Ep. 31: Organizational Purpose: Opportunity or Opportunism? | Panel Discussion

Some weeks ago LC and WHU hosted their fifth virtual conference: the Open University on the topic of “Organizational Purpose: Opportunity or Opportunism?”. One of the major highlights was a panel discussion with four high caliber Guests.

Together, Judith Hübner, VP Human Resources and Corporate Affairs
at Sasol, Zoe Cohen, Coach & Activist with Extinction Rebellion UK, Christoph Waffenschmidt, CEO of World Vision Germany and Anja Wassertheurer Head of Product- and Corporate Communication at Porsche discuss the purpose of their companies, what humans really need and what we can do to avoid reaching the tipping point.

The topics of the Panel:

- Judith Hübner introduces herself and her company Sasol (4:00)

- Christoph Waffenschmidt introduces himself and his company World Vision (5:50)

- Anja introduces herself and her company Porsche (7:10)

- Zoe Cohen introduces herself and Extinction rebellion (9:00)

- Christoph Waffenschmidt answers the question how he would articulate the purpose of his organization (11:06)

- Judith Hübner talks about the purpose of Sasol (14:08)

- Anja Wassertheurer tells us about the purpose of Porsche (19:15)

- Zoe Cohen tells us what is driving her and Extinction Rebellion (21:55)

- Zoe draws attention to Elephant in the room “Purpose has to sit in the context of reality!” She points out that owning a car is not a human right. (23:33)

- Anja says why companies like Porsche are still important. (27:21)

- Judith thinks about why Sasol is important and what all needs to be changed. (29:15)

- Christoph talks about the challenges of purpose based organization (31:20)

- Anja talks about why people like to identify with the Porsche brand (35:50)

- Zoe talking about why non-violent direct action can risk arrest and how she was arrested last week (41:00)

- Christoph tells us what corporate organizations can learn from World Vision (44:45)

- Judith Hübner explains why everybody can learn something from everything (48:08)

- Anja answers the question if coaches are allowed to draw attention to environmental issues or if they have to stay neutral. (50:25)

- Judith Hübner tells us why she thinks it is a human right to ask this questions (53:55)

- Christoph asks Anja what she thinks in 5 years will be the strategy for an organization like Porsche. (56:27)

- Anja asks Zoe: What was your career? (58:57)

- Zoe asks everybody: What might be the role of your organization in 2030, when we know we gone past the tipping points? (1:01:30)

- Bernhard Broekman reflects on a whitepaper to coach responsibility (1:05:30)

- Arlette Hernánd talks about uniting different perspectives (1:06:00)

- Nathan Stuck says everybody plays an important role (1:09:15)

- Hans Werner Wurzel says he is frustrated and that we have to do more (1:11:20)

- Robert Stulle tells us there is no point in blaming but in observing: why do we need a Porsche? Why do we need this symbol? (1:12:45)

- Zoe Cohen tells us that there are so many other ways of being and that we have to take action! (1:14:45)

What are your reflections? Feel free to write us your thoughts. We also welcome your suggestions for inspiring guests at Leaders Talk.

leaderstalk@leadership-choices.com

Guests: Judith Hübner, Zoe Cohen, Christoph Waffenschmidt and Anja Wassertheurer

Host: Karsten Drath

Production & Editorial: Hannah Jandl & Daniela Magnani Hüller

Research & Preparation: Tabea Zeller & Lena Wokurka