Walt Disney was not your typical CEO. He didn’t attend business school, didn’t have an MBA, and had no use for highfalutin management theories. He certainly didn’t know anything about the now-common practice of developing organizational vision and mission statements. If he had known, and given his disdain for bureaucracy, he would likely have refused to engage in the practice. Freed of management theory, Walt aimed, not for logic, but for emotion. For that, he needed something different … something I call purpose.

The difference between vision/mission and purpose is emotion. Vision/mission statements are logical. They aim for the head. Purpose is emotional. It aims for the heart.

Where vision/mission articulate goals and tactics for achieving those goals, purpose defines the essence of an organization: why it exists, who it exists for, and how it makes the world a better place. 

Companies that aim for the head engender little enthusiasm. People buy their products if the price is right, the location is convenient, the need is immediate, or their habits are ingrained. There is little love there.

Companies that aim for the heart have passionate customers who follow them on social media, join their fan clubs, buy their products and rave about those products to others. Product, of course, still matters. But it is purpose, not product, that drives success.

Walt’s thinking regarding purpose can be explained in three quotes.

Quote one: "Our whole forty-some-odd years here has been in the world of making inanimate things move."

Quote two: "Of all the things I’ve ever done, I’d like to be remembered as a storyteller."

Quote three: "The idea of Disneyland is a simple one. It will be a place for people (especially families) to find happiness."

Those quotes, when viewed in sequence, lay out a simple purpose formula:

Strength + Application = Value

Disney’s strength is making inanimate objects move. The application is telling stories. The value is making people happy.

All Disney’s efforts—from black and white cartoons to color, to feature animation, to theme parks, to the Disney Cruise Line—deliver this formula: inanimate objects moving to tell a story that makes people happy. One example is like the highly success Beauty and the Beast snapped above. Its story was told as in animated and live action movies, storybooks, through musical recordings, in Disney theme parks, on Disney cruise ships, in high school play performances and on Broadway.

Following this formula, the job of Walt Disney World cast members is to …

1. Believe the magic that inanimate objects move,
2. Deliver a seamless product and service experience, and …
3. Ensure guests are happy.

If, for example, a custodial cast member sees trash to sweep up and a family to assist, the family’s needs will come first. It’s no accident that Disney custodial cast members are "guest service" focused. In fact, they answer more guest questions than most other cast members.

Many organizations, likely including yours, have vision/mission statements. But few have purpose statements. Even fewer have a purpose formula.

The beauty products founder Charles Revson once said that "Revlon sells hope." If Revlon sells hope and Disney sells happiness, what does your organization sell? And how do you sell it? And is your purpose, and the formula for delivering it, clear? Answer those questions and you can animate your own happiness.