Super excited to announce the launch of my consultancy The Purpose Room www.thepurposeroom.org. The idea of the consultancy took seed when I was on a quest to find my own North Star. What I knew from the word get go was that this was not going to be another bricks and mortar consultancy (no offence to those who are bricks and mortar), that DEI would be central to our work and that there would be an element of activism to what we do. For several years now I have admired The Hoxby Collective for what it was trying to enable and how future facing it was in its ambition.

So the plan was to build a collaboratory of diverse talent, where people were motivated to excel because they believed in the purpose of the consultancy and could focus on what they were good at without having to worry about presenteeism.

Fortunately, COVID 19 has upended conventional wisdom on how we live and work. Suddenly we all know that it is possible to work from home or work flexibly and still be productive. And we don’t need to take clients on that journey, because everyone has been forced to work in the same way. As a consultancy that was born from the desire to be purpose driven, inclusive and agile we are fortunate enough not to have to re-invent our structure or how we work.

Right at the start I would like to state that The Purpose Room is also about finding my ‘Why’?  

I discovered that in my 50s purpose has a very different meaning to what it was a decade ago. Now, it is about being intentional and authentic towards reaching a desired goal, towards challenging the status quo. In my 30s and 40s(like millions of other women) my purpose was about maintaining the status quo for fear of upsetting the fragile balance that is our daily lives.

Today, it is something that drives me to be brave, to dream and push the envelope every single day on things that matter. It means working towards making the world better for me as well as for others on issues of inequality, racism, climate change, poverty etc. We all live for ourselves, how do we live a life that positively impacts the lives of others, family, network, community, society and the world at large. For me Purpose is not just a verb but a roadmap for how I live my values every single day.

It is no secret that we live in an increasingly fragile world. We are fighting a pandemic, economic downturn, recession, growing inequality, fake news, climate change etc. What we also know is that the world is going to remain in this state of flux for a long time to come.

How businesses respond to these societal conflicts, how they centre their values and purpose will be the deciding factor between winners and losers. We believe our potential clients are those businesses who have taken a moment to pause during the last year to consider their ‘Why’?

To reflect on their purpose, how inclusive and equitable they are and how they behave in broader society. At The Purpose Room our ambition is to be working at the intersection of organisational purpose, inclusion and business sustainability. While our work is data and insights driven we want to keep it rooted in empathy and the real world. We are a future ready virtual agency made up of experts spread across multiple geographies ready to help clients bridge their perception gap or navigate their journey to inclusion.

As businesses clamour and compete with one another to be heard in the real and online world the one thing I would like to encourage them to do, is press pause on the relentless churn of content and the need to be omni present. As trusted advisors we should get them to start with ‘Why’? It is not necessarily going to make us popular but it is what we should be helping them do.

Is it aligned to their purpose? Is it inclusive? Why do clients want to do this? Why are we suggesting it? What is the end goal? It is our business to ensure that they are intentional, authentic and inclusive and there is no harm in labouring the point until a time it becomes embedded in the system.

We should all get comfortable with speaking up, and questioning decisions not just for the sake of it but because that is best way to make good decisions.

The Purpose Room offering includes:

1. Reputation Advisory
2. Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Consulting
3. Leadership Development Programmes
4. 12 Weeks to Leadership targeted at aspiring women leaders

Since we want to work at the intersection of organisational purpose and inclusion we have a very strong DEI offering that includes audits, culture change and C-suite DEI onboarding programmes.

Our women in leadership programme is aimed at making leadership education accessible to all women. The curriculum has been rigorously developed to help women understand legacy and systemic biases within business and society. And empower them with a deeper understanding of the key blockers to career progression.

Our approach on developing the curriculum is fairly unique in the sense that it was based on practical understanding, lived experiences, best practice and some theory. We have a paid online programme that is currently open to women in India, we partner with organisations to deliver this to their aspiring women leaders and as a part of our commitment to give back we are also be offering the programme free of cost to women who cannot afford it

2020 tried and tested people in different ways. But, it also showed us that as a race we were compassionate, considerate and happy to collaborate for a bigger cause/purpose i.e. defeat the virus.

For me it was a year of great learning and serendipity. The stars aligned, I found a wonderful bunch of people to partner with and embark on a new adventure.

This is also my second innings. I am at a juncture where I do not want to waste any time doing work that has no meaning to me. The first half of my life I did what I had to – with The Purpose Room I am looking forward to living my purpose and helping individuals and clients align with theirs.

Visit our website: www.thepurposeroom.org
Listen to The Elephant in the Room podcast: https://thepurposeroom.org/podcast/
Or follow us on
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thepurposeroom/
Twitter: @thepurpose_room