What we do
Common Purpose aims to improve the way society works by expanding the vision, decision making ability and influence of all kinds of leaders. It is one of the few organisations worldwide that operates on local, national and international levels.
We run a variety of educational programmes for leaders of all ages, backgrounds and sectors, in order to provide them with the inspiration, information and opportunities they need to change the world.
All of Common Purpose’s activities are deliberately cross-sector and have been specially designed to help people in leadership and decision-making positions to be more effective: in their own organisations, in the community and in society as a whole.
The community is both our subject and our venue. Our participants don't just sit in meeting rooms studying abstract management problems or wrestling with intellectual exercises. They go out into their own community and grapple with real life problems at first hand, visiting prisons, housing developments, businesses, hospitals and manufacturing plants in order to find inspiration outside their usual experience.
Together, they tackle topical issues (often with the people who carry responsibility for them), trade leadership experiences and strategies with other leaders from a variety of fields, and build wider networks.
What's different about Common Purpose programmes?
All our programmes help leaders learn to lead beyond their authority, both as professionals and citizens. People who lead beyond their authority can produce change beyond their direct circle of control. This is very different from other leadership programmes.
We are committed to looking for leaders in unexpected places – and then exposing them to the information and the perspectives they need to be more effective. In the process, they meet new people, make new connections and find new ways of working with people who may not view the world in the same way. Diversity underpins everything we do.
All Common Purpose programmes and activities share the same long-term ambitions: better decision-making in all sectors, more effective solutions to common problems, more engaged and active citizens and, ultimately, stronger communities.
Since 1989, more than 120,000 people have been involved in Common Purpose worldwide and over 23,000 leaders have completed one or more of our programmes. They, and their organisations, consistently report better strategic thinking, better decision-making, dramatically enhanced leadership competencies and a greater ability to apply them in new situations as a result of their experience of Common Purpose.
Read on to find out more about Common Purpose programmes
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