonald’s avoids the bold step it must take to cut emissions”. Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/dec/10/mcdonalds-emissions-beef-burgers . Accessed 08 Apr 2024.

36. “Purpose-washing: What it is, and how to avoid it”. KING’S BUSINESS SCHOOL, https://www.kcl.ac.uk/business/assets/research/literature-review-purpose-washing.pdf . Accessed 08 Apr 2024.

37. “Munroe Bergdorf accuses L’Oréal of racial hypocrisy”. The Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2020/jun/02/munroe-bergdorf-accuses-loreal-of-racial-hypocrisy . Accessed 07 Apr 2024.

38. “H&M Apologizes for ‘Monkey’ Image Featuring Black Child”. The New York Times, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/08/business/hm-monkey.html . Accessed 06 Apr 2024.

39. “What Was the Dieselgate Scandal?”. International Environmental Technology, https://www.envirotech-online.com/news/air-monitoring/6/international-environmental-technology/what-was-the-dieselgate-scandal/59471 . Accessed 06 Apr 2024.

40. “This article is more than 5 years old Stonewall and Primark criticised for Pride T-shirts made in Turkey”. The Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/aug/02/stonewall-and-primark-criticised-pride-t-shirts-made-in-turkey-lgbt-rights . Accessed 08 Apr 2024.

41. “The Starbucks Anti-Pride Controversy, Explained”. Bon Appetit, https://www.bonappetit.com/story/starbucks-anti-pride-controversy . Accessed 08 Apr 2024.

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The Essentials of Writing a Powerful Business Purpose Statement

Businesses today share fundamental corporate and social commitments. They seek to inspire the community, attract talent, and out-originate competition. And more and more of them have a purpose that goes beyond profit.

Crafting your Business Purpose Statement is a pivotal step in the early stages of identifying your enterprise’s core values and objectives. It’s the single line that encapsulates the very reason for your company’s existence, serving as a testament to your branding efforts.

A business’s purpose statement mirrors the connection between your core products and services and the positive impact they have on people’s lives. This statement acts as a compass for your company’s daily decisions, guiding your go-to-market strategies and initiatives.

In this article, we have prepared a few tips to help you write a powerful business purpose statement as well as practical guidelines on how to craft it well.

The Differences between Purpose, Mission, and Vision

Before we walk you through the specifics, we would like to make some important distinctions. Namely the differences between vision, mission, and purpose.

• A vision statement describes what your business is looking forward to and working towards. It’s the what of your organization.
• A mission statement outlines the process of turning your vision into a reality. It’s the how of your company.
• A purpose statement sets your reason for doing what you do. The why of your venture’s existence.

The three types of statements reflect different aspects of your organization’s operations and differ in the questions they answer. However, they are closely related plans of action that can help you deliver what your company is ultimately fighting for.

Without further ado, let’s get into the nitty-gritty of how to make your brand stand out with a strong and well-defined purpose statement.

1. It Should Inspire and Show Personality

Defining your purpose statement is a process. Adding the right words to correctly depict the reason for your company’s existence is a bit harder than you may imagine. The answer to your business’s “why” may seem obvious to you, but the key is to ground it in reality and communicate it to your audience successfully.

Start by reflecting on how your company came to be – the reason for creating it, the challenges you’ve overcome, the lessons you’ve learnt and the values you’ve adopted.

If you are an emerging entrepreneur with a completely new venture you can also apply this approach, but in a more personal context. Look back at the significant turning point that prompted you to become a business owner.

If you’re an established business with a long history of success, you can acknowledge the milestones of your firm’s growth. You can identify and define your business heritage and pin-point the specific characteristics of your brand that made it stand out all these years.

Make sure your purpose statement doesn’t include buzzwords or jargon. Use simple and clear language to directly communicate what your company’s here to accomplish.

2. It Should Play a Role with an Outcome

Since your purpose statement answers your company’s why it should set the outcome of what your business ultimately wishes to achieve and see out there.

Start your research by talking to your leadership. Ask them various questions and summarize the recurring themes.

Here are some examples:

• Why are you in this business?
• What do you like the most about working in the company?
• What image do you think the company conveys to the outside world?
• How do you feel about this image? What do you like and dislike about it?
• What specific challenges does the company solve?
• What do you think the purpose of the company is?
• What makes this business different from competitors’?
• Who are the target customers?
• What do you think they value most about this company?
• How do you think the company’s products and services reach their business goals? Do you think it’s effective? Would you say they reflect the business’s purpose?
• What are five words you would describe the company and its culture with?
• What underlying principles and philosophies shaped your responses to the previous questions?

Make sure you involve every leadership member . Think carefully about what you want to ask them. Form clear questions and take detailed notes.

Word your company’s purpose in a way that inspires room for thoughts while directly underlining your organization’s value proposition.

3. It Should Be Short, Yet Powerful

Your business purpose should be credible and easy to remember, especially by your employees. They are your most important resource and every one of them can influence how your organization is represented outside your office walls.

Your employees provide an essential link between you and your customers. Their energy can be a powerful asset to ensure that the entire organization leads with purpose. If they are happy, motivated and find a sense of fulfilment, they can be strong ambassadors of everything your brand stands for.

To find out how your employees feel about the purpose of your company you can ask them questions like:

• What inspired you to apply to this company?
• What do you like the most about working there? What makes you feel proud about it?
• How do you think the company’s products/services help customers?
• In what ways do you identify yourself with the company?
• What do you think is the company’s purpose? How would you put it in a few words?
• Do you think the purpose is reflected in the company culture?

Being in sync with your employees can help you make your business more agile and more responsive to challenges.

Always remember that your employees bring to light your purpose. The better it sticks in their minds the more natural it will be for them to communicate through their work.

4. It Should Create Space for Innovation and Growth

You’ve reflected back on how your organization has matured. You’ve sought and gained employee and leadership insights. Now, it’s important to identify the events and trends that can affect the social, political, economic and technological contexts that your brand operates in.

Maintaining a clear understanding of the present and the ability to anticipate and study future trends can set you apart. Align your Business Purpose Statement with real-world contexts to give it tangible meaning. This clarity allows you to understand opportunities more deeply, challenge the usual way of doing things, find the best solutions, and build on ideas. Hence, a compelling purpose statement may sometimes be wrestling with conflicting tensions all for the sake of fostering innovation and growth.

Purpose statements that fall into this category include:

With this statement, Workday showcases that there’s a possibility of instilling the human aspect into software and that it’s what they strive for.

With this statement, JetBlue deals with the tension that there are no boundaries to great customer experience.

5. It Should Be Aspirational and Precise

Your purpose statement should give a sort of tingle – a burst of inspiration and excitement. It should make your company want to strive to grow, to innovate, and to set an example. So, adding a pinch of emotion helps everyone involved to embrace it as their own.

The purpose of your business should reflect rational reasons for which it can supercharge your brand, culture, and business strategy as well as your organization’s ethics. Simply stating something, doesn’t make it come to life. Hence, a meaningful purpose statement should be able to influence a good purpose in practice. It should be aspirational and precise, expanding your organization’s opportunities for growth.

A vague example goes like this: “To make the world a better place”. A good example is more like this:

Additionally, your purpose statement can have a general or a social focus. Some companies have a more general statement, which doesn’t necessarily involve a social or environmental aspect.

An example of this is Airbnb’s statement:

It’s precise and showcases the company’s commitment to helping people travel like locals and experience a sense of community they wouldn’t be able to find in a hotel

This doesn’t mean that Airbnb doesn’t care about social or environmental issues. It simply means that it’s not at the very core of their existence.

To show you the difference, a business with a good social purpose is Patagonia:

6. It Should Evolve with Time

Purpose isn’t something that can be achieved once and for all. Companies grow, the business and social contexts change and your purpose statement should stretch along with these. It should always push your team further and it should set the stage for an inexhaustible series of new goals.

Let’s take Tesla as an example. Their original statement was:

But their current statement is:

The change from transportation to energy reflects also the shift in Tesla’s priority from an electric vehicle company to developing technology that makes sustainable energy more accessible.

Benefits of a Powerful Purpose Statement

Your company’s purpose statement establishes your business´s unique and inimitable attributes. It provides your brand with a competitive advantage and it acts as a guide for overcoming unprecedented challenges. It sets the tone that moves your organization forward, but it’s meaningless if not backed by solid and measurable commitments.

We hope our guide can help you create a defined and powerful business purpose statement for your organization. In fact, we would love to see what you’ve crafted, so don’t hesitate to share it with us in the comments below.

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How to Develop Your Company’s Purpose Statement

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If you aspire to lead or start a company, you’ll play a crucial role in driving its vision, goals, and plan for success. A purpose statement establishes the foundation you need to do that effectively.

While some degree programs touch on the topic of purpose statements, you might not realize how this concept can apply to your future career . 

Here’s how you can take the skills you’ve learned from your business degree and use them while writing an effective company purpose statement. 

What is a Purpose Statement?

The first step to understanding a purpose statement is to distinguish it from a mission statement because each plays a different role in your business plan .

Mission Statement vs. Purpose Statement

A purpose statement is a single statement that defines the reason your company exists—beyond simply making a profit. It also illustrates how your product or service positively impacts the people you serve. Once your purpose is established, you’ll need a series of goals to drive that purpose. That’s where the mission statement comes in.

First and foremost, a mission statement is actionable. It explains the path you need to take to reach your purpose. So, while a purpose statement is focused on the future, a mission statement is rooted in the present.

Unlike a company mission, your company purpose isn’t something that can be completed or checked off a list. A purpose statement illustrates the ongoing pursuit to push your company forward.

What Does a Purpose Statement Do?

A purpose statement sets expectations, both internally (for leadership and employees) and externally (for customers and investors). It acts as your company’s blueprint for the future and helps guide all the decisions you make—from how you manufacture your products to the words you use in your marketing.

Your purpose also influences your customer. In fact, 63% of global consumers prefer to purchase products and services from companies that stand for a purpose, according to recent research.

The study found that companies that stand for something bigger than what they sell, communicate their purpose, and demonstrate commitment are more likely to attract consumers and influence purchasing decisions.  

Leaders around the world are taking note of the rise of purpose-driven companies , too. Lise Kingo, CEO and executive director of the UN Global Compact, stated, “The idea of business as an agent of change and a purveyor of positive values is gaining traction and legitimacy around the world. With a growing number of companies taking steps to be more responsible in how they treat employees, communities, and the planet, we are seeing business emerge as a real player and solution-provider in the quest to put our world on a better course.”

Beyond attracting customers and increasing your bottom line, clarifying your company purpose is important for these reasons:   

1. Distinguishes Your Business from Competitors

One important role of your purpose statement is to define what makes your company unique. After all, your competitors might be able to replicate your product or service, but they’d be hard pressed to duplicate your unique purpose.

People can be genuinely inspired if your company has a solid purpose. When customers and employees understand what drives your passion and ignites your purpose, they’re more likely to get on board with it.  

2. Helps Meet Goals

A strong purpose statement sets a path for how your company will move forward, which will help you see and set clear goals. These goals should go beyond financial performance; they should also measure how your purpose is progressing toward the social impact you’re trying to make.

3. Informs Company Culture

A recent employee survey by Harvard Business Review found that only 28% of employees felt connected to their company’s purpose, and 34% thought they were contributing to their company’s success. According to the article, a lack of purpose among employees can create a negative company culture where employees feel unmotivated and unaligned.

So how do you avoid this?

Creating a purpose-driven culture starts with clear communication between employees and leadership—as well as listening and being open to feedback. When everyone understands and supports the company's purpose, it creates a united front where everyone from the top down is working toward the same goals.

Furthermore, multiple studies show a purpose-driven culture is a positive one. This is because employees feel more engaged and motivated when they can connect the work they do with how it contributes to the organization’s purpose .

How Do I Write a Purpose Statement?

Creating a company purpose statement is no small task. It requires a deep understanding of why your company exists and where it hopes to go in the future. If you’re still feeling stuck, here are some steps to take as you're developing your company's purpose.

Step #1: Define what you do.

But more specifically, lay out what your company does to solve a particular problem for your customers.

Step #2: Pinpoint your passion.

Think about what inspires the work you do. For example, are you passionate about creating sustainable products? Do you strive to be the most innovative? Are you focused on serving local communities?

Step #3: List your values.

Understanding the things your company is passionate about will help you come up with specific values that align with your purpose. Those values might include things like sustainability, innovation, integrity, quality, etc.

Step #4: Create a draft.

Once you’ve defined what you do and why you do it, take pen to paper and start drafting ideas for your purpose statement.

As you’re writing, make sure your purpose statement is:

• Short (about 1-2 sentences)
• Easy to understand
• Aspirational (but not vague)

Step #5: Get feedback.

Ask others in your organization to review what you’ve written and consider their feedback as you hone your purpose statement.  

Step #6: Leave room for growth.

Keep in mind that a purpose statement is a constant work in progress, and changes will happen as your business evolves.

Examples of Effective Purpose Statements

Use these company purpose statements to draw inspiration from:

• Southwest Airlines lets its personality shine through in its purpose statement: “Connect people to what's important in their lives through friendly, reliable, and low-cost air travel.”
• Kellogg’s and Coke keep it short and sweet: “Nourishing families so they can flourish and thrive.” – Kellogg’s,  “Refresh the world. Make a difference.” – Coke
• If you’re looking for an example of an empowering purpose statement, here’s Dove’s: “Discovering the value of 'real' beauty and improving self-esteem worldwide.”
• Both The Red Cross and Whole Foods have purpose statements that make an emotional connection: “Our deepest purpose as an organization is helping support the health, well-being, and healing of both people—customers, Team Members, and business organizations in general—and the planet.” – Whole Foods, “To protect life and health and to ensure respect for the human being .” – The Red Cross
• Crayola and Lego lean on their ability to inspire: “Encouraging children to be creative, and enabling parents to inspire them.” – Crayola, “To inspire and develop the builders of tomorrow.” - Lego

Now that you know what a company purpose statement is, why it’s important, and how to develop your own, you’ll be ready to put this important business skill into practice in your own organization.

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MBA Statement of Purpose Examples

Featured Expert: Srikanth Raghavan, MBA

MBA statement of purpose examples can be beneficial when you are trying to write one yourself or just wanting to understand exactly what they are. That’s why we’ve provided a couple of them for you in this blog. In addition to that, we’ll be going over everything you need to know about grad school statements of purpose , such as the MBA statement of purpose. You will learn about their importance, content, format, and how to use them to contextualize your other application components, such as your reference letters or MBA personal statement .  

>> Want us to help you get accepted? Schedule a free strategy call here . <<

Article Contents 12 min read

What is an mba statement of purpose.

An MBA statement of purpose (SoP) is a short academic essay often required for graduate school applications. It’s an essential part of your application that is supposed to tell the admissions committee why you are interested in their MBA program and why you are the perfect fit for it. Furthermore, it gives you the chance to contextualize the statistics and numbers in your application and present yourself to the graduate program in a more well-rounded way. The admissions committee already knows about your work experience from your MBA resume and your academic performance from your transcripts. The statement of purpose allows them to assess your suitability for their institution, and more importantly, their program. 

Every school is different, so you need to check the specific requirements of the program you are interested in. Some schools may require a statement of purpose in addition to other essays. In contrast, other schools like the Wharton School of Business for example, may not ask specifically for a statement of purpose but have a prompt that essentially asks why you are a good fit for the school. Either way, you will need to respond with a strong and compelling essay to improve your chances of getting in. 

How to write a strong MBA statement of purpose

The format and content.

You should always check the specific requirements of the program you are applying to, as each school is different. Your chosen program could have an exact word count, a page limit, or a prompting question that you need to answer. If your program has given any instructions, it is imperative that you follow them. Unless otherwise specified, your statement of purpose should: 

• Follow the general structure of an academic essay
• Be between 500 and 1000 words
• Be grammatically correct
• Be organized and easy to read

Give yourself time : Writing a strong statement of purpose isn’t unlike preparing the rest of your application; the key is preparation. We recommend giving yourself at least six weeks to write your statement. Give yourself enough time to thoroughly research the program or faculty, gather all the information that could be helpful to you, and draft, redraft and finalize your statement.

Research the program : The purpose of your statement is to convince the admissions committee that you are the perfect fit for their program in particular and to do that, you need to know what kind of candidate they are looking for. You should spend time on the institution’s website and talk to alumni if possible. Try to get a sense of the school’s academic culture. Take some time to familiarize yourself with the research specialties of various faculty members, and keep track of those whose research interests align with yours.

The more you know about the school and the MBA program, the better equipped you will be to write a strong letter that showcases the values or qualities that the school is looking for. For instance, if you are preparing an application to Kellogg business school , your research will probably lead you to find out that their MBA program aims to create leaders who are not afraid to challenge the status quo and find creative solutions. In that case, you might want to make sure your statement of purpose showcases your creative problem-solving skills.  

Seek expert advice : You may also want to consider investing in a graduate school admissions consultant or MBA admissions consulting . Preparing an MBA application is no easy feat, especially the essay portions. The truth is that admissions consultants have more experience reading and writing these types of essays so they can see things that you can’t. Their constructive feedback might just be what you need to write a statement of purpose that will stand out. 

Being too impersonal : Your statement of purpose is supposed to put the rest of your application into context. You should avoid just listing your accomplishments or your reasons for wanting to attend the school. People are more likely to remember a story, so instead, focus on creating a narrative around your experiences and why they make you a perfect fit for the program. Additionally, research-intensive MBA programs may require you to discuss your research interests. In these cases, many students confuse the statement of purpose and research interest statement . Both essays are about the candidate’s relevant past academic & professional experiences, long-term goals in the field, and research interests when applicable. However, while a research interest statement is a formal academic document, a statement of purpose is more of a personal essay meant to describe your journey and overall suitability for a program.

Jargon-heavy statements : Even if you are applying to a business school, you should try to avoid jargon and acronyms that are not well known outside of your field of study. The admissions committee will read your statement, and they might not be experts in your particular field. We understand that you want to come across as knowledgeable, but it is equally important that your statement be easy to follow and read. 

Generic statements : We highly recommend that you write multiple statements of purpose and tailor them to the MBA programs you are applying to. A common mistake that applicants make is writing one generic statement of purpose and sending it to all the business schools they are applying to. This usually backfires because each school and each program is different. First, various schools may have different format requirements for the statement of purpose. Secondly, the academic culture and the kind of candidate each school is looking for can be very different. 

For example, a student might send the same letter to Harvard business school and Stanford business school , assuming that they have similar requirements because they are both prestigious institutions that aim to form tomorrow’s business leaders. However, Harvard business school  makes it clear that they look for candidates with an analytical aptitude and desire to be engaged in the community. If these qualities are not showcased in the letter to Harvard, the candidate might not get called for an interview (so don't forget to review MBA interview questions as well). This is why it's so important to review Harvard MBA personal statement examples - you must understand what the admissions committee of this renowned institution expects.

Ignoring guidelines : This tip is quite self-explanatory, but we feel it is worth mentioning again because it’s a very common pitfall. Many institutions will give clear instructions for the application documents, including the statement of purpose. It is crucial that you follow these instructions. If there is a word count, stick to it. If there is a prompt, answer the question in the prompt and stay on topic. Do not use your essay to address something in your application that is completely unrelated to the question that you were asked. Following the guidelines set by the program will show the admissions committee that you take your application seriously and that you know how to follow instructions. 

Need to work on your MBA resume too? Check out this infographic:

Now that you know what is expected from a strong MBA statement of purpose, here are a few examples that can help inspire your own.

MBA statement of purpose sample 1

I often joke that I speak three languages: English, French, and consumer. I have been saying this since I took an introduction to marketing class while completing my undergraduate degree and learned about talking to customers in a language they understand. It resonated with me because I practically grew up in my mother's small dry-cleaning store. I watched her relay the same information to different people from various walks of life in many different ways. It was always in English, but her word choice and tone would change so much that my siblings and I would joke about it. Since then, I have been fascinated by communication. The effect that it has on people and businesses. This fascination led to my dual degree in business management and psychology, and today, it is one of the things that drive me to apply to the X business school MBA program.

Over the past five years, I have used what I learned at university to expand our family business and help grow many others in my community. The experience taught me that no matter how good your product or service is, introducing it to the market is indeed half the battle when it comes to business. My goal is to create a marketing firm that will help small local businesses maximize their reach and full potential. I understand that a big part of this is marketing, and that is why I want to study it further.

The X MBA program is uniquely suited to help me achieve this goal. In today's Business landscape, small businesses need different strategies to survive and compete in the world of big companies that can deliver things overnight. The X MBA program is one of the very few curriculums that offer courses specifically designed for small businesses and the latest marketing strategies, such as social media as a marketing tool.

As a person with ambitions to become an entrepreneur, there are also many other aspects of business management that I wish to understand better, such as accounting Tools, Logistics, and Supply-Chain. My initial assumption was that I would need to find two separate programs to be completely immersed in the two fields that I wish to study. However, your holistic approach to business management would actually allow me to master marketing and communications while learning to be a better business owner.

Beyond the fact that this curriculum is perfect for what I want to learn and eventually use in my career, X business school is also as community-focused as I am. In Undergrad, I spent two years working with other members of the Student Union Association to organize and help with the green initiative that the school was launching. I noticed that the X student union has a branch dedicated to something similar, and I would love to be a part of it if given the opportunity.

My passion for community building and marketing makes me a perfect fit for this program. Furthermore, my academic background and practical experience have given me the tools to succeed in this MBA program and beyond. I am hardworking, dedicated, and eager to learn. I hope you give me a chance to do so at X University.

This statement is particularly strong because it clearly communicates the applicant’s fit for the program. Notice the fact that the applicant gives clear examples of the claims that they make about themselves. For example, they mention that they are very community focused and make it evident by sharing that they volunteered in college and that their long-term goal is to work for the businesses in their local community.

MBA statement of purpose sample 2

X university prompt: Why have you chosen to pursue an MBA program and why have you chosen to do it at X institution? (Max 600 words)

I was a writer before I was a businesswoman, and studying business isn’t a life-long dream that I harbor. Still, it has become a necessity at this juncture of my professional career.

I was born in a liberal and educated family that stressed the importance of following one’s dreams and passions. I can appreciate how amazing that is now that I am an adult, but as a confused teenager who had no dream and didn’t seem to have a hobby, let alone a passion - it was a nightmare. I attempted many different things, from team sports to theatre, but nothing ever really stuck until I discovered my love for the written word in high school. I am grateful for that journey today because it has taught me to be comfortable with change and given me the ability to adapt quickly. These abilities have served me well in my professional career so far, and I hope that they will continue to do so if I am given the opportunity to attend X business school for your MBA program.

I’m sure you’re wondering why a person who seemingly has no interest in business wants to attend a reputable business school such as yours. Most people do not associate a Master of Business Administration degree with the writing profession. When one thinks about an MBA, more often than not, the first thought that comes to mind would be that a person who undertakes an MBA aspires to get a better job in banking, finance, or business consulting. However, business actually affects many different areas of a writer’s profession. I have come to the conclusion that to succeed as a writer, I must gain systematic knowledge about the workings of a business, and your program is the perfect place for me to do so. 

Whether you are a freelance writer like I have been in the past or an author like I am now, you are essentially an entrepreneur with a product to sell: your art. The holistic approach of the X MBA program is designed for entrepreneurs like myself who are ready to take their business to the next level. I am particularly interested in learning all about the statistical and programming tools used in the Business Analytics domain. These tools will help me make generalized sense of data and gain valuable insights to help me figure out who my target audience is and how I can better reach them. 

I fervently believe that my communication skills, academic background, and entrepreneurial spirit have prepared me for success in this rigorous MBA program. Additionally, as a person who was born and raised in X city, I have seen the significant impact that the school and its alumni have had on our great city and would love to be a part of it. I am particularly passionate about making tertiary education more accessible to the less fortunate and would love to join the group of students and alumni who coordinate the fundraising efforts of your Access Tuition Fund.

In short, I believe that this program is uniquely suited to help me gain a holistic understanding of the functioning of entrepreneurial businesses and mold me into a well-rounded professional. My hope is that you will see that my academic background, work experience, as well as my passion for my craft, and how it interacts with business logistics make me the perfect candidate for your MBA program.

Pay particular attention to the fact that this statement of purpose manages to communicate fit and provide a few details about the applicant’s abilities but it does not stray from the question that was asked by the prompt.

Wondering what kind of courses you should take during your MBA? This video has some helpful advice:

After you write

Before you go, we just want to remind you of a few questions that you should ask yourself before submitting your statement of purpose.

Once you have your final draft, step away from it for a little while and come back to look at it with fresh eyes. You should ask yourself the questions above as you read and make the necessary adjustments. You can also opt to use an application review process where an expert would go over your statement of purpose draft and work with you to get it to the best version possible.

It’s a short essay that tells an admission committee why you are a perfect fit for their MBA program.

An MBA statement of purpose should tell the admissions board why you are interested in an MBA, why you’ve chosen their program in particular, why you’d be a good addition to the program, and how the MBA will help you achieve your career goals.

Unless otherwise specified by the business school you are applying to, you should keep your statement between 500 and 1000 words.

The beginning of your statement needs to be attention-grabbing. We recommend starting with a quote, an anecdote, or an interesting personal fact.

Your statement should be structured like a general academic essay with an introduction, main body, and conclusion. 

In short, no! You should always tailor your MBA statement of purpose to the school you are applying to. One generic statement for many different schools will not be enough to make your application stand out.

Your statement of purpose is meant to show the admissions board that you are a good fit for their program and your ambitions are part of who you are. In other words, your plans tell the school a little bit more about who you are.

The best way to make your statement more compelling is to research the school you are applying to thoroughly, find out what kind of candidate they are looking for, and ensure that your statement of purpose reflects the qualities that the school seeks. It is also best to give clear examples for every claim you make about yourself.

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Statements of Purpose for Businesses

• Small Business
• Business Technology & Customer Support
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The Importance of Setting Goals for a Business

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A statement of purpose is an integral component of your small business's overall strategic operation plan. This document contains your company's core philosophy and values, from which you measure the worth of all business decisions and strategies. Crafting an understandable and attainable statement of purpose helps you and your management team to create policies and measure the success of your company as a whole.

Statement of Purpose Definition

The statement of purpose for your small business defines your company's core goals and purpose. According to Web Marketing Today, an Internet marketing website, the statement also forms the basis for your small business's brand and the promises your company intends to make to consumers. A statement of purpose isn't as broad as a mission statement, which seeks to incorporate business strategies and procedures into the document. Instead, a statement of purpose focuses primarily on the short message that will guide your company in formulating its business practices and procedures, without spelling out what those methods will look like when your business opens its doors.

Avoid Vague Statements

Just because your small business's statement of purpose doesn't include your company's plans for business operations, doesn't mean you should be vague in crafting its language. Your company's statement of purpose shouldn't simply be "make money." The statement of purpose should describe the way in which your small business wants to become successful while carving out a place in the local business community. Focusing the statement with specific language can help your management team come up with strategies and methods to accomplish the goals your statement of purpose sets.

Think About Customer Need

Thinking about the needs your small business is fulfilling for customers can help you craft a statement of purpose that positions your company strategically, as opposed to functionally, according to Web Marketing Today. This allows your mission statement to transcend just creating products and instead focus on providing services for customers. A statement of purpose focused on function allows your business the flexibility to meet consumer needs regardless of the products your company currently offers for sale.

Creating Attainable Goals

An unattainable ideal, including the pursuit of perfection, doesn't make for a good statement of purpose because your employees and management team can't adequately judge if its practices are working towards that goal. It's perfectly acceptable to create a lofty goal for your small business, but this goal should also be within the realm of possibility. This allows your management personnel to gauge the worthiness of proposed business plans and the success of current business strategies.

• Web Marketing Today: Building Your Brand
• Cambridge Rindge & Latin School Research Guide: Writing a Statement of Purpose

Jonathan Lister has been a writer and content marketer since 2003. His latest book publication, "Bullet, a Demos City Novel" is forthcoming from J Taylor Publishing in June 2014. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from Shippensburg University and a Master of Fine Arts in writing and poetics from Naropa University.

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How to Answer the LLC Purpose Statement (with Examples)

• Last Updated: March 27, 2023
• By: Greg Bouhl

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An LLC purpose statement describes the reason for forming the business.  This description typically only needs to be a sentence or two and briefly explains what type of business the LLC is in.  It is important to note that a purpose statement is legally distinct from your company’s vision or mission statement.  While your overall vision can be based on an abstract goal, your statement can be specific to your industry or general enough to allow your company to conduct any business activities legally permitted in the state.   

Related: How to form an LLC

In most states, you only need a general-purpose statement in the  Articles of Organization . In contrast, other states require a specific purpose statement about the primary business activities of the LLC.  In states that need only a general purpose statement, declaring the business activities may be as simple as checking a box on the formation documents.

Some states (including Alaska, Arkansas, Mississippi, Georgia, Louisiana, New Hampshire, and New Mexico) use  NAICS  (North American Industry Classification System) codes instead of requiring a written business purpose.  These codes are the classifications used by government agencies to identify industries and business activities  

Why does an LLC need a purpose statement?

Including a purpose statement in your LLC formation documents can be important if legal action is brought against the entity.  A court may examine the purpose statement to determine whether you, as the owner, are personally liable.  Courts may determine that a business with an unclear or unstated purpose is merely an alter ego and may seek to enforce monetary judgments against the business owner as an individual.

Another important reason to exercise care when declaring a business purpose is that your company’s future existence may depend on it.  An LLC member could petition the court to  dissolve the company  if it becomes unlikely that the LLC can reasonably fulfill the stated purpose.  This issue may arise if there are not adequate provisions regarding your business activities and if your contracts and agreements are silent on dispute resolution among LLC members.  

For both of these reasons, carefully consider the language in the LLC operating agreement  for a well-stated business purpose and other related provisions, in addition to the purpose declared on the formation documents.  

Examples of an LLC Business Purpose Statement

In most states, a general purpose is usually sufficient. However, if you are creating a Professional Limited Liability Company (PLLC) (which is basically an LLC for businesses that require a state license, such as an accountant, locksmith, etc.), a more specific purpose statement explaining the type of professional services the PLLC will provide will be needed. Some examples of general and specific statements are below. 

Related:  What is a Professional Limited Liability Company?

General  

If your state allows for a general business purpose statement, the following are some examples of what this may look like:  

“The purpose of Business Name LLC, is to operate and conduct all lawful business activities legally permitted in the state of A.”

“The purpose for which XYZ, LLC, is formed is for the transaction of any and all lawful purposes for which a limited liability company may be organized under the laws of the state of A.”  

Specific 

If your state requires a specific purpose to be declared when forming an LLC, you can simply state your primary activities in a sentence or two.  Below are some examples of what your specific purpose may look like: 

“The purpose of XYZ, LLC, is to purchase, sell, hold, own, and operate real estate within the state of A, and all other legal acts permitted by limited liability companies in the state of A.”  

“XYZ, LLC, seeks to engage in the activity of construction, property acquisition, and the sale and transfer of real property, and all other legal acts permitted by limited liability companies in the state of A.”  

While this type of statement should be specific to the type of work you anticipate, it should also be ambiguous enough to allow for your LLC’s purpose to develop or grow over time.  However, it should be noted that you can change your purpose statement at any time by filing an amendment.  You may not necessarily need to formally change your statement if you leave room for several other activities, as in the examples above.  

Relevant Articles: 

Piercing the Veil of an LLC-Personally liability as the owner of an LLC:  https://www.baylor.edu/content/services/document.php/140022.pdf

Can you change the business purpose of an LLC?

In any case, the answer is yes, however the process differs between states and operating agreement structure.

In some states where the purpose was been specified in the original formation documents such as the Articles of Organization, Certificate of Formation, etc., then an amendment will need to be made with the state.

If the business purpose was indicated in the LLC Operating Agreement, the Operating Agreement will need to be updated and accepted by the members.

I am thinking about selling items i make at craft shows. What do i need to do with the state of Iowa to begin doing that?

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Gre prep online guides and tips, 7 successful statement of purpose examples.

Not sure what graduate schools are looking for in a statement of purpose? Looking at successful graduate school statement of purpose samples can help! In this guide, we’ll orient you to what makes a great statement of purpose or letter of intent for graduate school. Then we’ll provide you with four successful statement of purpose examples from our graduate school experts. We’ll also provide analysis of what makes them successful. Finally, we’ll direct you to even more helpful examples that you can find online!

The Graduate School Statement of Purpose: An Overview

A statement of purpose (also called a letter of intent or a research statement) introduces your interests and experience to the admissions committee. For research-focused programs, like most PhDs and many master’s degrees, your statement of purpose will focus primarily on your past research experience and plans. For more professionally-focused graduate programs, your statement of purpose will primarily discuss how your pursuit of this professional program relates to your past experiences, and how you will use the skills from the program in your future career.

A statement of purpose for grad school is also where you sell the admissions committee on why you belong in their program specifically. Why do you fit there, and how does what they offer fit your interests?

What’s in a Great Grad School Statement of Purpose?

Here are the essential elements of a strong graduate school statement of purpose:

Clear Articulation of Goals and Interests

A strong statement of purpose will clearly and specifically lay out your goals in undertaking the program and what you hope to accomplish with the degree. Again, for a research-focused program, this will focus primarily on the research project(s) you want to undertake while you are there. For a more professional program, discuss what interests you within the professional field and what skills/knowledge you hope to gain through the program.

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You should be as specific as possible in discussing what interests you. Use examples of particular phenomena, tools, or situations that you find exciting. If you are vague or say that everything in the field interests you, you run the risk of seeming unfocused or not actually that passionate.

Don’t worry that being too specific will box you into a particular research area or subfield during your entire tenure in graduate school. Your program understands that interests change—they won’t be pulling out your research statement to cross-reference with your dissertation proposal!

Evidence of Past Experience and Success

A great graduate school statement of purpose will also show programs that you have already been successful. They want applicants that will be able to follow through on their research/professional plans!

To this end, you’ll need to provide evidence of how your background qualifies you to pursue this program and your specific interests in the field. You’ll probably discuss your undergraduate studies and any professional experience you have. But be sure to draw on specific, vivid examples.  You might draw on your thesis, major projects you’ve worked on, papers you have written/published, presentations you’ve given, mentors you’ve worked with, and so on. This gives admissions committees concrete evidence that you are qualified to undertake graduate study!

Interest and Fit With the Program

The third essential ingredient to a great statement of purpose is to clearly lay out why you and the program are a good fit. You should be able to identify both specific reasons why your work fits with the program and why the program suits your work/interests! Are there particular professors you’d like to work with? Does the department have a strong tradition in a certain methodology or theory you’re interested in? Is there a particular facet to the curriculum that you’d like to experience?

Showing that you and the program are a match shows that you chose the program thoughtfully and have genuine interest in it. Programs want to admit students who aren’t just passionate about the field. They want students who are genuinely enthused about their specific program and positioned to get the most out of what they have to offer.

Strong Writing

The final essential piece of a strong statement of purpose or letter of intent is strong writing. Writing skills are important for all graduate programs. You’ll need to demonstrate that you can clearly and effectively communicate your ideas in a way that flows logically. Additionally, you should show that you know how to write in a way that is descriptive but concise. A statement of purpose shouldn’t ever be longer than two pages, even without a hard word limit.

Admissions committees for humanities programs may be a little more focused on writing style than admissions officers for STEM programs. But even in quantitative and science-focused fields, written communication skills are an essential part of graduate school. So a strong statement of purpose will always be effectively written. You’ll see this in our statement of purpose for graduate school samples.

Real, Successful Statement of Purpose Samples

In this section, we’ll present four successful graduate school statement of purpose examples from our graduate school experts, along with a brief commentary on each statement. These statements come from a diverse selection of program types to show you how the core essentials of a statement of purpose can be implemented differently for different fields.

Note: identifying information for these statements have been changed—except for example four, which is my statement.

• Statement of Purpose Sample One: Japanese Studies MA

This statement of purpose is notable for its great use of space and its vivid descriptions. The author is able to cram a lot into about a page. She discusses how she came to her two primary research interests (and how they are connected). She integrates this discussion of her interests with information on her past experiences and qualifications for pursuing the course of study. Finally, she includes details on her goals in pursuing the program and components of the program that interest her. Her examples are specific and fleshed-out. There’s a lot very cleverly included in a small amount of page space!

Additionally, the language is very vivid. Phrases like “evocative and visceral” and “steadily unraveling,” are eye-catching and intriguing. They demonstrate that she has the writing skills necessary to pursue both graduate study and her interest in translation.

• Statement of Purpose Sample Two: Music MM

This sample is fairly long, although at 12 point Times New Roman it’s under two pages single-spaced. The length of this statement is partially due to the somewhat expansive nature of the prompt, which asks what role music has played in the applicant’s life “to date.” This invites applicants to speak more about experiences further in the past (in the childhood and teen years) than is typical for a statement of purpose. Given that this is for a master’s degree in music, this is logical; musical study is typically something that is undertaken at a fairly young age.

This statement does an excellent job describing the student’s past experiences with music in great detail. The descriptions of the student’s past compositions and experiences performing new music are particularly vivid and intriguing.

This statement also lays out and elaborates on specific goals the student hopes to pursue through the program, as well as features particular to the program that interest the student (like particular professors).

• Statement of Purpose Sample Three: Economics PhD

One of the first things you’ll likely notice about this statement is that it’s a little on the longer side. However, at 12 point Times New Roman font and single-spaced, it still comes in under 2 pages (excluding references). It makes sense for a PhD statement of purpose sample to be longer than a master’s degree statement of purpose—there’s more to lay out in terms of research interests!

The writing style is fairly straightforward—there’s definitely a stronger focus on delivering content than flashy writing style. As Economics is a more quantitative-focused field, this is fine. But the writing is still well-organized, clear, and error-free.

The writer also gives numerous examples of their past work and experience, and shows off their knowledge of the field through references, which is a nice touch.

• Statement of Purpose Sample Four: History of the Book MA

This is actually my statement of purpose. It was for a program that I got accepted to but did not end up attending, for a Master’s in the History of the Book. You’ll notice that the two essay prompts essentially asked us to split our statement of purpose into two parts: the first prompt asked about our research interests and goals, and the second prompt asked about our relevant experience and qualifications.

I’ll keep my comments on this graduate school statement of purpose sample brief because I’ll do a deep dive on it in the next section. But looking back at my statement of purpose, I do a good job outlining what within the field interests me and clearly laying out how my past experiences have qualified me for the program.

Obviously this statement did its job, since I was accepted to the program. However, if I were to improve this statement, I’d change the cliche beginning  (“since I was a child”) and provide more specificity in what about the program interested me.

Deep Dive Analysis of a Sample Statement of Purpose for Graduate School

Next, we’ll do a paragraph by paragraph analysis of my statement, statement of purpose sample four. I’ll analyze its strengths and suggest ways I could shore up any weaknesses to make it even stronger.

Essay 1: Academic Interests

To refresh, here’s the first prompt: Please give a short statement that describes your academic interests, purpose, objectives and motivation in undertaking this postgraduate study. (max 3500 chars – approx. 500 words)

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Paragraph 1

Since I was a child, my favorite thing has always been a book. Not just for the stories and information they contain, although that is a large part of it. Mostly, I have been fascinated by the concept of book as object—a tangible item whose purpose is to relate intangible ideas and images. Bookbindings and jackets, different editions, the marginalia in a used book—all of these things become part of the individual book and its significance, and are worth study and consideration. Books and their equivalent forms—perfect bound, scrolled, stone tablets, papyrus—have long been an essential part of material culture and are also one of our most significant sources of information about the human historical past. Through both the literal object of the book, the words contained thereon, and its relationship to other books—forms of context, text and intertext—we are able to learn and hopefully manage layers of information with which we would otherwise have no familiarity.

First, the good: this paragraph does a good job introducing my academic interest in the book-as-object, and shows off pre-existing knowledge both of the study of material culture and literary theory. Additionally, the language is engaging: the juxtaposition of “tangible” and “intangible” in the beginning and phrases like “perfect bound, scrolled, stone tablets, papyrus” lend life to the writing and keep the reader engaged.

If I were to go back and improve this paragraph, first, I would absolutely change the first sentence to something less cliche than talking about my childhood. I might try something like “My love of books is a multifaceted thing. I don’t only love them for the stories and….” Second, I would chill out on the em dashes a little bit. Three sets in one paragraph is a little excessive. Finally, I might actually cut this paragraph down slightly to make more room word-wise later in the statement to discuss what specific things about the program interest me.

Paragraph 2

Furthermore, blogs, webcomics, digital archives, e-readers, and even social media sites like tumblr and Facebook have revolutionized the concept of the book by changing how we share and transmit ideas and information, just as the Gutenberg printing press revolutionized the book all those years ago in the fifteenth century. Once again there has been an explosion both in who can send out information and who can receive it.

This paragraph briefly and effectively introduces my other main academic interest: how new technology has changed the concept of the book-as-object. The tie-back to the printing press is a nice touch; it’s a vivid example that shows that I’m aware of important historical moments in book history.

Paragraph 3

I am deeply interested in the preservation of the physical book, as I think it is an important part of human history (not to mention a satisfying sensory experience for the reader). However I am also very concerned with the digitization and organization of information for the modern world such that the book, in all of its forms, stays relevant and easy to access and use. Collections of books, archives, and information as stored in the world’s servers, libraries and museums are essential resources that need to be properly organized and administered to be fully taken advantage of by their audiences. My purpose in applying to the University of Edinburgh’s Material Culture and History of the Book is to gain the skills necessary to keep all forms of the book relevant and functional in an age when information can move more radically than ever before.

This paragraph actually has a focus problem. Since it covers two topics, I should split it into two paragraphs: one on the integration of my two interests, and one on my goals and interests in the program. I could also stand to expand on what features the program has that interest me: professors I’d like to work with, particular aspects of the curriculum, etc.

In spite of these things, however, this paragraph does a good job clearly integrating the two academic interests related to the book I introduced in the first two paragraphs. And the language is still strong —“satisfying sensory experience” is a great phrase. However, I’ve been using the word “information,” a lot; I might try to replace with appropriate synonyms (like “knowledge”) in a couple of places.

Paragraph 4

Additionally, I intend on pursuing a PhD in Library and Information Sciences upon completion of my master’s and I feel that this program while make me uniquely suited to approach library science from a highly academic and interdisciplinary perspective.

This final paragraph offers just quick touch on my future goals beyond the program. It’s typically fine for this to be relatively brief, as it is here, just so long as you can clearly identify some future goals.

Essay 2: Relevant Experience

The second prompt just asked me to describe my relevant knowledge, training, and skills.

As a folklore and mythology student, I have gained a robust understanding of material culture and how it relates to culture as a whole. I have also learned about the transmission of ideas, information, stories and pieces of lore among and between populations, which is an important component of book history. Folklore is also deeply concerned with questions of the literary vs. oral lore and the tendency for text to “canonize” folklore, and yet text can also question or invert canonized versions; along with this my studies in my focus field of religion and storytelling have been deeply concerned with intertextuality. One of my courses was specifically concerned with the Heian-period Japanese novel The Tale of Genji and questions of translation and representation in post-Heian picture scrolls and also modern translations and manga. In addition to broader cultural questions concerned with gender and spirituality both in historical Japan and now, we considered the relationships between different Genji texts and images.

This is a strong, focused paragraph. I relate my academic background in Folklore and Mythology to my interests in studying the book, as well as showing off some of my knowledge in the area. I also chose and elaborated on a strong example (my class on the Tale of Genji ) of my relevant coursework.

I also have work experience that lends itself to the study of the book. After my freshman year of college I interned at the Chicago History Museum. Though I was in the visitor services department I was exposed to the preservation and archival departments of the museum and worked closely with the education department, which sparked my interest in archival collections and how museums present collection information to the public. After my sophomore year of college and into my junior year, I worked at Harvard’s rare books library, Houghton. At Houghton I prepared curated collections for archival storage. These collections were mostly comprised of the personal papers of noteworthy individuals, categorized into alphabetical folders. This experience made me very process-oriented and helped me to understand how collections come together on a holistic basis.

This paragraph also has a clear focus: my past, relevant work experience. Discussing archival collections and presenting information to the public links the interests discussed in my first statement with my qualifications in my second statement. However, if I were to revise this paragraph, I would add some specific examples of the amazing things I worked on and handled at Houghton Library. In that job, I got to touch Oliver Cromwell’s death mask! An interesting example would make this paragraph really pop even more.

Finally, in my current capacity as an education mentor in Allston, a suburb of Boston, I have learned the value of book history and material culture from an educational perspective. As a mentor who designs curriculum for individual students and small groups, I have learned to highly value clearly organized and useful educational resources such as websites, iPad apps, and books as tools for learning. By managing and organizing collections in a way that makes sense we are making information accessible to those who need it.

This final paragraph discusses my current (at the time) work experience in education and how that ties into my interest in the history of the book. It’s an intriguing connection and also harkens back to my discussion of information availability in the paragraph three of the first statement. Again, if I were to amp up this statement even more, I might include a specific example of a book-based (or book technology-based) project I did with one of my students. I worked on things like bookbinding and making “illuminated manuscripts” with some of my students; those would be interesting examples here.

This statement is split into two parts by virtue of the two-prompt format. However, if I were to integrate all of this information into one unified statement of purpose, I would probably briefly introduce my research interests, go in-depth on my background, then circle back around to speak more about my personal interests and goals and what intrigues me about the program. There’s not really one correct way to structure a statement of purpose just so long as it flows well and paragraphs are structured in a logical way: one topic per paragraph, with a clear topic and concluding sentence.

More Statement of Purpose Examples

We’ve provided you with four great graduate school statement of purpose examples from our graduate school experts. However, if you’re looking for more, there are other sample letters of intent and statements of purpose for graduate school online. We’ve rounded up the best ones here, along with some strengths and weaknesses about each example.

Majortests Statement of Purpose Sample

This is a fairly straightforward, clearly written statement of purpose sample for a biology program. It includes useful commentary after each paragraph about what this statement of purpose is accomplishing.

• This statement of purpose sample is well-organized, with clear topic sentences and points made in each paragraph.
• The student clearly identifies what interests her about the program.
• The student proactively addresses questions about why she hasn’t gone directly to graduate school, and frames her professional research experience as a positive thing.
• She gives a tiny bit of color about her personality in a relevant way by discussing her involvement with the Natural History Society.
• In general, discussing high school interests is too far back in time unless the anecdote is very interesting or unusual. The detail about The Theory of Evolution is intriguing; the information about the high school teacher seems irrelevant. The student should have condensed this paragraph into a sentence or two.
• While this statement is cogently written and makes the candidate sound competent and well-qualified, it’s not exactly the most scintillating piece of writing out there. Some of the constructions are a little awkward or cliche. For example, the “many people have asked me” sentence followed by “the answer is” is a little bit clunky. This is probably fine for a STEM program. But just be aware that this statement is not a paragon of writing style.

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UC Berkeley History Statement of Purpose Sample

This is a graduate school statement of purpose example from the UC Berkeley History department’s PhD program, with annotations from a professor as to why it’s a successful statement.

• The author is able to very clearly and articulately lay out her research interests and link them to past work she has successfully completed, namely, her thesis.
• She is able to identify several things about the program and Berkeley that indicate why it is a good fit for her research interests.
• She addresses the time she spent away from school and frames it as a positive, emphasizing that her use of time was well-considered and productive.
• Her writing is very vivid, with excellent word choice and great imagery.

While very well-written and engaging, this sample statement of purpose for graduate school is a little bit on the long side! It’s a little over two single-spaced pages, which is definitely pushing the limits of acceptable length. Try to keep yours at 2 pages or less. Some of the information on the thesis (which comprises over half of the statement of purpose) could be condensed to bring it down to two pages.

Pharmacy Residency Letter of Intent Sample

This is not technically a sample letter of intent for graduate school because it’s actually for a pharmacy residency program. However, this example still provides illumination as to what makes a decent graduate school letter of intent sample.

• This is a serviceable letter of intent: the writer clearly lays out their own goals within the field of pharmacy, what qualifications they have and how they’ve arrived at their interests, and how the program fits their needs.
• The writing is clearly structured and well-organized.
• The main weakness is that some of the writer’s statements come across as fairly generic. For example, “The PGY-1 Residency Program at UO Hospitals will provide me with the opportunity to further develop my clinical knowledge, critical thinking, teaching, research, and leadership skills” is a generic statement that could apply to any residency program. A punchier, more program-specific conclusion would have amped up this letter.
• While the writer does a decent job providing examples of their activities, like working as a tutor and attending the APhA conference, more specificity and detail in these examples would make the statement more memorable.
• There’s a typo in the last paragraph —a “to” that doesn’t belong! This is an unprofessional blip in an otherwise solid letter. Read you own letter of intent aloud to avoid this!

NIU Bad Statement of Purpose Example

This is an ineffective graduate school statement of purpose example, with annotations on why it doesn’t work.

As you might imagine, the main strength in this document is as an example of what not to do. Otherwise, there is little to recommend it.

• The annotations quite clearly detail the weaknesses of this statement. So I won’t address them exhaustively except to point out that this statement of purpose fails at both content and style. The author includes irrelevant anecdotes and lists without offering a decisive picture of interests or any particular insight into the field. Additionally, the statement is riddled with grammatical mistakes, awkward sentence structures, and strange acronyms.
• You’ll note that the commentary advises you to “never start with a quote.” I agree that you should never start with a freestanding quote as in this example. However, I do think starting with a quote is acceptable in cases like the Berkeley history example above, where the quote is brief and then directly linked to the research interest.

Graduate School Statement of Purpose Examples: 4 Key Points

Graduate programs ask for statement of purpose to hear about your interests and goals and why you think you and the program would be a good fit.

There are four key elements to a successful statement of purpose:

• A clear articulation of your goals and interests
• Evidence of past experiences and success
• Interest and fit with the program
• Strong writing

We’ve provided you with four successful statement of purpose samples from our graduate school experts!

We also provided additional statement of purpose samples (and a sample letter of intent) for graduate school from other sources on the internet. Now you have all kinds of guidance!

What’s Next?

If you’re looking for more information on graduate school , see our guide to what makes a good GPA for grad school .

Not sure if you need to take the GRE ? See if you can get into graduate school without GRE scores .

Want more information about the GRE? We can help you figure out when to take the GRE , how to make a GRE study plan , and how to improve your GRE score .

Ready to improve your GRE score by 7 points?

Author: Ellen McCammon

Ellen is a public health graduate student and education expert. She has extensive experience mentoring students of all ages to reach their goals and in-depth knowledge on a variety of health topics. View all posts by Ellen McCammon

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SOP (Statement of Purpose): Format, Samples, and Tips

• Updated on  
• Feb 17, 2024

To aesthetically present a movie on the screen, great actors are the requisites. Similar is the case when one is carving their own career path. From choosing the right course to getting into your dream university, you need to take each step carefully. As a crucial part of the eligibility criteria, the universities often demand LOR s, SOPs or entrance test scores to assess the candidates and their suitability for the chosen course. A Statement of Purpose (SOP) is one such element that beholds great value in the admission process of those aspiring to study abroad. Creating an alluring SOP is essential to help the assessment committee understand your willingness for the program you have applied for. This blog aims to provide a comprehensive step-by-step guide on drafting a statement of purpose that can help you sail smoothly through the assessment process and get entry into your dream academic institution.

This Blog Includes:

What is a statement of purpose (sop), why is sop important, sop format, 2. formulate, 3. revise and modify, what do colleges look for in an sop, how to write a perfect statement of purpose (sop / admissions essay), introduction, academic background and professional experience, career goals, why this course, why this university, how long should an sop be, what to include in an sop, what not to include in an sop, 10 tips to write a successful statement of purpose, sop sample for business analytics, sample statement of purpose for mba , sample statement of purpose for masters, sop formats for usa, canada, uk, and australia, top 5 mistakes to avoid while writing an sop, how can you reduce your chances of rejection from your chosen university, can sops help with scholarships, sop vs letter of motivation, sop vs personal statement.

A Statement of Purpose can be referred to as an informative document, containing personal statements, and is essentially required as part of the admission procedure of study abroad programs. Also referred to as an application essay, it comprises the basic details of a candidate along with their professional and personal interests, academic highlights as well as future aspirations. An SOP plays an integral role in the application process of a study abroad program as it provides the admission board with the key information about the candidate and why they want to study a particular course at their institution. It not only describes who you are as an individual but also gives an idea about your writing skills and proficiency in the English language.   

A well-written SOP is an extremely significant element during your admission process. While the academic record and other exam scorecards, academic transcripts and backlog certificates are essentially objective in nature, an SOP is the only truly subjective aspect of your application. It is the only document in your application that allows you to prove that you have something unique which makes you stand out from the crowd. As such, it is the document of your application docket that can hugely determine your admission.

Also Read: Statement of Purpose vs Personal Statement

As such, there is no particular or proper format for writing a statement of purpose or an SOP. Students have to write an SOP just like an elaborative and descriptive English essay dividing the whole context into different paragraphs. Each paragraph must be having distinctive features describing different scenarios, features or characteristics about yourself. You can take the help of the below-provided structure and get started with writing an SOP for the university you want to study in. 

How to Write a Statement of Purpose?

As a pivotal document for any study abroad application, an SOP needs to be precisely well-written. To help you understand the different elements of this document, we have curated a step-by-step procedure that you can follow to curate an impressive statement of purpose.

The first step of the process of drafting a statement of purpose is to think about the varied aspects of your candidature that you should mention in it. The mandatory inclusions of an SOP are academic achievements (especially at the undergraduate level), prior work exposure or volunteering experiences. Start with framing an outline for the document and ask yourself the following questions:

• Which field of study excites me the most?
• Why do I want to pursue this degree?
• What are my expectations from this degree?
• What outgrowth can this degree offer me?
• Where can this degree take me, personally and professionally? 
• Through my pre-requisites, what values can I add to this program?

Once you have made key pointers for most of the questions mentioned above, you can begin jotting them down in a thorough and comprehensive manner.

Now that you know what you want to mention in your SOP, it’s time to curate a rough outline for the document. Here is a list of some essential tips you need to keep in mind while formulating your statement of purpose:

• Since the admission committee strives to understand your candidature through the SOP, you need to be honest in describing your career aspirations and objectives. Focus centrally on maintaining the authenticity of your mentioned details. Duly elaborate on your advantageous perception of the chosen course.
• Creatively cite your personal and professional interests. Mention what you are passionate about and what excites you. Then, sensibly connect it with your chosen program and how it will assist you in grooming your skills. For instance, you can state that you are aspiring to gain experiential learning or training in your desired industry through the course.
• What brought you here should be a sure-shot mention in your SOP. You can begin with stating those features of your chosen course that convinced you to opt for it. Then, write down the objectives you want to fulfil by studying the program. It can be personal growth or professional upliftment or even both. Try to be unique and precise when listing your reasons. 

Once you have jotted down your SOP as per the above-mentioned necessary tips, the final and concluding step is to revise and make changes accordingly. Go through the list that you created in the beginning and ensure that you have added all of them.

• The word limit for a statement of purpose is between 500-1000. 
• Do not miss out the predefined sizes for spacing, margins and font size.
• Try getting a second opinion but getting your SOP read from a friend or an experienced professional.

Many foreign and even national universities ask for a Statement of Purpose (SOP) from candidates wanting to enrol in suitable courses that the university has to offer. They ask for the SOP from candidates in order to check and look at the following things:

• The writing capabilities of the writer or the candidate 
• The X factor that makes their writing stand out from the crowd
• Choice of thoughts and ideas that has been explained in the SOP
• The unique personality of the candidate 
• Candidate’s talent, previous experiences, interests and potential
• How and what can the candidate contribute to the department of the college/university
• Candidate’s motivation or inspiration to study a selected course must be evident and justified
• The reason behind to choose a particular university/college and a particular course of study
• Academic and extracurricular achievements and recognitions (if any)
• Originality and clarity of the SOP as a whole. 

To know more, read our blog on – How to Write an SOP?

Check out the video on the same below!

How to Write a Powerful and Convincing SOP?

Whether applying for undergraduate, graduate, or post-graduate programmes, the strategy of writing a powerful statement of purpose should be sound focused throughout. Starting from your academic and professional background to your career aspirations, you need to carefully connect all the dots between reaching your goals through your choice of school and course. The essay should always go in a flow covering your past experience, present involvements, and future plans. An important point to remember while writing your SOP would be to divide it into paragraphs that cover all the pointers. Here is a look at how you may write the SOP presenting your profile strongly:

This paragraph is often confused with self-introduction. It should not introduce you but should discuss what you are about to discuss in your SOP. There are multiple approaches you may adopt to go about this paragraph:

• Discuss your long-term goal and connect it with your idea of pursuing the course you are applying to
• Present your understanding of the chosen field and write how you want to contribute to that field
• Explain your background in 2-3 lines and connect it with your future goals
• Write about an anecdote that helped you realise your professional interest in the chosen field

This comprises of your academic background: what you have done so far, what you are currently pursuing, your academic strengths and projects, and the industrial exposure you have attained.

This is the most important paragraph, where you should discuss your short and long-term goals. Your immediate goal would be where you would want to work right after completing this course. You should be able to name some companies within India along with the designation you see yourself working at. This should explain the kind of job profile you would be working on.

Then comes your long-term goal, wherein you should mention where you see yourself from 10-12 or 15 years down the line. This may include your desire of working at the CEO/CFO/CTO level or maybe establish a firm that you own. It may also include your dream of expanding your existing family business overseas. You may also be interested in further studies like a PhD which can be included here.

More in this section may include your desire of becoming a professor or researcher. In any case, it is suggested that you discuss your business aim, principles, and core values or how you would influence the young aspirants of this industry. You should be able to portray ‘how you wish to make a difference in the industry keeping in mind the current industrial scenarios and emerging trends.

In this paragraph, you should discuss why you want to join a course and what modules would you tap during this course. It should also cover the skills you would acquire in this duration along with the exposure that would help in developing the skills desired to realise your goals.

This is a specific paragraph wherein you can convince a university as in how they are suitable for your profile and you are an ideal candidate for their university. You should discuss the course curriculum, research work, faculty names, as well as the university-specific activities that would help you in enhancing your profile.

Also Read: How to Write a Best Statement of Purpose?

Ideally, if considering an internationally renowned university, then the statement of purpose should be at least 1-2 pages long. In terms of word count, then the same should be around 1000 words. Having said that, the word limit and the length may also sometimes depend on the university that the candidate is targeting and also on the level of degree. Like for example, a candidate who is writing an SOP for an undergraduate program may not exceed 800 to 1000 words whereas a candidate who is writing an SOP for a PhD or M.Phil degree course has to write it in around 1200 words and sometimes even more. Some universities even have a fixed length and word count which is uniform for all the programs and courses. 

There are many elements to an SOP. Universities could ask question-based essays or simply a general statement of purpose. Until and unless categorically asked, an SOP must include your goals and the career path you have taken up so far as well as your academic progress. Other elements that are further important to the SOP are also the personal motivations that lead you to choose the university/course you have applied to as well as how you intend to use that experience to achieve that goal.

Following are a few things that you must do in order to make your SOP application strong:

• Your Statement of Purpose should have a unique and engaging beginning as well as an end. It must be original, a reflection of you. 
• Explain your academic background, present and future aspirations. Through this, you must justify your choice of a particular course for masters or doctorate courses.
• Upon reading your SOP, the admission officer should be able to understand how you can contribute to the university in terms of research and further scope in your chosen area. 
• Always write your SOP in an active voice and ensure you provide information in a manner that is a reflection of your passion and optimism. If you have any statements or references, try quoting them with relevant examples rather than being direct.

Often universities come across a lengthy statement of purpose and yet they reject it. Even when you cannot find one grammatical error, the seemingly excellent SOP would be rejected. And the primary reason is – too much unnecessary information. For instance, just because you might want to talk about your family, does not mean you go on and on to talk about only your family. While your SOP should be a brag sheet, it should be a brag sheet with a substance. You need to pick and choose what to include. Pick a theme and mention the accomplishments that make the most sense to your candidacy.

• Weave your career path into a story, not statements.
• Do not write what you think should be written. Personalise the SOP and make it your own.
• Do not stress over it. Although it is an important part of your application, the SOP should be a direct reflection of you.
• Find the deeper meaning behind the events of your life and pen them down.
• Give a strong reason as to why you chose the particular school and course.
• Be specific in the timeline of events.
• Use a formal but conversational tone.
• Accept your mistakes and explain how you are willing to act on improving. Use action items.
• Give yourself enough time to write the SOP and edit it constantly. 
• Proofread, edit, re-edit and then edit it again! There is always room for improvement, remember that.

Also Read: SOP for Scholarship

Statement of Purpose Samples

Here are some good examples of well structured SOPs that you can refer to while writing your own.

“ A successful career in Business Management requires adequate knowledge to utilise the strengths and weaknesses of an individual. In my undergraduate degree, I majored in economics and psychology because I believe that understanding these two fields is important for leading a successful business. I want to increase my experiences and knowledge further by pursuing an Executive MBA, which will equip me with advanced skills that are necessary to achieve my career goals.

As I have carried out various leadership positions, I have learned how to efficiently work in teams and pursue the specified goals. In my previous company, ABC, I successfully implemented the strength-cum-weakness finder software which helped us assign projects to the groups based on the mapped data. As employees got allotted tasks as per their efficiency, it resulted in a 30% net gain for the company over the following year. I believe that a successful business leader understands the importance of strategically utilizing a company’s resources to ensure the maximum potential and development of the company. Further, the pivotal thing I learned about myself by taking up leadership roles is that teamwork is a crucial element of successfully achieving an organisation’s objectives. An Executive MBA will help me furnish my leadership skills imparting me with the knowledge of hierarchical structures and how to work with other leaders of different domains in an effective manner.

Studying for an Executive MBA, I plan to take charge of multiple team projects throughout the duration of the degree so that I can polish my teamwork skills. I aspire to work under industry leaders and attain global exposure. Pursuing this degree from your institution, I aim to gain professional as well as personal skills that can help me soar through my career journey. ”

I had a keen interest in Biology since childhood. I was eager to learn about the living organisms around my surroundings and how they function. I took this interest forward and decided to pursue my higher education in biology. When I was first introduced to the field of biotechnology, I was mesmerized by what technology can do to improve the life of any living organism. This inspired me to look at various research programmes in biotechnology and how we are moving towards a phase where technology can alter even the basic fragments of any living organism and change the course of life an organism goes through. I observed the various research patterns that have been taking place in the agricultural industry with the advent of GMO (Genetically Modified Organisms) giving birth to the Green Revolution. This was only one potential achievement in the extensive list of achievements that biotechnology was progressing towards. I worked with a reputed biotech firm which gave me an insight into how fast-paced the research in biotechnology is. The firm gave me the necessary exposure leading me to decide that I want to pursue MS in Biotechnology. My ambition to work in this field lies essentially in bringing changes in the lifestyle of people in a way that I can research and extensively study the required positive steps towards climate change. My goal is to achieve a sustainable lifestyle for every individual. The exposure that your esteemed institution will give me in the field of research will help me achieve this goal by working at a reputed platform

• Sample SOP for Australian Student Visa
• SOP for MIM
• SOP Samples for MS
• SOP for MS in Data Science
• SOP for Business Analytics
• Sample SOP for MS in CS
• SOP for PG Diploma in Canada
• SOP for MBA: Essentials to Mention & Samples
• SOP for Australia

Here is the basic format for USA, Canada, UK and Australia:

If you are planning to study abroad and want to write a good and outstanding statement of purpose for the university that you are targeting, then here are some of the common mistakes that you can avoid from the very beginning while writing an SOP:

• Writing the SOP at the last moment without any plan of action or a roadmap
• Writing a weak and vague introduction and conclusion 
• Using informal language, slangs, short forms in your SOP
• Exceeding the word limit and not reaching the correct word limit at all
• Making your SOP excessively flashy and flattery

If you are eligible for any college-specific scholarships, then during the application process you will be required to write a separate essay/SOP. Either you will be given an essay prompt/question along with a word limit or they would simply ask for an SOP stating the reasons why you think you deserve this scholarship and/or what makes you unique from the rest of the candidates? Thus, a generic SOP is different from a scholarship SOP.

Must Read: LOR: Types, Format, Sample and Tip s

A Letter of Motivation is a letter directly addressed to the admission committee/department faculty explaining your objectives, motivation and goals related to the course. The SOP is not addressed to any specific person or department, it is drafted in an essay format, whereas, the motivational letter is always addressed to a professor or department under whose guidance you will be studying.

Also Read: How to Write a Motivation Letter?

Very much similar to an SOP, Personal Statements are an on-page essay where you write about your motivation, inspiration, goals, and achievements. Personal Statements usually have a more intimate tone than SOP as it talks about the highlighted incidents of your life. Another crucial difference between an SOP and a Personal Statement is that an SOP is addressed to no one in particular, while a Personal Statement is addressed to a professor or department under who you choose to study.

Relevant Reads:

Only your LORs need to be attested by your college or company. An SOP need not be attested/self-attested until and unless specified by the university. If you take a LOR from your college professor/school teacher or a Principal/Dean, then that LOR needs to be signed by the recommender along with the college/school stamp and letterhead. Similarly, for professional LORs, they need to be signed by their respective recommenders on the company’s letterhead and company stamp.

Once you have finalised your SOP draft, give it a double-check for grammatical and formatting mistakes. Your next step should be to analyse and critique your essay. Look at your SOP through the eyes of the Adcom and see what you find lacking. For more effective inputs, you can show your drafts to your friends and family and see how they react to them. Accordingly, you can make some changes but do not overdo it or deviate from the format. Lastly, check for spacing errors and save the final SOP which you will be using for the application process.

You should avoid mentioning any low marks or shortcomings about yourself in any of the application documents, including SOP. There are very few universities that ask you about your gap year. For them, you can mention the reason for the gap between your studies. Generally, no university asks about low grades during your study period as your selection depends on various criteria like exam scores, student profile, financials, and so on. Thus, it is advised against mentioning any flaws or low marks.

Hence, we hope that now you are geared up with all the quintessential tips to start carving out your SOP. If you still have doubts or need further professional guidance, you can always reach out to our Leverage Edu experts and we’ll assist you throughout the admission process, be it selecting a suitable course and university or drafting impressive SOPs and LORs. Call us immediately at 1800 57 2000 for a free 30-minute counselling session. Further, also follow us on  Instagram ,  Youtube ,  LinkedIn ,  Quora   and  Facebook   for more educational content.

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I was really impressed and happy with the informations I was able to get reading through your well documented page.

I am really impressed reading through your sample and guides in writing an SOP.I was able to put mine together and I have submitted awaiting feedback from the Admissions office. Thanks so much.

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• Sample Business Plans

Pro Forma Business Plan

Financial planning is essential for any business to grow, thrive, and succeed.

Whether it’s a new opportunity or an impending threat—planning for different hypothetical situations strategically and financially creates a safety net that safeguards your business from hitting failure.

Well, pro forma statements, with their forward-looking nature, help you evaluate your future finances and strategize for business accordingly.

But what is it really?

In this blog post, we will learn everything about pro forma business plan statements and steps to create.

Ready to dive in? Let’s get started.

What are pro forma financial statements?

Pro forma statements are projected financial statements that predict the future financial position of a business based on current trends and assumptions. These statements offer a snapshot of financials under different scenarios, helping companies plan efficiently.

A pro forma statement serves as a financial blueprint allowing businesses to set realistic goals, anticipate risks, assess outcomes, and track their goals. When included in a business plan, these statements typically include the income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement.

Why integrate pro forma statements into your business plan?

Although pro forma isn’t calculated using generally accepted accounting principles, these statements offer significant value while making important strategic decisions.

That said, let’s check out more benefits of adding statements of pro forma projections to your business plan:

• Pro forma statements help secure funding from investors by offering them an insight into your expected profitability, growth rate, ROI, and the overall financial health of your company.
• A pro forma statement aids in strategic decision-making by helping you evaluate the financial impact of different situations. For instance, the impact of launching a new product or expanding into a foreign market.
• Pro forma statements nudge you to make timely adjustments to your business strategies by helping you set and track your financial metrics.
• A pro forma statement helps you prepare for different situations by identifying potential challenges and prompting you to develop efficient strategies.

Types of pro forma statements

Let’s now understand the type of pro forma statements to include in your business plan.

1. Pro forma statements based on financial statements

A pro forma includes three financial statements—pro forma income statement, pro forma balance sheet, and pro forma cash flow statement.

Let’s understand these three types in detail.

Pro forma income statement

The most important aspect of financial planning and management is projecting the sales, revenue, costs, and expenses of a business in the future.

Pro Forma income statements do exactly that. They offer insight into expected revenue and expenses and help you assess a business’s profits and retained earnings in a specific financial period.

Pro forma income statements are often used to evaluate the financial viability of launching new products, business expansion, mergers, acquisitions, and other strategic decisions. These statements help you assess what a business income would look like in certain situations.

Pro forma balance sheet

Pro forma balance sheets are similar to actual balance sheets in terms of formatting. However, certain or all the values in such balance sheets are projected based on certain events such as loans, acquisitions, or mergers.

You can use these balance sheets to assess the financial health of your company at a certain stipulated time in the future. It offers an expected value of assets, liabilities, and equity under different situations, thereby, helping you make informed choices.

Moreover,  you can use a pro forma balance sheet to evaluate the impact of a specific loan, acquisition, merger, or financing round on a business’s financials by offering you an overall understanding of making such decisions.

Pro forma cash flow statement

Pro forma cash flow statements illustrate the cash inflow and outflow over a period. It is used to assess the financial health of your company and to ensure that the business never runs out of cash.

Pro forma cash flow projections can be for short-term, mid-term, and long-term. It is often used to evaluate if the company will have enough cash to make significant purchases and investments and to maintain day-to-day operations.

2. Pro forma Statements based on purpose

While an income statement, cash flow statement, and a balance sheet remain quintessential parts of pro forma projections, there are different types of pro forma statements based on distinct purposes.

Full-year pro forma projections

Full-year pro forma statements take into account the financials for the fiscal year till the present time and then add projected outcomes for the remaining year. This will help you illustrate the company’s financial position by the end of the year.

Such statements offer investors a comprehensive overview of the business and its expected performance.

Investment pro forma financial projections

An investment pro forma statement shows how securing a loan and making their interest payout will affect the business’s financial position in the future.

Such financial pro formas are required when you want to convince your business partners about the value of potential financing.

Pro forma projections for acquisition

Such pro forma projections merge the past financial statements of your business and the business you want to acquire to show how the financials would have looked in case of a merger. It helps you decide on acquisition and merger opportunities.

Projections for risk analysis

While preparing your startup financial plan , you need to account for various progressive and aggressive situations that may affect your company’s financial health.

These pro forma statements consider various best-case and worst-case scenarios to evaluate the company’s future financial performance in different situations. It helps you plan for risks and equips you to face them strategically.

Now that you’re aware of the different types of pro forma statements, let’s understand the process of creating pro forma statements useful for your business.

How to create pro forma statements for your business plan

Here’s a quick step-by-step guide to creating your pro forma financial statements.

1. Form your assumptions

To create your comprehensive pro forma statements, you first need to form realistic assumptions for different business components. This includes projecting your sales, expenses, revenue, and capital expenditure for different scenarios.

You should also consider the funding you will require and the investments you would make under different business circumstances.

Ensure that you carry out extensive research and study the historical data to form realistic projections. These projections will form the basis for your income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow forecast.

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2. Create a pro forma income statement

A pro forma income statement offers an estimate of a company’s financial performance in the future. To get an insight into your expected revenue, expenses, and net profit, create your projected income statement as follows:

• Calculate your COGS (cost of goods sold) and subtract it from your revenue projections to determine your gross profit.
• Estimate your operating expenses. Take everything from rent to salaries into account and then calculate your operating income.
• Also, calculate your other income and expenses and make necessary adjustments to get your net pro forma profit.

Now, place these together in your P&L format and add them to your business plan.

3. Create a pro forma cash flow statement

Next, prepare a pro forma cash flow statement. It’s similar to preparing your actual cash flow forecast. However, here you take the values from your pro forma income statement to plot the cash inflow and outflow.

Be it a new investment, purchase of an asset, repayment of debt, or your operating activities—plot every activity that involves money.

The calculations will either give you a negative or a positive cash flow. To clarify,  a negative cash flow indicates a scarcity of money and a positive cash flow indicates extra money at hand to make new purchases or investments.

Now, add your pro forma CFS to the business plan and use it to assess the future cash position of your business.

4. Create a Pro forma balance sheet

A pro forma balance sheet will offer a financial snapshot of your business at a certain point in time in the future. To prepare your pro forma balance sheet:

• List down your current and long-term assets, and calculate your total assets.
• Make note of your liabilities, both short-term and long term to calculate your total liabilities.
• Add your equities, liquidity, and retained earnings from an income statement to your balance sheet.
• Ensure that the liabilities are equal to your assets and add them to your business plan.

Following this, you will have your pro forma statements ready in no time. Ready to jump right in? Let’s take a quick look at a pro forma business plan template to place your statements together.

Pro forma business plan example

Refer to this example of a pro forma business plan and use it as a reference point to build yours.

Executive Summary

In this pro forma business plan, we forecast our company’s sales, expenses, capital expenditures, and funding needs over the next five years. Our projections show positive net income, a strong financial position with increasing equity, and healthy cash flow, underscoring our business’s viability and long-term potential.

Auto Gear, a leader in auto products and services, has been operating for 10 years across 10 countries. With a solid financial track record, we aim to expand into new markets, seeking $8 million in funding to facilitate this growth.

Business Plan Pro Forma

This section provides detailed pro forma statements for sales, expenses, capital expenditures, funding requirements, and cash flow, illustrating the viability and growth potential of Auto Gear.

Sales Forecast

Auto Gear forecasts 20% annual sales growth driven by market expansion, innovation, and enhanced customer service.

• Year 1: $12 million
• Year 2: $14.4 million
• Year 3: $17.28 million
• Year 4: $20.74 million
• Year 5: $24.89 million

Expense Forecast

Auto Gear anticipates slower expense growth due to economies of scale in the long term.

• Year 1: $8 million, 15% increase
• Year 2: $8.8 million, 10% increase
• Year 3: $9.5 million, 8% increase
• Year 4: $10.07 million, 6% increase
• Year 5: $10.58 million, 5% increase

Capital Expenditure Forecast

The capital expenditure at Auto Gear will report a 20% annual growth to accommodate research and new product launch shifts

• Year 1: $2 million
• Year 2: $2.4 million
• Year 3: $2.88 million
• Year 4: $3.46 million
• Year 5: $4.15 million

Funding requirements

Auto Gear needs $8 million in funding for research, new product launches, and marketing to support its expansion in new markets.

Cash flow forecast

Auto Gear’s pro forma cash flow statement predicts positive cash flow throughout the forecast period, ensuring liquidity and operational stability.

• Year 2: $3.2 million
• Year 3: $4.6 million
• Year 4: $5.6 million
• Year 5: $6.8 million

Before we conclude this blog post, here’s one last segment that needs clarity.

Pro forma statements vs. budgets

Pro forma and budgets are important financial statements that offer a future financial overview of your business. However, that’s the only similarity between them.

With this table, you can understand the differences between these two statements better.

Simply put, pro forma projections assist in long-term financial planning while a budget helps in the achievement of short-term goals.

Prepare your Pro Forma Financial Statements with Upmetrics

Accurate and forward-thinking business and financial planning is quintessential to building a successful business.

That being said, pro forma projections offer the numerical perspective of your business’s financial position and performance in the future. It’s much easier to make decisions when you have clearly outlined sales, revenue, expenses, and funding demands in sight.

Don’t worry. It’s quite easy to create your pro forma projections when you have a business planning app like Upmetrics at your disposal.

Its financial forecasting feature allows you to plan for multiple scenarios and create financial statements and projections for up to 7 years. It generates interactive visual reports and offers AI functionality to simplify financial planning.

This easy-to-use tool has everything you need to plan efficiently.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is a pro forma the same as a p&l.

Pro forma income statements are based on projections. They reflect the expected revenue, expenses, and profitability of a business under specific situations in the future. Profit and loss (P&L), on the other hand, unless specified as pro forma, reflects the exact figures of revenue and expenses in the current situation.

What’s usually included in the pro forma of the business plan?

The pro forma statements in a business plan typically include an income statement, a cash flow statement, a balance sheet, and sometimes even a break-even analysis. Now, if you’re publicly publishing the pro forma, it’s essential to comply with Securities and Exchange Commission guidelines .

Can a pro forma business plan help in securing loans or investments?

Yes, pro forma when based on realistic assumptions and projections, offers a realistic overview of the company’s financial health in the future. It offers investors a thorough understanding of how their funding will be utilized and the expected profitability, growth, and financial standing of a business.

Are there tools or software that can help create a pro forma business plan?

Yes, there are many tools and resources available to help you create your pro forma business plans. Upmetrics is one of the easiest and most cost-effective business and financial planning tools that will help you create detailed pro forma statements with its automated financial forecasting features.

About the Author

Upmetrics Team

Upmetrics is the #1 business planning software that helps entrepreneurs and business owners create investment-ready business plans using AI. We regularly share business planning insights on our blog. Check out the Upmetrics blog for such interesting reads. Read more

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The Purdue On-Campus Writing Lab and Purdue Online Writing Lab assist clients in their development as writers—no matter what their skill level—with on-campus consultations, online participation, and community engagement. The Purdue Writing Lab serves the Purdue, West Lafayette, campus and coordinates with local literacy initiatives. The Purdue OWL offers global support through online reference materials and services.

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3 Ways to Clearly Communicate Your Company’s Strategy

• Constantinos C. Markides
• Andrew MacLennan

Most leaders struggle to explain big decisions in a way that makes sense to employees.

For all the communication around strategy, we know that leaders at many companies don’t provide the necessary context for employees to understand what the words and sentences in a strategy statement actually mean. What can leaders do to help employees understand enough context to understand a strategy? In this article, the authors offer three recommendations: 1) Present the alternatives considered and explain why they were not adopted. 2) Explain how each choice is linked to the organization’s purpose. 3) Involve employees in strategy development.

A pilot once told us a story about an accident on an early morning flight in the 1950s. As the aircraft accelerated to take off, the captain noticed his flight engineer’s sullen expression and called out, “Cheer up, George.” But in his sleepy state, what the engineer heard was, “Gear up, George” — and he duly raised the landing gear — prematurely as they were not quite airborne. The aircraft sank onto its fuselage and slid to a halt, causing much damage. Luckily, nobody was hurt.

• Constantinos C. Markides is a professor of strategic and international management at London Business School.
• AM Andrew MacLennan is a guest lecturer at London Business School in London England

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Marketing Plan

Marketing is an important piece for the success of every business. All the big name brands that we know today, such as Apple, McDonald’s, Samsung, Nike, and many more, have one thing in common, and that is excellent, well-targeted marketing. No big or small business can survive for long without any traditional or digital marketing practices.

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What Is a Marketing Plan?

A marketing plan is a set of implementations on how a company should market its products, services, and overall brand. It shows a detailed study of the marketing trends in the market and the industry. Those trends include the current state of competitors, demands of consumers , prices of goods, and other economic forces. Those data helps the business to position itself in the marketplace effectively and to reach out to a wider customer base.

How to Make a Marketing Plan

We’re all aware of how important a business plan is. You can’t start a company without it. That said, some might think that it’s the most vital document to ensure a business’s success. Well, yes it is. But a marketing plan is equally as vital. As we’ve said earlier, no business can survive long without marketing practices. So, plan your company’s marketing strategies well by following these steps.

Step 1: Do a Thorough Market Research

The first thing you need to do is research the market where your business belongs. You have to know everything there is about it, especially when it comes to the consumers. Take note that it’s the consumers that you need to please. Meeting their preferences and needs is what your products and services must provide.

Step 2: Define Your Brand

When it comes to marketing, your company must have its own identity. It won’t garner much attention in the industry if it’s somewhat of a copycat of other companies. That’s why you must define your own brand. Try to differentiate your business even though it offers similar products and services as others. Branding is part of the process of establishing a business.

Step 3: Study Your Competitors

You have to keep an eye on how your competitors market themselves, especially if they do so effectively. Studying your competitors will give you ideas on how to outperform them in the market, more specifically, on how to get more customers than them. For example, if you own a restaurant business plan , you must study the attributes of other restaurants in your locality. Study them by performing a competitor SWOT analysis or SWOT analysis . Figure out your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses .

Step 4: Establish Your Methods

Based on all your findings from your market analysis business plan and competitor analysis, formulate marketing strategies that enable your business to reach its full potential. This is also when you must decide what marketing materials to use and how much marketing budget should the company invest.

What are a marketing plan’s five elements?

The elements of marketing are commonly known as the 5 Ps. These 5 Ps are: products, prices, promotions, places, and people.

What is a marketing plan’s most important section?

According to entrepreneur, the most important content of a marketing plan is your target customers. That makes sense. It’s the customers that you need to attract for your business to generate revenue.

What are the stages of the product lifecycle?

The product lifecycle undergoes four stages: introduction, growth, maturity, and decline.

With social media becoming a prominent digital platform, marketing becomes more challenging. The need for advanced planning is even more important in today’s business world. Our Marketing Plan Examples can help you face that challenge. So, make sure to download them before you leave.

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• Nursing Diagnosis Guide: Everything You Need to Know

For many of us, a nursing diagnosis can sound like a strange concept. Signs and symptoms from our patients frequently lead to a medical diagnosis from a practitioner who specializes in disease. So we may be used to labels such as pneumonia or hepatitis. Not impaired gas exchange or risk for impaired liver function. So how then do we go from “patient can’t breath” to impaired gas exchange anyway? In this article, we will guide you on writing a nursing diagnosis, show examples of nursing diagnosis, types of nursing diagnosis and common nursing diagnosis that you may come across in your practice. So let’s get started!

What is a Nursing Diagnosis?

A nursing diagnosis is when a healthcare provider makes a judgment about how a person or a group of people respond to health issues or life events, or how likely they are to respond in a certain way. This diagnosis helps guide the selection of nursing actions to reach specific goals for which the nurse is responsible. Nursing diagnoses stem from data collected during assessments and help nurses plan care. 

Through NANDA International, definitions and classifications guide these diagnoses and are approved and reviewed by the NANDA International (NANDA-I) Diagnosis Development Committee (DDC). So NANDA guides the diagnosis, and the diagnosis guides the nursing care. 

In other words, the nursing diagnosis is a fundamental component of the nursing process. Mastering this process is crucial in nursing education, essential for exams and clinical practice alike, and will remain a guiding principle throughout your nursing career. Master the nursing process with the ADPIE mnemonic and use Picmonic to help you ace the topic . 

Simply put, in order to determine an appropriate nursing diagnosis, a thorough and accurate nursing assessment is required. This ensures we have gained a clear picture of the patients physical, emotional and social needs. From here we can properly address any health concerns that may require attention and management by a physician and prioritize this care.

What does NANDA stand for?

NANDA was used as an acronym for the North American Nursing Diagnosis Association prior to 2002. After this time, NANDA became NANDA international and dropped its use as an acronym, but retained its name due to its familiarity. So the accurate name of this organization is NANDA International or NANDA-I. NANDA’s intent is to give nurses a platform that allows for  communication and sharing of ideas to enhance understanding. Lets face it, nurses make professional judgments every day that help guide diagnosis and improve patient outcomes. Nursing diagnosis then allows us to pass on this knowledge to our patients and colleagues to ensure quality care is implemented. 

What are the most common nursing diagnoses?

A nursing diagnosis is a conclusion that a nurse can determine independently without the need for input from an advanced medical provider and differs from a medical diagnosis. More on that later. Common nursing diagnoses may include activity intolerance, acute confusion, anxiety, pain, risk of infection, constipation, and impaired skin integrity. To name a few. So clinical judgment about how our patients are responding to health issues or life events allows nurses to provide nursing interventions that lead to outcomes to which the nurse is responsible. 

Purpose of a Nursing Diagnosis

As mentioned above, the purpose of the nursing diagnosis is to determine the response the patient is having to health issues or life events, and then develop a plan of care to support them. A proper plan of care addresses important aspects such as available resources and nursing interventions to be implemented. In addition, it serves as a foundation for communication, provides a patients baseline and fine-tunes problem-solving and critical thinking skills for new and seasoned nurses. 

The intent then, is to promote high quality care and improved patient outcomes. Quality care, documentation and clear communication ultimately improves clinical practice. Important insights are conveyed to other members of the care team when team communication is improved, which ultimately benefits everyone.

Nursing Diagnosis vs. Medical Diagnosis

A medical diagnosis focuses on the medical problem and its presenting symptoms and is performed by the physician or advanced healthcare practitioner. So our patient who can’t breathe may be assessed by a physician or nurse practitioner and given the medical diagnosis of chronic bronchitis or pneumonia . The nurse then implements any prescribed treatments and therapies and observes the patient’s response to those. Important to note, that while nursing diagnoses can evolve over time, medical diagnoses typically remain permanently recorded in the patient’s medical history.

A nursing diagnosis then, focuses on the care to be delivered based on how the patient is responding or reacting to a health condition. The collected patient data of difficulty breathing due to chronic bronchitis, directs the choice of nursing actions to achieve particular objectives for which the nurse is accountable. Nursing diagnoses stem from data collected during assessments and aid nurses in developing care plans.

Nursing Diagnosis Classification

Nursing diagnosis classification helps nurses to organize and categorize health issues, in addition to identifying risks, and strengths in patients. They are split into three levels: domains, classes, and nursing diagnoses. Within each domain, there are typically three to six classes of nursing diagnoses, which are further subdivided into individual diagnoses.

For more thorough and updated information regarding the domains, classes and nursing diagnosis, be sure to check out the latest edition of NANDA International- Nursing Diagnoses Definitions and Classification , 13th Edition.

Types of Nursing Diagnosis

Now we move on from Nursing Diagnosis Classification to Types of Nursing Diagnosis. According to NANDA international, nursing diagnoses fall into four categories: problem-focused, risk, health promotion, and syndrome diagnoses.

Problem-Focused

A problem-focused diagnosis identifies the patient’s actual or current issue as observed during the nursing assessment. Indicators such as a productive cough or inability to breathe help us to formulate our nursing diagnosis. It relies on the signs and symptoms noted during this evaluation, and how the patient is responding to a health issue. Problem-focused nursing diagnoses are the most common and usually easy to spot as they have three components to them. (1) nursing diagnosis, (2) related factors, and (3) defining characteristics. Lets use our above example of our patient who can’t breathe and was diagnosed with chronic bronchitis by the physician. We also determined that their 02 saturations were 88% with 2L oxygen via nasal cannula.

Example: (1) Impaired gas exchange related to (2) chronic bronchitis as evidenced by (3) O2 saturation level of 88% on 2L oxygen via nasal cannula.

This diagnosis identifies the actions required to reduce the risk associated with a patient’s health issue. Therefore, a problem does not yet exist, but based on clinical judgment, one may develop unless the nurse takes action. The difference with this one is there are no etiological factors as they have not yet occurred. For example, the patient with chronic bronchitis is not yet dehydrated, but is at risk for this happening. Components of a risk nursing diagnosis include (1) risk diagnostic label, and (2) risk factors. 

Example: (1) risk for (2) dehydration and drying of mucus secretions

Health Promotion

Health promotion diagnosis is a judgment on how ready or motivated an individual, family or community is to improve their health outcomes. The purpose being to improve patient/population health and well-being. These types of diagnosis generally include just the diagnostic label or a one-part statement. With our above patient we have determined that they understand and are willing to apply information required to follow their complex treatment plans.

Example: readiness for enhanced health literacy

Syndrome diagnoses are clinical judgments about a group of nursing diagnoses that happen together and require similar treatments. For example, when a patient is experiencing multiple health problems that form a pattern. So here, one or more nursing diagnoses  are used as defining characteristics. To add clarity, related factors can be used but are not required. So let’s say our patient who has been diagnosed with chronic bronchitis is also experiencing dehydration and hypoventilation. They may be given the following syndrome diagnosis. 

Example: Ineffective peripheral tissue perfusion

What Are the Components of a Nursing Diagnosis?

A nursing diagnosis typically consists of three components that follow a specific template recommended by NANDA International. The problem statement, the etiology/related factors, and defining characteristics/risk factors. These are written in a problem/etiology/related factors (PES) framework.

(1) problem statement

(2) etiology/related factors

(3) defining characteristics/risk factors

The Problem Statement 

The problem statement describes what the patient’s current health problem is and any nursing interventions that may be required. This can also be referred to as the diagnostic label. Let’s use the example for a problem-focused diagnosis that we indicated above and break it down into the problem statement. 

The problem statement: (1) Impaired gas exchange

The etiology, or related factors, pinpoint likely causes of the health issue and any contributing conditions. This provides guidance for any necessary nursing interventions or therapy that may be required. 

The Etiology: related to (2) chronic bronchitis

Defining Characteristics or Risk factors

Defining Characteristics or risk factors are signs and symptoms the patient is exhibiting that are causing a problem right now or may cause them to be vulnerable towards a health problem later on down the road. Ensure you are using “as evidenced by” to support your diagnostic label. 

Defining Characteristics or Risk factors: as evidenced by (3) O2 saturation level of 88% on 2L oxygen via nasal cannula.

Writing a Nursing Diagnosis 

Now that we have defined the types of nursing diagnosis and their components, let’s put this into practice with some other examples. 

How to Write a NANDA Nursing Diagnosis

Remember, in order to develop a nursing diagnosis, we need the components from our clinical assessment that we have determined may actually or potentially cause the patient health risks. With  this information we then  plug this data into a PES framework as specified by NANDA International. We will focus on the most common type of nursing diagnosis, the problem diagnosis, which means we are looking for the following three components. 

• Problem Statement
• Etiology/related factors
• Defining characteristics/risk factors

How to Write a Good Nursing Diagnosis

Problem-focused diagnosis formula.

To write this type of nursing diagnosis, use the PES format as we mentioned above. Start with what the patient is experiencing. For this example, we have a patient who has been diagnosed with chronic kidney disease by the physician, with little to no urine output and demonstrating signs of edema.  (1) urinary retention followed by the etiologic factors (related factors in an actual diagnosis) (2) chronic kidney disease, then identify the signs and symptoms that the patient is exhibiting. (3) urinary output less than 400 ml per day or less than 20 ml per hour. Plug this data into PES below.

(Problem-Focused Diagnosis) related to________(Related Factors) as evidenced by _____________ (Defining Characteristics).

Example: Impaired urinary retention related to chronic kidney disease as evidenced by urinary output less than 400 ml per day or less than 20 ml per hour.

Risk Diagnosis Formula

This one is a bit more straightforward, as there are no related factors, just  a potential problem. However, now we will need to use our critical thinking skills to see how this one plays out. So with our patient above, as kidney function declines, we may start to see peripheral and pulmonary edema, and hypertension due to sodium retention. This may lead to a reduction in  cardiac output to enhance kidney perfusion. Plug in this data below. 

Risk for_____as evidenced by_____(Risk Factors).

Example: risk for decreased cardiac output as evidenced by fluid imbalance affecting circulating volume and myocardial workload.

So, If you think of a nursing diagnosis as a template or framework, then you know what to look for and be best prepared to assess your patient. 

Be sure to check out the Picmonic on how to write a nursing diagnosis and follow along to master this important nursing skill. 

And be sure to check out more content to master nursing school and remember more in less time with nursing mnemonics .

About the Author

Pamela Schutz, RPN, Medical-Nursing Scholar

As a registered psychiatric nurse with over 23 years of experience, in addition to coordinating events, managing social media platforms, and crafting compelling content, Pamela effectively conveys messages and drives participation. Pamela has the talent for simplifying complex ideas and making the captivating world of medicine less mysterious.

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What was Trump found guilty of? See the 34 business records the jury decided he falsified

Donald Trump was found guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records after prosecutors successfully convinced a jury he disguised hush money reimbursement as legal expenses. He is the first former president to be convicted of a crime.

Each count is tied to a different business record that prosecutors demonstrated Trump is responsible for changing to conceal or commit another crime .

Those records include 11 checks paid to former lawyer Michael Cohen , 11 invoices from Michael Cohen and 12 entries in Trump's ledgers.

The jury found that Trump authorized a plan to reimburse Cohen for the $130,000 hush money payment issued to Stormy Daniels and spread the payments across 12 months disguised as legal expenses.

Live updates: Former President Donald Trump found guilty on all counts in hush money case

Prep for the polls: See who is running for president and compare where they stand on key issues in our Voter Guide

Breakdown of 34 counts of falsifying business records

Here are the 34 business records Trump was found guilty of falsifying, as described in Judge Juan Merchan 's jury instructions :

• Count 1: Michael Cohen's invoice dated Feb. 14, 2017
• Count 2: Entry in the Detail General Ledger for the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust dated Feb. 14, 2017
• Count 3: Entry in the Detail General Ledger for the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust dated Feb. 14, 2017
• Count 4: A Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust Account check and check stub dated Feb. 14, 2017
• Count 5: Michael Cohen's invoice dated March 16, 2017
• Count 6: Entry in the Detail General Ledger for the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust dated March 17, 2017
• Count 7: A Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust Account check and check stub dated March 17, 2017
• Count 8: Michael Cohen's invoice dated April 13, 2017
• Count 9: Entry in the Detail General Ledger for Donald J. Trump dated June 19, 2017
• Count 10: A Donald J. Trump account check and check stub dated June 19, 2017
• Count 11: Michael Cohen's invoice dated May 22, 2017
• Count 12: Entry in the Detail General Ledger for Donald J. Trump dated May 22, 2017
• Count 13: A Donald J. Trump account check and check stub May 23, 2017
• Count 14: Michael Cohen's invoice dated June 16, 2017
• Count 15: Entry in the Detail General Ledger for Donald J. Trump dated June 19, 2017
• Count 16: A Donald J. Trump account check and check stub dated June 19, 2017
• Count 17: Michael Cohen's invoice dated July 11, 2017
• Count 18: Entry in the Detail General Ledger for Donald J. Trump dated July 11, 2017
• Count 19: A Donald J. Trump account check and check stub dated July 11, 2017
• Count 20: Michael Cohen's invoice dated Aug. 1, 2017
• Count 21: Entry in the Detail General Ledger for Donald J. Trump dated Aug. 1, 2017
• Count 22: A Donald J. Trump account check and check stub dated Aug. 1, 2017
• Count 23: Michael Cohen's invoice dated Sept. 11, 2017
• Count 24: Entry in the Detail General Ledger for Donald J. Trump dated Sept. 11, 2017
• Count 25: A Donald J. Trump account check and check stub dated Sept. 12, 2017
• Count 26: Michael Cohen's invoice dated Oct. 18, 2017
• Count 27: Entry in the Detail General Ledger for Donald J. Trump dated Oct. 18, 2017
• Count 28: A Donald J. Trump account check and check stub dated Oct. 18, 2017
• Count 29: Michael Cohen's invoice dated Nov. 20, 2017
• Count 30: Entry in the Detail General Ledger for Donald J. Trump dated Nov. 20, 2017
• Count 31: A Donald J. Trump account check and check stub dated Nov. 21, 2017
• Count 32: Michael Cohen's invoice dated Dec. 1, 2017
• Count 33: Entry in the Detail General Ledger for Donald J. Trump dated Dec. 1, 2017
• Count 34: A check and check stub dated Dec. 5 2017

Jurors saw copies of these records entered as evidence. Evidence from the entire trial is available on the New York Courts website .

Contributing: Aysha Bagchi