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Purpose Incubator Catalyzes Local Business Leaders

Written by Taylor Reed, Career Track MBA – 2nd Yr

Does your company have a clear purpose?

This was the key question Boise executives asked themselves on March 18th in the ‘Purpose Incubator’ hosted by Slalom Consulting, sponsored by HP, Micron Technologies, and the Responsible Business Initiative (RBI), and featuring Aaron Hurst.

Hurst is the author of The Purpose Economy, founder of the Taproot Foundation, and CEO and founder of Imperative. This is his second visit to Boise in the last two years, as he seeks to contribute to our efforts to catalyze Boise as a purpose driven city.

At the Purpose Incubator event, Hurst presented to an audience of top-level executives from a diverse cross section of Treasure Valley companies. Hurst discussed new research concentrating on purpose-oriented employees. According to this study, purpose-oriented employees are higher performers and seek out companies that identify, and actively role model their core values.

The concept of a purpose-oriented employee was broken down into three parts:

  1. The most important aspect of work for this group of people is relationships and human interaction
  2. These individuals thrive when they can engage with something meaningful that impacts more than just themselves
  3. They seek to do and create things that challenge them to grow

Fortunately, some businesses in Boise already distinguish themselves as “purpose-driven” and are actively attracting purpose-oriented employees. During a panel discussion and Q&A, Russ Stoddard, Founder and President of Oliver Russell, Shannon Rush-Call, Director of Global Organizational Effectiveness of Micron Technologies, Jeff Heath, Director of Marketing of relEVENTcity and Business Interiors of Idaho, and Taylor Reed, Career Track MBA student and RBI Graduate Assistant, discussed the ways they’ve integrated purpose into their work lives and practices, including attracting and keeping purpose-oriented employees.

This spring, to continue to catalyze purpose in Treasure Valley businesses, Slalom and the Responsible Business Initiative will host a ‘Purpose Working Group.’ The group will be made up of executives interested in collaborating with other area companies to further integrate purpose into their strategy and operations.

If you would like to receive more information about this working group, please contact RBI Director Angeli Weller at angeliweller@boisestate.edu.