Carolyn Lawrence Reveals Profitable Path of Putting Purpose First
Jason McRobbie

In this edition of the PACT newsletter, we’re excited to feature insights from Carolyn Lawrence, founder of CLEAR Path, on the profitable power of purpose. Carolyn reveals how aligning DEI and ESG efforts with a clear, purpose-driven strategy not only strengthens business foundations but also enhances profitability. Her approach challenges leaders to rethink these initiatives as essential growth drivers—creating sustainable value for employees, customers, and shareholders alike.
Key takeaways from our feature article::
- While DEI and ESG efforts continue to grow in the face of changing expectations and regulation, more can be done to enable their ability to drive profitability within a business
- In order to engage DEI and ESG efforts profitability, leaders need to gain absolute clarity around their purpose statement so that it informs and inspires employees, customers and investors alike
- Leaders are better served if they understand and embody the fact that DEI and ESG are not just HR matters or nice to have, but the fundaments of future/present profitability.
For the past two decades, Carolyn Lawrence, founder of CLEAR Path, has been focused on fixing inequities in the workplace.
Tapped to become Deloitte’s first global DEI leader after spending a decade as president and CEO of Women of Influence Inc., when Carolyn set out to build her own consultancy, it was with an invaluable understanding. Profit isn’t a purpose, it’s an outcome of a purpose-driven business—particularly one in which DEI and ESG are reimagined as primary business drivers.
While a radical mindset shift for some, it is one backed not only by a wealth of research, much of which is highlighted on CLEAR PATH’s website, but one that is becoming more mainstream by the moment. Moreover, as Carolyn notes, it is no longer the mindset of HR alone anymore, but employees and shareholders alike—and gives new motive power to DEI and ESG practices.
“I didn't myself realize the connection to purpose until much later because when I was in DEI, I was learning it on the front lines like many of my peers,’” said Carolyn, developing a greater understanding of why many DEI efforts flounder while balancing the desire for equity with the requisites of profit. “As I got to really test what works and what doesn’t, I realized this is bigger than what I thought I was working on. This is not just diversity and inclusion. This is not just HR.”
Why DEI Matters on the Bottom Line
In stepping back to talk with her peers and business leaders at Deloitte, Carolyn discovered what she now shares with her clients and businesses on a daily basis—DEI is part of a broader systems change with definitive ties to ESG initiatives. Helping leaders recognize not only that foundational connectivity, but the ways in which it brings true purpose to the forefront to attract and grow talent, is how Carolyn leads businesses to more fundamentally sustainable growth.
“I know how it is for founders or leaders in a high growth phase of the startup days of their organization. I know that budgets and time is at a premium and that it can feel counterintuitive to focus on something like DEI and ESG when you're so focused on growth and your back is against the wall,” said Carolyn. “But if you can see it as an enabler and just implement two or three things that are fundamentally sound—that’s enough. That way you're you're laying the tracks in the right direction. You don't need a team. You don't need a chief diversity officer. You just need a clear path to make sure you're navigating your biggest opportunities and risks before you build the business. If you wait until the next round of funding, your IPO, or a more mature growth phase, it’s too late, too expensive, it’s high risk, and it’s just plain not optimal.”
The risk for misalignment in the meantime can cost not only talent, but serious market share as discovered by businesses large and small.
Book your free Exploration Call to find out how we can help you expand your recruitment net, obtain LMIAs, GTS LMIAs, or Work Permits, support your employee’s Permanent Residence application, and why BC Tech companies choose to use our services again and again.
Purpose Empowers DEI/ESG Efforts
Seeing a lot of DEI efforts fail to come to fruition and a failure of ESG initiatives to extend beyond the mandatory, Carolyn has explored not only the intersection of the two but realized the missing element in both—purpose.
She also admits that few come to her for that reason.
“No one comes to me saying, ‘I'd really love to tie purpose to profit.’ No one's looking for that. Someone is usually coming to me saying, ‘My board member, employee or investor has told us that we need to increase diversity in leadership,” said Carolyn. “This is often the most visible flag, the representation in leadership, and often, what gets people motivated because they have to fix it, and so that's where we start. This is never what I end up fixing—at least in the short term. It’s just a symptom of the processes in your systems.”
And this is why DEI efforts can flounder, Carolyn notes, while the “Social” in ESG goes often untended.
“Those efforts are rudderless without a purpose and that has been a major AHA moment for our clients. We actually need a guiding light, North star, an anchor—pick your analogy—for the whole business to align swiftly in that direction. And that needs to be a CEO priority to work,” said Carolyn While pointing out that this is the work that prevents the backlash, fatigue or stagnant progress.
The Proven Powers of Purpose
Fortunately, with a wealth of growing research at her fingertips, Carolyn finds the business case for people and purpose easier to make for even the most cynical CEOs.
“Having a purpose can yield so many benefits. One is the productivity and engagement of your employees,” said Carolyn. “When they’re connected to purpose and you've given them a way to truly be able to make decisions, because they understand it and it's clear what side of the fence you're on in every argument because you're connected to that purpose, then you are purpose led.”
Notably, the impact of that empowerment goes well beyond engagement scores.
“When you have employees who are connected, productive and engaged, they can drive top line revenue. They can drive innovation. And these together can drive higher profit margins,” said Carolyn. “That’ happens when you have your purpose anchoring your EDI and ESG efforts. We’ve seen this for over 10 years now and I can give you so many statistics, but the 6% higher returns, 6x innovation and almost 2.5x revenue growth speak volumes. It's just consistently correlated with the companies that do the work that outperform those that don't on every measure consistently over time.”
Meeting Tomorrow’s Expectations Today
Moreover, the mandatory legislation and Millennial market demand for such purpose-led DEI and ESG initiatives is only increasing.
“It’s hard to say when that transition point happened, but if you’re if you're looking to attract Millennials today, the majority now look at the company's purpose and how their experience will be in terms of diversity and inclusion before making or accepting their offer,” said Carolyn. “So if you're looking to attract the best and the brightest Millennials, who will be the majority of the workforce any day now according to Deloitte, you have to do this now—whereas before it might have been an edge or a different way of doing things. I think this has become table stakes in a lot of ways.”
And it’s not just the talent that is looking deeper, Carolyn cautions—it’s your board and potential investors.
“As a board director, you don't want to be putting money into something that has a possible risk. And I'm actually spending more time right now working with groups of board directors, helping them see what questions they need to be asking, what their role is with regards to diversity and inclusion in organization—never mind at the actual board table—where diversity and inclusive culture is key to how they make decisions and approve budgets,” said Carolyn. “We're talking a lot about the questions you need to ask your CEO, what a flag is and what to do about it. You have to act on it at that board level because your job as a board director is to protect the shareholders and to practice good governance. These practices are good governance—and good business hygiene. It’s not more complicated than that.”
As for what continues to propel the market in this direction, Carolyn targets transparency.
“I think the big shift over the past five years towards transparency has been really critical. Now that is expected,” said Carolyn. “How a company treats its people, on the inside and the outside is vital and we all want to know. We are holding companies to a higher standard because we realize it has an impact on our wellbeing, our planet and our livelihoods. We want more.”
Don’t Try to Boil the Ocean
What Carolyn has to emphasize for even the most progressive leaders though is that there is no simple switch to the ‘right’ answer.
“I sat across from a really successful leader in tech and he just said, ‘I had no idea that there were 20 steps in between what I just asked you and where you're starting,’” said Carolyn. “And these are incredibly bright Harvard or Wharton educated business leaders doing fantastic work. But they haven't learned these steps. This is new because this field is relatively new. If leader assumes that I’m coming to hire more women with a magic bullet, that’s not correct, but I am going to provide you with a clear path to integrating your purpose, equity and social impact to drive self-sustaining growth.”
Carolyn applies the golden ratio to that focus, encouraging leaders to focus on two big opportunities, one blazing risk and how to fix all three—before moving on to the next.
“This way, we’re not boiling the ocean. We're just trying to figure out, what do we need to do right now to help you on your growth path? And this all seems very palatable for a leader, because they can say, all right, you've made a daunting and complex topic very actionable and tactical, and it's tied to our business strategy”. This is what works, and is much more sustainable that forcing unnatural changes or hiring decisions before your company is ready.
Making Change Manageable—and Profitable
About where that hard work begins, Carolyn is unequivocal.
- It starts at the highest level: “This can be the CEO, this can be the board, but it needs to start from the top and it needs to be connected to why you're in business and how you want to do business. A really strong purpose statement is going to guide everybody, so that's where I start in my strategy development,” said Carolyn. “Then we look at your leadership’s capabilities. Do they have the skills and training in order uphold that purpose statement? Can they walk the talk?”
Once established in the headspace at the top, Carolyn heads to the very bones of an organization. - Then we design a governance model + measures: “How will you operate this? Who will be held accountable? What happens if they are not accountable? How will you motivate and reward and on what regularity? And so, the sort of first few parts are a bit mechanical but critical and you won’t see great results without them,” said Carolyn, noting the importance of establishing measures to gauge progress that reflect your given purpose.” You have to set measures that are tied to what's important to the business and then recognize what it takes to move those numbers. So that's your top of the house, what you need in order to make this successful.”
With those core mechanics in place, then the internal drivers can be taken inside to bring that top down vision to life, via systems and policy. - THEN the real work happens in the system. “Now you’re getting into talent systems and business systems I like to think of the talent as being on the inside and the business infrastructure is on the outside. So, you're doing this work so that they mirror each other. That’s another great way to prevent backslash. Practically you are evaluating outcomes of these systems from a human’s perspective. Do our people have equitable opportunity here? Do our customers have more or equal access to something they didn’t before that impacts their livelihood? Is the community better off because we operate here?”
- Last step, we bring it to life: This is where Carolyn stresses that so many organizations want to start first, with the programs, and communications, about their commitment and good deeds. But, she stresses, this is another misstep as “you should under no circumstances talk about your commitment to DEI without doing the work first.”
Pick a Purpose That Connects Inside + Out
As for what makes one purpose statement rise above the other, Carolyn looks to how it defines and guides the employee experience.
“A great purpose statement is more than a statement in a purpose led organization. It becomes that guiding light that can be embedded in how I make decisions at every level in my day-to-day job,” said Carolyn. “You can have a purpose statement that says, ‘We want to be the best in the world’, but that doesn't mean much. Sure, at what cost? As your employee or customer, I have no idea how to make a decision based on that. But if you have a purpose statement like LinkedIn—to connect the world's professionals to make them more productive and successful—I get it. I get where our priorities are. I get what my energy should be focused on.”
“You have that level of clarity where everyone lives and breathes the statement. You're operating on all cylinders. You're high performing. You’re optimizing. That's the power of a purpose-led organization, because while HR is bringing it to life on the inside, your operations are bringing it to life for the customers,” said Carolyn. “I can vouch that LinkedIn makes me more productive and successful, so they’re really bringing that purpose to life in a way that everyone feels and is energized by, which has led to sustainable growth."
It is that level of clarity—combined with an alignment of core principle and employee/customer experience—that not only drives profitability, but a greater equity of experience for everyone.
BACK