Contents
Companies usually pursue many goals at once: revenue, market share, share price, reputation. In normal times, they can pursue them side by side. In a crisis, that no longer works. Then it becomes clear which purpose really comes first – the test of the Primacy of Purpose. At Johnson & Johnson, it had been set down in writing long before the crisis came.
Seven deaths in a few days
Situation
At the end of September 1982, seven people in the Chicago metropolitan area die within a few days after taking Extra-Strength Tylenol capsules. Someone has laced packages in several stores with cyanide and put them back on the shelves. Tylenol, a painkiller made by the subsidiary McNeil Consumer Products, holds about 35% of a $1.2 billion market.
Link to the principle
The company did not cause the poisoning. There would be reasons to check only the affected packages and wait. But the real question is: What does the company’s purpose demand in this situation?
A credo with a clear order
Situation
Johnson & Johnson has a credo written by Robert Wood Johnson II in 1943. It sets an order of priority: first comes the responsibility to those who use the products – doctors, nurses, patients, mothers and fathers. Then come the employees, then the communities, and the shareholders last. James Burke has been running the company since 1976.
Link to the principle
The credo lays down the purpose. It does not say what to do in each individual case, but it says what the company exists for. That also makes clear which means are permitted in a crisis and which are not.
The recall
Situation
On October 5, 1982, Burke has Tylenol capsules pulled from stores nationwide, about 31 million bottles. The recall costs around $100 million. Burke reaches out to the heads of the news divisions of the major networks and meets with the directors of the FBI and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the story is covered every evening for six weeks. Later he says the credo helped push through the costly recall.
Link to the principle
The recall is expensive and does short-term damage. But it follows inevitably from the purpose: if customer safety comes first, the risk of further deaths is not negotiable. The purpose rules out the cheaper means.
Collapse and comeback
Situation
Tylenol’s market share falls to 7 to 8%. Many inside the company consider the brand lost. In November 1982, Tylenol returns in new tamper-resistant packaging. By mid-1983, its market share has climbed back to about 30%, and by the end of 1983 it is back at around 35%. To this day, no one has been charged with the murders (as of 2026).
Link to the principle
Because Johnson & Johnson holds on to its purpose, it can make a credible comeback. The new packaging, too, is a means that follows from the purpose: it makes the product safer, not just the company’s image friendlier.
What the example does not show
Situation
Today the case is a classic in crisis management textbooks. It is often told as if decency simply paid off. Burke himself said that many people in the company saw no way to save the brand.
Link to the principle
The Primacy of Purpose does not promise success. It only tells you in what order to decide. When Burke ordered the recall, he did not know whether Tylenol would survive. He decided according to the purpose anyway, and that is exactly the lesson.
Key takeaways
Key lessons
- Write down what your organization exists for before the crisis comes.
- Set an order of priority, not just a list.
- In a crisis, let the purpose decide, not the cheapest solution.
- Choose means that solve the problem, not just improve the image.
- Decide according to the purpose, even if you don’t know whether it will pay off.
Summary
In 1982, revenue and safety were pitted against each other at Johnson & Johnson. James Burke had Tylenol recalled nationwide, even though it cost $100 million and threatened to destroy the brand. He could do this because the company’s credo clearly laid down the purpose: first the people who use the products. The case shows the Primacy of Purpose in business: if you know what you exist for, you also know which means are ruled out.
