Purpose

"Profit without purpose is a recipe for disaster."

Those words come from Elizabeth Murdoch, daughter of the media baron and chair of News Corp.'s U.K. television production company, Shine. 

"It is increasingly apparent that the absence of purpose—or of a moral language—within government, media, or business, could become one of the most dangerous…goals for capitalism and for freedom," she said in delivering the annual James MacTaggart Memorial Lecture at the Edinburgh Television Festival.

The Murdochs know a thing or two about disasters. And whether or not she intended her remarks as a rebuke -- or an explanation -- for the company's phone hacking scandal, they are spot on.

My own company, AT&T, lost its way when it forgot its mission and focused on its stock price to the essential exclusion of almost everything else. The same can be said of countless other companies that have courted minor or existential disasters.

A company's success depends on a clear understanding of its purpose -- why it's in business beyond making money. 

Maybe the wrong Murdoch is in charge over at News Corp.