There is a discussion
amongst those in certain circles of introspective thinkers about a better way
to approach business for sustainability and growth. There’s is not a search for
something novel or clever but rather for something noble, lasting and
fundamental to meeting needs. It has to do with purpose.
One might argue that, over time, markets, economies and human marketplace interactivity have come from a
place of mass local specialization (artisanry) to mass production and back
again to a form of mass specialization - of a modern, global sort. With this has come pressure to innovate and differentiate to prove one’s worth as a provider of
anything. Most take a “product-forward” or “outside-out” approach; marketing
products or services and rarely drawing the prospective consumer of them in
toward the “how” and even rarer still to the “why”.
Sure, customer focus groups gather data and feedback to test trends and new ideas and product modifications but these are focused on product and “what” the company does – not necessarily "why".
And popular “green” claims are generally “gadget” fads, in my opinion,
masquerading as “why” leveraged to justify the “what”.
Most enterprises expound on features, functions and (perhaps) their “value
proposition” (“how”) and offer their products (“what”) pretty much at arms
length. There is an assumption that we have figured out what our consumer wants
and here – maybe with modifications - is what we offer in response. We may
hit the nail on the head and be wildly successful, but more often we are successful
only for a season. Why? Because we are not connecting our “why” with their
“why”. There is no emotional embrace.
Let’s face it, common practice is to draw interest for “what”
is offered based on image (if we have marketing), features (if we advertise)
and price. A marketing image that attempts to address the “why” through a
message of vanity may hit an emotional chord I suppose – but a shallow and
deceptive one at that. The real “why” is usually profit and that is generally
none of our customer’s business.
As individuals, we generally do this in our pursuit of employment;
listing our features, functions and experience aiming for a “price” that suits
the economic ambitions of our household. We dress this up in a resume and
circulate ourselves as a posting on the appropriate “sites” and we dangle
ourselves before the appropriate networks of people.
In some remote and sustainably successful cases there is a noble
and truthful “why”. The “why” of such enterprises is rarely for something represented
directly by the products in and of themselves but more for an unmet emotional
need or a solution to a problem or an approach toward life or an attitude about
functionality, or a statement of our individuality, or a need for an experience.
For some rare folks their understanding of the “why” of their existence is
addressed in their resume and their pursuits take on a much different flavor in
their search of employment or purpose and calling through their work. These
businesses ARE and they do. These people ARE and they do. They are not WHAT
they do.
This approach of determining one’s calling and answering it,
answering the WHY, is not new but it is counter-intuitive in today’s society
that has bent our perception of the formula for “success”. If success is merely
profit – go for it – but don’t expect true fulfillment or sustainability –
expect profits - for a season. Profit is a very shallow “why”. The
introspective thinker is going to search for meaning beyond circumstances and
tie purpose to calling to overcoming. In my view managers do things “right” or
how they think they ought to be done, but leaders do the right things or the
things that ought to be done.
Definitions of what a leader is abound. I once read
someone’s definition of a leader that really stuck in my head. They said that a
leader is, “someone you chose to follow to a place you would not go by
yourself.” That’s a good definition. What if we all embraced that definition
and at the same time the notion that we are all, as individuals or as
organizations, leaders of something toward something. What if we embraced the
notion that we have a calling as individuals and as business enterprises or
organizations to attract and lead others to chose to follow "us" to a place they
would not go by themselves? This sort of thinking is of the inside-out sort.
This sort of thinking starts with WHY and travels to HOW and outward to WHAT.
With this sort of stream of motivation we can build what
Simon Sinek calls the “Golden Circle” with WHY at the center as a bull’s eye, a
ring around that center focused on HOW and an outer circle of WHAT that can
take the form of MANY products, services … you name it … all centered on a WHY. Sinek’s takes this beyond businesses and to individuals as well as organizations and even movements
that purport to have a cause. Why we're at it, let’s toy with changing all notions of outcome from
“for-profit” to “for-cause”. You can watch a very well done presentation by Sinek on this
in his TED video (How Great Leaders Inspire Action) found in the link at the
bottom of this piece. Sinek remarks on how Martin Luther King's "why" was a dream. King had a dream, not a plan and people followed the dream.
If you figure out the “why” and are true to it you will
attract others who will chose to follow you to the solution that responds to
it. You won’t be all things to all people but your “why” will resonate with the
“why” of others and they will be drawn to “what” you offer time and time again.
Sinek is not unique in his “discovery” of his “Golden Circle”.
Patrick Lencioni expounds on a similar concept in his book The Advantage ~
Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else in Business. (I covered this in my last post but it bears reiteration in the context of this theme) In his book Lencioni
lays out Six Critical Questions that organization leaders must clearly and
succinctly articulate, agree upon and repeatedly broadcast throughout their
organizations in order to successfully lead any enterprise. Those six things
are:
1.
Why do we exist?
2.
How do we behave?
3.
What do we do?
4.
How will we succeed?
5.
What is most important, right now?
6.
Who must do it?
The list starts with “why”.
I am privileged to work with an organization that has a very compelling “why”
in my opinion. Truth at Work ~ Christian Leader Roundtable Groups exists to
provide a safe and confidential place for Christians who are business owners,
CEOs, Executive Directors or Senior Executives of organizations. These leaders gather to
learn about best practices for running organizations, to exchange ideas, to bare their
souls about personal, professional and spiritual issues they are facing, to give
and receive counsel and advice and to discuss how to run an organization in a biblical
and God-honoring fashion. Our “why” is about a life and business changing
experience. Our “why” is because Christians in these leadership roles cannot
find a peer board of advisors they can trust and go to who truly “get it”. Yes,
our program has features and content and an annual conference and web-based
media and “this and that”. We have a host of compelling and competent “whats”
and we have a lot of “hows”. We have a great value proposition. It isn’t for
everyone, but the people who explore it and want “in” have first discovered and
understand the “why”.
What is your “why”?
Blessings,
Bill
Simon Sinek's TED Talk Link: www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action#