The word ‘purpose’ in a business context has both positively influenced and confused the world in equal measures. At x+why, we define it as understanding your ‘why’, your reason for being beyond profit alone, and implementing it in a responsible and sustainable way. Do this and you are what we call a Mission Lit business.

x+why’s purpose is to change the way the world works for good. An audacious ‘moon-shot’, we know. We understand that we are a small part of a larger movement that is pushing toward this exciting and essential goal. Our roles as a flexible workspace community is to house, support, inspire and influence businesses under our roofs. 

From our first days, we – Rupert Dean, Tanya Donald and Phil Nevin – have been looking for a way to give something back to this global movement. We have wanted to help growth towards a new economic model, to use incredible examples both from within our network and beyond to reach a broader audience and help accelerate this shift.  This is not a new idea; it’s as old as business itself. But it’s one that business and leaders forgot. It needs re-learning fast, by businesses of every sector, size and mission, for the world to avert crises in the coming decades.

To our unending thanks, up stepped researcher and writer, Richard Johnson, to take on this challenge. Having come up under thought leader John Elkington (author of Greens Swans, who coined the ‘triple bottom line’ metric), Richard was uniquely positioned to explore and share some of the most exciting emerging business behaviours out there.

Over the course of hundreds of hours of interviews and research, Richard has discovered some of the most interesting and current lessons out there, which we are proud to share with you.

Do you want to start a Mission Lit business? Could the business that you currently lead or work within become Mission Lit? We hope you find the right sign posts within these pages, and we invite you in to join, lead and spread this movement. 

Business has contributed hugely to some of the world’s greatest problems, but it can also help lead us out of them.

Rupert, Tanya and Phil, x+why
February 2022, London