Mark Peters Of Butterball Farms & i-3 Leadership On How to Build a Purpose-Driven Culture That Attracts Top Talent
An Interview With Chad Silverstein
Communicate openly and honestly to promote effective teamwork.
Purpose has become the new currency of success in today’s workplace, and leaders who prioritize mission-driven cultures are standing out in the war for talent. To explore this important topic, we are interviewing Mark Peters.
Mark Peters is the unapologetically people-first CEO of Butterball Farms, Inc. a company that has redefined what it means to be a great place to work. From launching The SOURCE — a nonprofit ROI juggernaut for employers — to transforming frontline jobs into career springboards, Peters has proven that purpose and profit can scale together. Through his new book, The Retention Trap (June 2025), he aims to inspire leaders to break from outdated HR thinking and invest in talent flow, not control.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series. Before we dive into our discussion, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you share with us the backstory about what brought you to your specific career path?
Butterball Farms, Inc. is a second-generation family business. I started working for my father when I was 12. And, although it was not a linear path, I always had a desire to work in the business. My education includes a business degree, an accounting degree, and some engineering. However, I was most drawn to the pursuit of building a business that could do more than just supply a “job.” I was drawn to the challenge of running a profitable company that could also enrich the lives of the people who worked for it, beyond the paycheck. In the first couple of years after my father passed away (1995), we developed our mission statement “Enrich Lives” and 6 guiding principles, that we have stuck with for the last almost 30 years.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began working in leadership, culture building, or purpose-driven organizations?
I have so many great stories of people who have found success in their lives because they came to work for us. It is difficult to give you my “favorite.” Since behind every story is a person or a family. But here is one that is near the top: Recently I received a text from a lady who started working for our company when she was 20 years old and 5 months pregnant. In most places, she would have ended up a statistic. Instead, she took advantage of learning and promotion opportunities as well as some opportunities to be involved with community organizations. After working for us for 10 years, she took another role at another company. Fast forward to today, she has a great family, stable marriage, great kids, continues to obtain professional positions that challenge her and bring value to the community, and she continues to work on her education, most recently applying to a Social Innovation Program at Grand Valley State University. What I find “interesting” about this story is this young woman did the work. We simply provided the opportunity. We provided the context or the “soil” if you will, for the growth to occur. I see this over and over again.
You are a successful leader. Which three-character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?
Be Curious — about the people who work for you. As people we are all pretty similar, however, we have very different lived experiences. I outline this a lot in my book The SOURCE. Taking time to get behind the statistics and learn about individuals’ lives. A great example of this is getting curious about attendance problems. We have learned that attendance issues are usually a symptom of other things going on in people’s lives.
Build Trust (consistency over time) — invest in people’s success. Once you learn about people and what drives them, build an organization they can thrive in. By creating an environment where people can move toward thriving, you will build trust by consistently demonstrating your interest in their success.
Work Hard — Have Purpose. Your people watch you. Work hard on what matters. You are asking those around you to work hard — they want to see you doing the same. We can get all caught up in the meaning of the word “work,” but if you have passion around what drives you, you will be motivated to put time, effort, and money toward those efforts.
Let’s now jump into the focus of our interview. What does a “purpose-driven culture” mean to you personally, and why do you think it’s critical for attracting top talent?
Seems sort of self-explanatory. Build purpose. There are a lot of examples out there of companies that have become known for a particular purpose. For us it is Enrich Lives. It starts with our customers — our company exists to enrich the lives of our customers. If we don’t do that, we don’t have an enterprise. However, right on the heels of that are the people who work for us. We believe that through the simple act of providing a job, we have the ability to positively impact people’s lives. If we do that well, we will also positively impact our community. Sort of like this: Happy Customers. Happy People. Happy Families. Happy Community…
I believe people want to work for a company that is genuinely interested in their success as they define it. This could be career, health, balance, family…
How did you identify and define the mission or purpose for your organization? Was it inspired by a particular event, challenge, or insight?
The story about developing our Mission Statement is a long one! Suffice it to say that what we started with was nothing like what we ended up with. We had a cross-functional team work on it for two days. What we came up with was meaningless to me — and I have a pretty good memory — but I couldn’t even remember it. So, I went back to the group and said, “If this doesn’t mean anything to me, how is it going to mean anything to anyone else?” This wasn’t an “understanding” problem; it was a resonance problem. It didn’t resonate with me — it didn’t trigger any sort of emotional response.
When we finally stumbled upon “Enrich Lives,” it was like the skies cleared. That was it. That was what I wanted our company to do, to live for — regardless of product, service, or technology. It was that simple and that clear. And we’ve been at it now for almost 30 years.
What are the key steps leaders can take to embed purpose into the day-to-day operations and decision-making of their companies?
I think it’s the same as the earlier question about being successful: take an interest in your people, build trust, and work hard on what matters.
What role does leadership play in championing and modeling a purpose-driven culture? Can you share an example of how you or another leader helped reinforce your organization’s purpose?
People watch their leaders. So, like we’ve said, consistency over time is important — especially when the chips are down. I have a great example:
We were working on a project for a potential customer for nearly nine months. We had worked through all the details, including pricing. About a month before the first shipment date, the customer came back to the project lead and said our price was too high and needed to be lowered significantly. We revisited all the work and the pricing structure they had already agreed to. The customer rep became upset and essentially demanded the price drop.
So, I asked my COO to take the customer to lunch, pay for lunch, and then let them know we were no longer interested in doing business with their company. The customer rep later came back asking us to reconsider, but we decided that our respective approaches to business were not compatible.
Our first guiding principle is: Have integrity in all interactions. This would have been a significant piece of business for us. My COO later told me, “I’ve worked for a lot of people who have had corporate values, but I’ve never seen one walk away from business — especially after so much investment — based on principle.”
How do you handle skepticism or resistance from team members or stakeholders who may not immediately understand the value of focusing on purpose?
It depends on how skepticism presents itself. But in our business, it’s not optional. If you don’t want to play by our rules, you don’t have to be on our team. I know that sounds harsh, but I’ve compromised on this one too many times in my career. I’m now at a point where if someone doesn’t get it, doesn’t understand, isn’t in alignment, or actively undermines our purpose and values — they won’t remain on our team.
Also, for people who are not in alignment, our work environment becomes very uncomfortable. And tying this back to the last question, it often becomes incumbent on leadership to act.
Based on your experience, can you share “5 Steps to Build a Purpose-Driven Culture That Attracts Top Talent”?
I’ll give you six — our Guiding Principles:
- Have integrity in all interactions.
- Anticipate and address customer needs.
- Diligently pursue excellence.
- Promote continuous learning and innovation.
- Make the workplace an enjoyable and integrated part of life.
- Communicate openly and honestly to promote effective teamwork.
I’ve included many stories about these principles in my book The SOURCE.
I am not sure what the “5 steps” are. I do know that if you understand your “WHY” and pursue it with a desire to win you will attract people who share a similar “why.”
Can you share a specific example of how embracing a purpose-driven culture helped your company attract exceptional talent or achieve a significant business goal?
I think in the case of most of our senior-level leaders, they were all attracted to us because of the purpose-driven culture. Any one of them is talented enough to go work for other companies — and yet they don’t.
What advice would you give to leaders of smaller companies or startups who want to build a purpose-driven culture but don’t know where to start?
This is a great question. I could go quite deep here, however, again it starts with the leader. It requires some personal internal work to understand what purpose means to you. After that figuring out how to embed it in everything you do, and this last piece is never done.
What are some common mistakes leaders make when trying to create a purpose-driven culture, and how can they avoid them?
I have a good friend who has a great line: “The video doesn’t match the audio.” People know. Consistency over time is everything. If what people see doesn’t match what you say, then this work isn’t for you.
How do you ensure that your organization’s purpose evolves and remains relevant as your company grows and the world changes?
Super difficult. It starts at the top. This is the toughest thing — literally. It’s where we’ve struggled the most. Culture seems to form pretty easily around a purpose-driven leader. But embedding that culture into the organization and passing the responsibility onto other senior leaders is difficult — and critical.
It takes a high degree of intentionality. It takes outside advisors who can hold up a mirror to the senior team. It takes querying your workforce — asking them how they think the senior team is doing. It’s hard work.
What trends or shifts are you seeing in the workplace regarding purpose, and how do you think these will shape the future of business?
Personally, I think purpose in work is desperately needed in today’s world. I believe that as human beings, we’re wired with a yearning to do something purposeful or meaningful. But we don’t live in a culture where that seems readily available in the workplace.
A 2021 McKinsey report said 70% of people define their sense of purpose through their work. And yet, in a 2025 Gallup poll, 50% of U.S. employees said they’re open to leaving the organization they work for.
We have a lot of opportunity here! In short, the businesses that will thrive in the future are the ones that figure out how to embed purpose into their work environment.
In your opinion, how does having a purpose-driven culture impact not just employees, but customers, clients, and the broader community?
Well, purpose matters. Simon Sinek, in his book Start with Why, explains why purpose is so core to who we are. When we work for something bigger than ourselves, we tend to be more engaged, more willing to learn, more curious about solving problems — the list goes on.
As employers, we have the opportunity to create environments where this kind of growth and energy can happen. And that’s better for everyone.
You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people by building purpose-driven workplaces, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
My hope is to inspire other business leaders to change the way we frame talent — and the way we see our enterprises in relation to the larger talent system. Why? Because I believe if we embrace this opportunity, a lot of the talent “issues” we currently experience can be solved.
How can our readers further follow you online?
This was great. Thank you so much for the time you spent sharing with us.
Mark Peters Of Butterball Farms & i-3 Leadership On How to Build a Purpose-Driven Culture That… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.