That is how much the sandstone monument on display in Johnson and Johnson’s (J&J) New Jersey headquarters weighs. When a principle is considered timeless, we say it is “set in stone”.

Set in this eight-foot tall slab are the principles that define J&J’s duties to serve its employees, its partners, its customers and society. Were these principles written today, we might have reason to discount their sincerity.

But they were written in 1943 by Robert Wood Johnson II on the eve of the company’s going public. Johnson wanted to ensure that the principles that guided the company from its founding in 1886 would continue to guide it into the future. Now comprised of more than 130,000 employees working in dozens of subsidiary companies operating in almost every nation, the credo continues to serve as the central theme around which the J&J culture and operations revolve.

What “General” Johnson penned was not the typically dry and generic mission, vision and values statements that clutter many an organization’s walls and websites but that fail to engage and energize employees … and, by extension, the customers with whom they interact.

Johnson was expressing the heart of the J&J brand … which is why, to this day, J&J’s employees worldwide look to the credo when making decisions about new products and new markets … and how to deal with dilemmas like the 1982 Tylenol crisis.

How about you? Do you or your employees refer to your organization’s mission or purpose statement when making decisions? How does mission and purpose influence your organization’s culture? How does purpose inform how you communicate with and engage your customers?

The lesson from J&J is that purpose is the best foundation upon which to build an organization, and a brand the expresses that organization, that, as Jim Collins would say, is “built to last.”

Learn more about J&J’s credo wall at https://www.jnj.com/our-heritage/8-fun-facts-about-the-johnson-johnson-credo