Throughout Built to Last, a recurring theme underscores how visionary companies strategically leverage dualities. Rather than fixating on singular objectives, these companies adeptly embrace seemingly contradictory goals, such as achieving low cost and exceptional quality or balancing idealism with profit. The most impactful duality explored is the simultaneous pursuit of change and stability encapsulated in the mantra “preserve the core and stimulate progress” (17). This central theme revolves around the definition of the core, referred to as the core ideology—a fusion of a company’s core values and core purpose. The core values, typically 3-6 guiding principles, endure market shifts and potential unprofitability. Coupled with core purpose (a company’s fundamental goal beyond profit), these components from a stable core, the company’s bedrock. This stability counterbalances the inevitable changes in the dynamic business environment, offering a compass that goes beyond mere profit-making. The authors of Built to Last thread this theme throughout the book, connecting this process with the measurable success of extant visionary companies.

The core purpose, distinct from profit-seeking motivations, compels companies to view profit as an outcome rather than an end in itself. Even seemingly mundane businesses, like an asphalt and gravel company, articulate a purpose beyond their products, striving to “make people’s lives better by improving the quality of man-made structures.