eBay CPO RJ Pittman, on why business success is built on the principles of passion, people and purpose

Early on, I framed my career with three key principles — passion, people and purpose. I have found that by starting any personal or professional initiative with purpose has allowed me to create the most meaningful and impactful experiences. Throughout my career, this has led me to organizations on a mission to unlock positive social impact in some way. At Google, we were all working towards organizing the world’s information and making it universally accessible and useful. At Apple, the focus was on building products that our customers would love, and to change the world for the better.

At eBay, I have been able to bring the purpose of my work much closer to the livelihood of people, families, entrepreneurs and businesses around the world — combining technology, brand, and experiences together — to create a global marketplace that provides equal opportunity for everyone. Our vision for commerce is one that is enabled by people, powered by technology and open to everyone.

An important factor in my decision to join eBay was the massive potential of its global impact and charitable giving engine. I saw a real chance to amplify eBay’s mission to empower people and create economic opportunity, while creating new avenues of growth for our marketplace. Today, our sellers can designate a percentage of their proceeds to charities. Tomorrow, we envision a world where…