New research shows that today, more than ever, employees want to contribute to something greater than themselves. Learn the innovative strategies Microsoft pioneered that created a virtuous cycle of giving and volunteerism that has benefitted the company and fulfilled its employees while making the world a better place.

Early on in the Microsoft story, Bill Gates and other key executives met to decide how they would incentivize employees to make a charitable impact. The status quo at that time was to offer some small percentage of your paycheck as a pretax deduction to a charity selected by your company. Microsoft decided to so something revolutionary instead.

The Purpose Mindset tells the inside story behind how Microsoft built its culture of giving, including powerful stories from Microsoft alumni who were in the room when these decisions were made or who went on to make powerful change in the world, emboldened by their time at Microsoft.

The Purpose Mindset also tells the story of how this culture of giving that has been so successful at Microsoft in regard to job satisfaction, recruiting, and employee retention can be duplicated in your own work life, whether you are a business leader or you are seeking employment at a company that contributes to something greater than themselves.

Throughout these pages, charitably-engaged alumni such as author Akhtar Badshah, the head of Microsoft's Philanthropy program from 2004-2014, take readers through the first-of-its-kind decisions that have empowered and incentivized employees:

• Hear the first-hand accounts from interviews with Microsoft executives such as Jeff and Tricia Raikes, Patrick Awuah, Paul Maritz, and many others.
• Learn how Microsoft's early decision to encourage employees to support causes personal to them was a key impetus to multiplying the impact.
• Get insider accounts on the key decisions Microsoft has made along its journey to make individual philanthropy a core element of their culture.
• See how its culture of giving is one of the key elements to Microsoft's success in attracting and retaining top talent.

Akhtar Badshah is an expert on social impact, philanthropy, CSR and international development, an author and artist. He is the founder and Chief Catalyst of Catalytic Innovators Group a new consulting practice focused on accelerating social impact through catalytic innovation.

Akhtar Badshah's profile page

Brad Smith, writer born and raised in the hamlet of Canfield, in southern Ontario, a couple of hours from Toronto. After high school, he worked for the signal department of the Canadian National Railway for three years, and then got a chance to work on a rail project in South Africa. Upon returning from Africa, Smith worked all over the place - Alberta, British Columbia, Texas - at a variety of jobs. Farmer, signalman, insulator, truck driver, bartender, schoolteacher, maintenance mechanic, roofer, and so on. He became a carpenter and built custom homes in Canada. He still works as a carpenter when not writing. He now lives in an eighty-year-old farmhouse near the north shore of Lake Erie. His books have been published by Penguin Canada, Doubleday Canada, Simon & Schuster Canada and his forthcoming novel will be published by At Bay Press.

Brad Smith's profile page

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