Robert E. Quinn is the Margaret Elliott Tracy Collegiate Professor at the University of Michigan. He cofounded and codirects Ross's Center for Positive Organizations. Katherine Heynoski is senior specialist, powerful practices, at Battelle for Kids. Mike Thomas is senior director, powerful practices, at Battelle for Kids. Gretchen M. Spreitzer is the Keith E. and Valerie J. Alessi Professor of Business Administration at the Ross School of Business, University of Michigan. Spreitzer is codirector of Ross's Center for Positive Organizations.

Two distinguished scholars offer eight steps to help organizations discover and embrace an authentic higher purpose-something that will dramatically improve every aspect of any enterprise, including the bottom line. What does a lofty notion like purpose have to do with business basics like the bottom line? Robert E. Quinn and Anjan J. Thakor say pretty much everything. Leaders and managers are taught that employees are self-interested and work resistant, so they create systems of control to combat these expectations. Workers resent these systems, and performance suffers. To address the performance issues, managers double down on the coercion, creating a vicious cycle and a self-fulfilling prophecy.