When profit becomes the focus, something deeper starts to break.

In this episode of Beneath the Transaction, I sit down with Brian Belliveau, Chief Growth Officer at Columbia Southern University, to talk about what leaders often miss when they’re trying to grow an organization.

Brian brings over 20 years of experience leading growth at scale—but what stands out most isn’t strategy. It’s how he thinks about purpose.

As a U.S. Navy veteran and former Hospital Corpsman, his leadership is grounded in service, discipline, and people. And in this conversation, he challenges a common pattern in leadership:

We move too fast to solutions… without ever asking the deeper question—why.

We talk about how profit can quietly become the driving force behind decisions—and how, over time, that disconnects organizations from their purpose, their people, and their impact.

Because the issue usually isn’t what we’re doing.

It’s that we haven’t gone deep enough to understand why we’re doing it.

This is a conversation for leaders who want to build something that lasts—not just something that performs.

Because profit should never outweigh purpose. And transformation only happens when we’re willing to go deeper.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction and Background of the Podcast 00:57 Chris introduces Brian and the focus on transformation 01:56 Brian's background in higher education and leadership 03:59 The significance of purpose in organizational change 07:04 The analogy of art and understanding the 'why' 14:09 Creating purpose-driven teams and organizations 20:03 Digging deeper: The importance of asking 'why' 29:04 The role of process in reinforcing purpose 37:10 Decision-making guided by purpose 44:01 Staying committed to purpose during challenges 49:45 The deeper 'why' that pulls us forward 55:11 Practical takeaways for leaders and organizations