Purpose sits at the very foundation of good governance
ISO 37000 defines governance itself as the system by which an organisation is directed, overseen and held accountable for achieving its purpose.
A purpose statement is therefore the most leveraged piece of writing a leadership team will ever produce – or the most decorative.
This webinar helps boards and executives put their own purpose to the test: what separates a purpose that drives real decisions from one that simply hangs on the wall, how to tell when a purpose has quietly stopped fitting the organisation it is meant to guide, and when to hold the line versus when to refresh it.
Attendees will evaluate their own purpose statement live. The session is based on real client work and the principles contained in the Purpose In Practice Framework™ and the forthcoming book, Purpose In Practice – a guide to purpose-led business.
About the webinar
Purpose is not one of many things a board attends to; it is the reason governance exists.
This raises an uncomfortable question: if the purpose is not fit for purpose, what exactly is the board governing toward?
Having a purpose statement is not the same as being a purpose-led business. The gap between the two — the implementation gap — is the central challenge of our time. It very often begins with the statement itself: too vague to guide a difficult decision, too generic to be unmistakably yours, or written for a world that has since moved on.
This session goes back to the foundation: Purpose Clarity, the first of the ten practices in the Purpose In Practice Framework™.
Danielle will unpack what makes a purpose statement genuinely fit for purpose, drawing on Colin Mayer’s definition of purpose and a simple test that gives attendees a live opportunity to evaluate their own.
She will then turn to the question most boards never ask: is our purpose still the right purpose?
Drawing on more than a decade of work with boards and executive teams across for-profit, not-for-profit and government organisations, Danielle will:
- Identify the warning signs of a purpose that no longer fits
- Illustrate these warning signs with real-world examples
- Explain the phenomenon of “purpose creep”
- Offer a practical discipline for deciding when to protect a durable purpose and when to revisit it—without rewriting it every time the wind changes
The session is fully standalone and practical throughout, with a live poll, a hands-on purpose evaluation and an extended discussion.
Attendees will leave with a one-page “Is Your Organisation Purpose-Led?” diagnostic and a Purpose Evaluation Worksheet to use with their own board.
What you will learn
During this webinar, attendees will:
- Understand why purpose is the foundation of good governance under ISO 37000—not an addition to it
- Distinguish purpose, vision and mission, and understand why the purpose—the “why”—should endure while the mission—the “how”—evolves
- Apply a simple, memorable test to evaluate the quality of any purpose statement
- Recognise why a purpose statement, however well written, does not by itself make an organisation purpose-led
- Identify the warning signs that a purpose is no longer fit for purpose and guard against “purpose creep”
- Apply a practical discipline for reviewing purpose, knowing when to hold the line and when to refresh
An Interactive Session
Live poll
Drawing on Colin Mayer’s definition of purpose, attendees will consider whether their organisation profitably solves a real problem for people or the planet and does not profit from creating problems.
Live purpose evaluation
Attendees will assess their own organisation’s purpose statement in real time using a short online form.
Plenary discussion
Danielle will reflect on anonymised patterns from the live evaluation before opening the floor for an extended, interactive discussion about holding the line versus refreshing an organisation’s purpose.
People With Purpose is a Certified Social Enterprise and B Corporation that has supported organisations in putting purpose into practice since 2014. Its work helps boards and executive teams across listed, private, not-for-profit and government organisations integrate purpose into strategy, governance, operations and leadership development.
Meet the Speaker
Danielle Duell
Founder & CEO, People With Purpose
Danielle Duell is a purpose-led strategist committed to reshaping business around a simple
economic philosophy: for profit and for the greater good. She is the founder and CEO of
People With Purpose, a Certified Social Enterprise and B Corporation working with boards
and executive teams across listed, private, not-for-profit and government sectors. Danielle is
the architect of the Purpose In Practice Framework and author of the forthcoming book
Purpose In Practice – a guide to purpose-led business. She serves as Industry Fellow of
QUT’s Centre for Future Enterprise and Chair of the Industry Advisory Group to the QUT
School of Management, bridging academic research and real-world adoption of purpose-led
business practice.
Join The Conversation
Join Danielle Duell for a practical, interactive examination of what makes a purpose statement genuinely fit for purpose and how boards can decide when to protect a durable purpose and when to revisit it.
EVENT TIMES
DATE:
8 October 2026
23:00 Los Angeles (7/10)
02:00 New York
03:00 Rio de Janeiro
07:00 London
08:00 Cape Town
09:00 Riyadh
11:30 New Delhi
14:00 Beijing
15:00 Tokyo
17:00 Melbourne
19:00 Auckland
SAVE THE DATE
After you have registered below, you will receive a confirmation email from Zoom.
Please do get in touch if you don’t receive this email!
Your Zoom email will also allow you to save the diary entry in your calendar, so you don’t miss a beat.