The anti-woke crowd won’t kill purpose

Every day we wake up to new problems. Climate change. Hate crimes. Genocide. Terrorism. Assassinations. Corruption. A new war. An endless war. Government break downs, shutdowns and letdowns. The world produces a lot of bad news, around the clock.

I am in the “purpose” business. I go to work every day wanting to make the world a better place. So I live in the tension between what is happening and what needs to happen. And, over the years, what this business has taught me is that every time the world gets worse, the need for purpose gets stronger.

Ask yourself, will the world need more or less climate action tomorrow than it needed yesterday? What about five years from now—will we need a more urgent climate response than today or less? My guess is more. And it’s not just climate. Ask the same question about every other issue you care about. Will gun violence get worse or better as we loosen gun safety laws? Will income inequality increase or decrease?

An increasing demand for purpose

Things will get worse, and the need, the demand for better will increase. And, as your Econ 101 professor surely explained, necessity drives demand, and demand drives supply. So, as the situation gets worse, the demand for purpose increases and the supply of purpose is likely to increase along with it.

Think about it like this. In the market for goods and services, consumers of all ages are more likely to support brands with purpose—built on sustainability, fair prices, good business practices, and positive contributions to society. People are willing to pay more for these products and services, and their willingness to engage with these brands over others increases each year. And so, more brands will continue to invest in purpose because there is increasing demand for it in the market.

In the labor market, the same holds true. With each passing year, the labor force expresses stronger desire to work for companies that respect their individuality, support their community, act as good stewards of the environment, pay fair wages, provide good benefits, and make them proud to tell their friends and families about. This isn’t likely to change any time soon.

And, finally, in the market for public goods and services—the market for things we want our government to buy and do for us—America is getting the civics lesson we all wish we had in 10th grade. Thanks to DOGE, we are learning that our government isn’t full of bureaucrats draining our coffers. It’s actually full of brilliant scientists, hard-working park rangers, nuclear security professionals, dedicated public health experts, and literally millions of others doing things we take for granted. And it’s true, most Americans do take these things for granted and rarely think about them—but that doesn’t mean we don’t want them. We do. I actually think we want more of these things than we realize, and between now and 2026, we will find out exactly how much more.

An increased demand for a market response

Customers, employees, and citizens around the world are increasingly demanding that brands make better products, with better methods that deliver better outcomes for everyone involved in the process. Businesses would do well to recognize this demand for what it is—the manifestation of the invisible hand of the market expressing itself to force a market response. The response the market is looking for isn’t for companies to run away from the necessity of the moment—it’s to step up to it. To meet the moment with all the power and might the corporate world loves to preach about.

Smart businesses and investors shouldn’t be asking themselves whether purpose is dead. The real question is, how do we radically scale purpose so it can actually meet the demand of our times?

Drew Train is chief executive officer of OBERLAND.