3 CREATING A SENSE OF PURPOSE

Gerry Anderson, the CEO of Detroit-based DTE Energy, was a guest speaker at the Center for Positive Organizations. As I listened to him, I was mesmerized. His opening statement was: “Creating organizations of excellence and energy is the most real thing you can do.”

Like Alberto, Gerry indicated that he did not always believe this. He had to learn to accept the idea that an organization could be excellent. As Gerry continued his story, I heard many of the same themes that Alberto had shared with me. He had experienced the same kind of hard-earned wisdom. His words were filled with insights about the nature of organizational purpose and how to use purpose to create an organization of excellence.

Gerry was trained in engineering and physics and later in finance. He took a job at McKinsey before going to work at DTE Energy. Gerry had an analytic mind, was a problem solver, and used numbers to confront and resolve “hard” issues. These tools served him well, and he became president and later the CEO of DTE Energy.