May 29, 2026
Hi Everyone,
The point of a purpose statement is to help you say no to things. If yours hasn't ruled out a hire, a feature, a customer, or a vendor in the last 90 days, it isn't doing any work.
Roger Martin has a quick test that catches this. Write the opposite of your purpose. If no company would actually pick it, you have a marketing slogan, not a genuine purpose.
Today, we're walking you through the test, using CVS and HubSpot as examples.
The opposite test
Take your purpose statement and write the opposite version. "We exist to deliver exceptional value to our customers" becomes "we exist to deliver mediocre value to our customers." Nobody picks that, so the purpose is a slogan. Roger Martin, who co-wrote Playing to Win with A.G. Lafley, says: "You only know that you've made a real strategic choice if you can say the opposite of what that choice is, and it's not stupid."
A purpose that does any work has an opposite that competitors pick. Patagonia describes itself as "in business to save our home planet." The opposite, maximize sales regardless of environmental cost, is what most apparel companies choose every day. That's why Patagonia's purpose can rule things out across products, partnerships, materials, and growth targets. If you can't say no to anything because of your purpose, your team won't either.
CVS walked away from $2 billion in revenue
In 2014, CVS announced it would stop selling tobacco in all 7,600 stores. The SEC filing put the cost at $2 billion in lost annual revenue, about 17 cents per share. CEO Larry Merlo named the reason: "the sale of tobacco products is inconsistent with our purpose – helping people on their path to better health."
The opposite, "we sell whatever generates margin in pharmacy," was the industry default. Walgreens, Rite Aid, and every other major drug chain kept selling tobacco. After the announcement, CVS rebranded as CVS Health and expanded into clinical services. Former EVP Helena Foulkes later said hiring and retention improved as a result.
HubSpot gave its CRM away for free
HubSpot built its business on inbound marketing and CRM, then decided to give the CRM away free. Co-founder Dharmesh Shah pointed to one of the company's stated values, Solve For The Customer. A paid CRM would serve existing marketing customers and companies with bigger budgets. A free one would serve every business trying to grow.
The default B2B SaaS playbook is the opposite, charging for the core product and upselling from there. HubSpot picked the harder version because Solve For The Customer ruled out the other option. The free CRM raised support and infrastructure costs but brought in every small business priced out of the paid alternatives. HubSpot finished 2025 with $3.13 billion in revenue, up 19% year-over-year, and 288,706 paying customers.
Try this today
Write your purpose statement on a piece of paper. Underneath it, write the opposite version. Then ask three questions.
- Would any competitor pick the opposite? If not, your purpose is a slogan.
- What decision did your purpose force in the last 90 days? A hire declined, a feature killed, a customer turned down, a vendor passed over.
- If you can't name one, what changes from here? Do you sharpen the purpose, or do you start using the one you have to rule things out?
Question two is the hardest. If a purpose hasn't forced one concrete decision in 90 days, it's just words on a wall.
Go deeper
👉 Bridgespan: Roger Martin's Unconventional Wisdom - the opposite test in Martin's own words, with examples from his strategy work
👉 HBS Working Knowledge: How Purpose Becomes a Company's Lighthouse in the Storm - Ranjay Gulati on the four levels of purpose and how to spot decoration
👉 SEC: CVS Caremark 8-K, Project Better Health - the original filing announcing the tobacco exit, with the $2 billion cost in CVS's own words
👉 HubSpot: The HubSpot Culture Code - Dharmesh Shah on Solve For The Customer and how it shaped product decisions
Coming up on Monday
On Monday, we're sharing the structural reasons most post-mortem action items don't get completed, and what to do about it.
Thanks for reading, and have a great weekend!
P.S. Try the test on a competitor's purpose first. It's always easier with someone else's words.