Purposeful Brands: How Purpose and Sustainability Drive Brand Value and Positive Change

Very practical read on brand, sustainability and profit with purpose. Nothing else like it in the discipline.

“Purposeful Brands” by Sandy Skees is the only book you must read if you're interested in organizational purpose.

Purposeful Brands is an excellent handbook for anyone who strives to build a profitable, growth-centered business that has a positive impact on its workers, customers, communities, clients, and our planet. The author demonstrates how purpose drives profit, creating both corporate value and corporate resilience. Ms. Skees has decades of strategic experience with major brands and her guidance is invaluable.

Sandy and I serve on PR Week's Purpose Council, where she mentioned the upcoming book. I pre-ordered and it arrived just in time for me to read during a business trip. The case studies across multiple industries were excellent. Like Sandy, I've been in the sustainability communications space for a long time, so I knew about Patagonia's environmental focus, the decision by CVS not to sell tobacco products, and Ben & Jerry's values around social justice. But I had not heard about the reboot at Abercrombie & Fitch and many other case studies and anecdotes on these pages. The author didn't shy away from defining greenwashing and greenhushing, or from strongly advocating that brands choose to communicate authentically rather than going silent to avoid friction from those who believe a company's only objective is to make money for shareholders. Any business leader who wants to embrace the Triple Bottom Line -- people, planet and profit -- should read Purposeful Brands and get to work.

This book is one of the best available to both teach and learn about incorporating purpose into brand management and communication. It offers a realistic and practical view about the challenges and opportunities in defining and communicating brand purpose. It's well-written and insightful, and the real world case studies provide excellent examples to illustrate the key points in the book and show the depth of the author's experience. Most of all, it's inspirational in the way it advocates for a practical approach to conscious capitalism. I would recommend this book to students as well as professionals in the field.