How Kevin Approaches It
Kevin approaches purpose as a test of behaviour, not of language. A purpose is real to the degree it shows up in what an organisation does: who gets promoted, what gets rewarded, which trade-offs get made when purpose and profit pull apart. He moves the conversation from wording the statement to living it.
He gives leaders concrete work: aligning what the organisation rewards with what it claims to value, making decisions visibly consistent with the purpose even when it costs something, and closing the specific gaps where stated values and daily practice diverge. This turns purpose from a poster into a culture.
Kevin is clear that leaders are the main carriers of culture. People believe what leaders do far more than what they say, so he focuses on leadership behaviour as the mechanism by which a purpose becomes, or fails to become, the way a place works, and by which it holds or loses its people.