Just like Paula Marchiori — a branding and ESG strategist I had the pleasure of working with for a few years — and so many other authors, I also find myself questioning this relentless quest for “purpose” in companies. It’s not that I doubt the value of a genuine purpose; quite the opposite. What troubles me is the obsession with having one no matter what — because if it has to be forced, maybe it isn’t that true after all. Do you agree?

This year I had the pleasure of starting to teach a postgraduate branding course, leading the brand-strategy class. The day came to discuss the concept of “purpose” with the students. Simon Sinek on the screen, his famous quote projected: “When we know why we do what we do, everything falls into place. When we don’t, we have to force things to fit.” Eyes glued to the slide. A soft “aww, I love Simon” echoes through the room.

Standing there, I already knew the question would surface on the next slides: Is that really the way? Do all brands need a purpose?
The success of Start With Why by Simon Sinek, coupled with a generation’s craving (or rather, value) for purpose — personally and in the brands they consume — unleashed a flood of all kinds of purposes. Purposes for brands, for products, for campaigns. As if a catchy phrase were enough to magically align everything. As if any cause-marketing effort could make a purpose appear true — ignoring the obvious: purpose is built day by day. It lives in communication, in products and services, in internal culture. Having purpose is neither simple nor trivial.

But is it possible to define a purpose after the company is already up and running? Of course it is. Yet it demands a genuine exercise of looking inward — revisiting practices, values, origins, the way things are done. It isn’t about inventing a purpose from scratch; it’s about recognizing what is already embedded in the company’s essence — even informally — and then refining and amplifying it.

Patagonia and Ben & Jerry’s are perennial examples precisely because, when revisiting their origins, the “why” was already there. They continue with coherence between speech and practice — though even they slip now and then. Again: it’s not easy.

I ended that class segment with what I truly believe: not every brand needs a purpose, but every brand must be responsible. Purpose is a daily exercise, requiring actions that give it concrete form in the world. That’s why Sinek says “Start with why,” not “Just do whatever and we’ll brainstorm a retro-planned purpose later” (besides being huge, that title probably wouldn’t sell as well).

In a world that clamors for actions with conscious impact, we must stay alert. It’s our role — as strategists, designers, marketers, and everyone who works with brands — to ensure that our project recommendations help companies make better decisions. Whether to keep purposes alive and coherent, or simply to keep brands responsible for what they put into the world.