Trust and Purpose: Why The Canadian Purpose Economy Project Matters—A Conversation With Coro Strandberg—Part One

“Building credibility in the Purpose Economy requires more than just good intentions; it demands action, transparency, and a commitment to best practices that transform purpose from a concept into a reality." –Jon Duschinsky

Key Insight: 💡 While executives often cite competing priorities like climate change and sustainability reporting as reasons for not prioritizing social purpose, adopting a social purpose can actually focus these efforts, enhance agility, and streamline decision-making.

Food for Thought: 🧠 https://purposeeconomy.ca/a-call-to-purpose/

This is part one of an in-depth interview with Coro Strandberg, President of Strandberg Consulting and Chair and co-founder of the Canadian Purpose Economy Project. Part 2 will be published in the next edition of the centrepoint. 

Credibility and Trust are cornerstones of the Purpose Economy. 

Doing what you say you are going to do and having independent best practices to follow are two key elements of building that credibility and trust. 

And that’s why the work of the Canadian Purpose Economy Project matters. This independent, sector-wide organization has been working since 2021 to figure out and publish best practices on how to make purpose a reality rather than just a good idea. Their resources are numerous, covering everything from creating a purpose statement to disclosing purpose-driven impact, and are freely available to all leaders in this space. 

And it’s why we are delighted to welcome Coro Strandberg, CPEP chair and one of it’s co-founders, for a feature-length interview here in centrepoint. 

Jon: Coro, welcome—thank you for joining us. So what is CPEP, and why should our readers care? 

Coro: Thank you, Jon - it’s a pleasure to be here. 

The Canadian Purpose Economy Project was born out of work done by United Way BC’s Social Purpose Institute and the Business for Purpose Network initiative of MaRS Discovery District. Today, it has grown to become an independent initiative fiscally administered by Canadian Business for Social Responsibility, specifically their education foundation. 

Our vision is that by 2030, 25% of Canadian businesses will have a social purpose. They will be implementing it authentically, disclosing progress on it, and collaborating with others to achieve it. We chose that number of 25% because we believe that's the point at which we'll create a tipping point in the economy and social purpose in business will become mainstream.

Jon: So CPEP was founded as a catalyst to help Canada accelerate its progress towards a Purpose Economy?

Coro: Absolutely. And let’s be clear what we mean by Purpose Economy: one dedicated to the enduring wellbeing of all individuals, society as a whole, and the environment. It is an economy where business, and regulatory, and financial systems all foster an equitable, flourishing, and resilient future.

Jon: That is clearly not the purpose of the economy today! And how is CPEP catalyzing that change?

Coro: Through our antecedent organizations and since we have been consulting the emerging social purpose community, opinion and thought leaders, and social purpose businesses and experts in Canada and beyond. From this ongoing consultation work, we developed the "10 levers of change.". These 10 levers represent - at a macro level - the essential elements that we believe need to be addressed to create the enabling environment for social purpose businesses to start, transition, thrive, and grow. We are convening discussions and publishing and curating resources and tools to advance these levers, which can be found . on our website. 

We also developed CPEP's "Call to Purpose," which is a letter written by business leaders to their peers, advocating for the adoption of social purpose in business. It highlights the benefits of having a social purpose and encourages other businesses to follow suit. Nearly two hundred people have signed it so far.

Jon: I’m interested to know what you see as the biggest barriers to companies adopting purpose and signing CPEP’s call to purpose...

Coro: The biggest challenges can be summed up as: mindset and competing priorities.

The mindset barrier to adopting a social purpose in businesses is often due to the entrenched belief that businesses' primary role is to solely generate profits. Many business leaders are unfamiliar with this shift to social purpose business and lack the necessary education on embedding social purpose into operations. The Canadian Purpose Economy is working to fill this gap by offering resources and collaborating with partners. 

For example, we have just published purpose disclosure guidelines to help social purpose businesses understand how they can measure and report progress on their purpose, demonstrating authenticity and avoiding purpose-washing. We developed this guidance document because we found that there are no standards or resources to help businesses with this task. This can help address the mindset barrier, by providing a framework for businesses to effectively understand how to integrate their purpose across their business and disclose progress on this effort.

And as to competing priorities, we see a number of executives tell us that they are focused on other important responsibilities such as climate change, sustainability reporting, and addressing emerging sustainability regulations. This doesn’t leave much room for them to prioritize adopting a social purpose and bringing it to life. However, we would say that having a social purpose can focus these other efforts, and foster agility and streamline decision-making in the business. In addition, having a purpose is a necessary precondition for an effective strategy, which can enhance productivity and performance over time.  

Jon: What are some of the most common questions you hear from executives and boards?

Coro: The most common questions revolve around how to embed purpose into the core of their organization, how to mobilize stakeholders around it, and then how to measure impact. There is a growing understanding of what purpose is and why it really matters, but a huge knowledge gap about how to do it—and then measure it.

Jon: While the CPEP resources are available to all, many of our readers are outside Canada. Are there similar organizations to CPEP that they can connect with in their local markets?

Coro: Yes, there are several organizations globally working on social purpose in business. We have published a tool to help people connect to the global social purpose community. We hope in the coming months to convene the global architects of the purpose economy so that we can build upon and scale our collective efforts. .

Jon: That’s it for part one. I invite you to go and discover the remarkable resources that CPEP has developed and learn how they can support you on your journey. Consider signing their Call to Purpose, which I have done. And if you need help bridging that knowledge gap that Coro talked about, then reach out to us at Centrepoint—we are purpose experts and here to help. 

And we will continue our conversation with Coro in the next edition of the centrepoint, where we’ll dive deeper into the “levers of change.”