Servant Purpose Fosters Clarity, Growth, and Service

Servant Purpose Fosters Clarity, Growth, and Service

S. Chris Edmonds is a sought-after speaker, author, and executive consultant. He’s the founder and CEO of The Purposeful Culture Group, which he launched in 1990. Chris helps senior leaders build and sustain purposeful, positive, productive work cultures. He is the author or co-author of seven books, including Amazon bestsellers Good Comes First (2021) with Mark Babbitt, The Culture Engine (2014), and Leading at a Higher Level (2008) with Ken Blanchard.

What are the cultural artifacts that indicate a healthy work culture?

In our book, Good Comes First, co-author Mark Babbitt and I look at four vital parts of living out desired values in organizations. These cornerstones help align people and practices to your organization’s standards.

The first cornerstone is, “Live Our Servant Purpose.” What is a “servant purpose”?

A servant purpose describes how or what your company does and how what it does improves the quality of life for employees, customers, and your communities.

This enables leaders, employees, contractors, and even customers to see that your company has a reason for being other than just making money.

That higher purpose shifts your organization’s primary focus from making a profit (or making red wagons, circuit boards, or sandwiches—none of which are innately inspiring to employees) to serving others: generating tangible benefit to your customers and your communities.

A woman in a red top stands at a conference table, illustrating the team's core values to engaged colleagues seated around. They are in a modern office with a whiteboard in the background. The table is cluttered with notes, coffee cups, and stationery.

A diverse group of people sits around a conference table in a modern office with large glass walls, embodying the company's values. They engage in a meeting, focused on a screen on the wall. Hanging lights and contemporary decor create a professional atmosphere.

Good Comes First companies employ and promote leaders who are fully capable of embracing the servant purpose—and their people.

CHRIS EDMONDS

When a leader lives her servant purpose, she doesn’t just serve that servant purpose—she also acts daily in service to her people.

In a Good Comes First company, a leader must ensure she is not the only leader in the organization modeling its servant purpose.

Unfortunately, too many employees experience a crappy boss who is more concerned about compliance and conformity than creative work—a boss who doesn’t care about their people (respect), only about their bottom line (results). In today’s world of work, this is a significant reason far too many of our workplaces suck (and why many of those 48 million US workers voluntarily left their crappy jobs —and crappy bosses and crappy colleagues—in a single year recently).

Good Comes First companies employ and promote leaders who are fully capable of embracing the servant purpose—and their people. Moreover, those servant-first leaders genuinely care about personal and professional growth; they see each

employee
contractor
vendor
partner

as an integral part of that growth. Just as importantly, these leaders treat any sign of inequality and bias as if it was cancer in any workplace.

And they insist their fellow leaders do the same. Soon, the entire leadership team is focused on not just results but on making people’s lives better. That, in turn, inspires your team members to model the servant purpose, as well.