---
title: How market leaders gain organisation-wide ownership for their purpose | Donovan Leadership
description: When Satya Nadella was appointed in 2014 as only the third CEO in Microsoft's 40-year history, he knew that as well as the urgent need for Microsoft’s technology and business strategy to evolve, even more pressing was the need to develop its culture and redefine its purpose. 👇🏽 Microsoft embarked on an extensive effort to
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 Jun 18, 2025, 2:00:00 PM

# How market leaders gain organisation-wide ownership for their purpose

[Brian Donovan](https://donovanleadership.com/blog/author/brian-donovan)

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When Satya Nadella was appointed in 2014 as only the third CEO in Microsoft’s 40-year history, he knew that as well as the urgent need for Microsoft’s technology and business strategy to evolve, even more pressing was the need to develop its culture and redefine its purpose.

Microsoft embarked on an extensive effort to redefine its purpose and enable their employees to find and engage with their own personal sense of purpose.

Today Satya Nadella is regarded as one of the world’s best current CEOs having re-established Microsoft amongst the globe’s premier technology organisations with healthy profitability, market share, clear purpose, and strong staff engagement.

Microsoft’s [recent 2020 feedback](https://www.shrm.org/executive/resources/people-strategy-journal/fall2020/Pages/feature-whittinghill.aspx) measures show 92% of staff agree/strongly agree with the statement: “At Microsoft we strive to make a difference, meaning that we are driven by our mission and purpose to engage in meaningful work with measurable impact that creates life changing technology.”

[Mercer’s 2018 Global Talent Trends Study](https://www.mercer.com/our-thinking/career/voice-on-talent/people-first-mercers-2018-global-talent-trends-study.html) identifies “working with a purpose,” as one of the major trends shaping today’s workforce. The report says, “employees crave meaningful work: 75% of thriving employees — those who are fulfilled personally and professionally — say that they work for a company with a strong sense of purpose, which was almost double those who don’t feel like they are thriving.”

As Nadella said recently in an interview with the Australian Financial Review: “Through our management excellence framework to model, coach and care, we not only ask managers to demonstrate a growth mindset but also to help employees to define and understand their purpose and find ways to live that purpose at Microsoft.”

Microsoft has found a straight line connection between personal purpose and organisational purpose.

What is your experience of purpose-driven organisations? ‍

**Best regards, Brian**

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