The Mahindra Group: Leading with Purpose

India headquartered Mahindra Group is a multibillion-dollar federation of companies operating across the globe. It is ahead of its time in articulating its purpose and mapping its values, something it had first done at inception and then refreshed yet again as ‘Rise’ in 2011. Over the past decade, it has cascaded the essence of ‘Rise’ as a purpose through the organization. The idea was to “challenge conventional thinking and innovatively use all their resources to drive positive change in the lives of stakeholders and communities across the world to enable them to Rise.” As its senior leadership team contemplate Mahindra’s future, they wonder how they should balance the ‘Rise’ philosophy with a focus on financial returns that is critical for the group, especially in the aftermath of the health and economic crisis triggered by the coronavirus pandemic and a leadership transition at the group.