David Hieatt - Do Purpose - Why brands with a purpose do better and matter more

David Hieatt

Published by The Do Book Company 2014
Works in Progress Publishing Ltd
thedobook.co

Text David Hieatt 2014
Illustrations Olaf Ladousse 2014
Photography Andrew Paynter

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Cover design by James Victore
Book designed by Nick Hand

Made in Britain
Printed and bound in Wales by Gomer Press Ltd on Naturalis, an FSC-certified paper made in Scotland

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 978-1-907974-14-4
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

For me, the most important brands in the world make you feel something. They do that because they have something they want to change. And as customers, we want to be part of that change.

These companies feel human. The founders tell us how the world could be. They bare their soul to us.

These companies have a reason to exist over and above just to make a profit: They have a purpose.

Yes, we admire the product they make. But the thing we love the most about them is the change they are making.

We love purpose-driven brands.

Starting a business is hard. Youll work like a crazy thing and have to sustain that over a long period of time. Poor pay. Terrible hours. Tons of stress. Any normal, rational person would quit. And thats what happens. When things get tough, and there will be a point when they do, sane people quit.

But purpose-driven entrepreneurs are different. They fall in love with the change they are making, so have to find a way to make it work. Their love stops them quitting. Love makes them persevere.

Love blinkers them to all the worry and stress. And its their purpose that fuels that love.

Heres an exercise to help find your purpose. First, draw three circles.

In the first circle write what you love doing; in the second circle write your skill; and in the third one write what the zeitgeist is.

Where these three circles overlap is where youre most alive. If I were you, I would start a company that lives in this intersection too. Because the chances of success are greater there. The chances of it making real change are greater. And the chance of it being more fun are greater there too.

My Love: Does it matter to you? Have you shown an interest in it from an early age?

My Skill: What is it I am good at? And will this startup use my skills fully?

The Zeitgeist*: What have you seen before all the others?

I think its helpful to understand passion. Because purpose-driven companies are mostly built with it.

I believe there are two types of passion. One is hot passion. It is all heart; the head is not being called upon to think. And that means sometimes things can go wrong. Hot passion is a bit like infatuation it burns brightly, but fades quickly.

Whereas cold passion is calm, considered and long lasting. Both the brain and the heart are working together. Emotions have been taken out of decision-making. And decisions are given time, looked at from all angles. Cold passion is much more effective at getting results. Cold passion is like a lifelong love. Once decided upon, its almost impossible to stop loving.

Its good to be aware of the difference between the two. To be successful, you will need to learn the art of cold passion. You will need to create a discipline where head and heart can both be involved in the decisions that you make. Taking the emotion out of something you feel very passionate about is far from easy. But easy dont build great.

It doesnt have to be another company. Maybe you need a bigger enemy than just another brand. It can be bad design. It can be time. It can be pollution. It can be ugliness. It can be bad service. It can be landfill. It can be complexity.

This will be your driver so pick your enemy well. This will become your purpose. Your fuel when youre tired out. Your reason to keep going when others call it a day. It will be why your customer prefers you over all the others. This is your purpose. The thing that separates you from all the others.

The companies that you love today started out with no more money than others, they just had more energy*. Their energy came from how much they wanted to change things. They knew well from day one what their enemy was.