Education Session: The Power of Purpose In Business and Life

Roy Spence is the co-founder and chairman at GSD&M and co-founder and CEO at The Purpose Institute. It was 1971, and four recent University of Texas graduates decided to start an advertising agency in Austin, Texas—then a funky, little college town known primarily for hippies and armadillos. Roy Spence was one of them. He went down to the bank to borrow $5,000 and the loan officer asked, “What is your business plan?” Roy was frozen and then finally said, “We’ll let’s see. We want to stay together, stay in Austin, make a difference and some money, too.” He got the loan. Forty-five years later, Roy and his partners are still together, still in Austin, still trying to make a difference and make a little money.