Strategic Discipline Blog

In last week’s blog Two Questions Every Business Needs to Answer we shared the importance of developing a Core Purpose or Mission statement.

Many businesses fail to accept the value it offers.

A purpose is subjective.

Many businesses prefer to focus simply on objective, hard measurable aspects of a business.

Subjective Reasons Your Business Needs Purpose

In my journey to inspire businesses to develop their purpose, I’ve collected some of these quotes:

These are subjective reasons to have a purpose.

Why do 425 of the 500 Fortune 500 companies have a mission statement?

This June 2023 Yahoo/Finance article, Being a ‘purpose-driven leader’ in the Fortune 500 boosts revenue, shares the value of purpose in achieving results. “Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has put purpose at the forefront of their business, according to Indiggo's data.” The story notes. “In particular, Microsoft received the No. 2 rank for ‘purpose,’ the No. 3 rank for strategy,’ and the No. 4 rank for ‘alignment.’"

Is it a coincidence Microsoft's value has dramatically increased under his leadership?

The First Sale

If nothing happens until something is sold, then the first people we need to sell in our business are our people.

Tom Hopkins, Builder of Sales Champions shared in  How to Master the Art of Selling, that emotions are the triggers to selling.

Never ask a prospect what they think. It activates the part of the brain for reason and logic.

Emotions trigger the sale.

People buy on emotion, then defend the sale with logic. Hopkins urged salespeople to ask, “How do you feel?”

Satisfied customers are driven by employees who are engaged in a purposeful endeavor.

OBJECTIVE EVIDENCE FOR THE VALUE OF PURPOSE

In 2012 I shared several blog posts providing conclusive measurements for businesses who had a purpose. These blogs are from the book Jim Stengel’s Grow - How Ideals Power Growth and Profit at the World's Greatest Companies. Stengel is the former Global Marketing Officer of Procter & Gamble. He spoke at the Scaling Up 2012 Growth Summit in Atlanta, one of the Growth Summits I was unable to attend due to my Acute Myeloid Leukemia that year.

The book and his research confirm the value of Purpose, or what Stengel refers to as a Brand Ideal.  Here’s Verne Harnish’s interview with Jim Stengel from that Atlanta Fortune Leadership Summit.

If you need proof of the value of purpose, view the chart here and review these blogs:

Grow Author Jim Stengel “Great Leadership Follow Common Practices”

Brand Ideals - A 400% ROI - Identify Your Competitive Advantage

The Ideal Growth Tree – Five Must Do’s To Live Your Core Purpose

A year later this blog What’s Your Strategic Statement of Values Worth? extolled maximum growth and high ideals are not incompatible.

They’re inseparable.

In less than three minutes this video offers proof: 

Why do you get up every morning?

What drives you?

Do you believe you need a purpose? Do you feel your people would perform better if your business provided a purpose for them to come to work?

In February of 2012 when I discovered 84% of my bone marrow was cancerous, I re-evaluated my life, and during the 7 months I spent in the hospital  I decided to re-evaluate my purpose and live it from that moment forward. Despite 5 ineffective chemotherapies and less than a 2% chance of survival, my New Purpose inspired me not only to survive but also to thrive.

A purpose can provide the same inspirational impact on your business.

Not only that, it can significantly impact your company’s performance!

Decide what your reason for living is.

Decide what your business' purpose is.

Is it challenging? No doubt!

Is it rewarding? Absolutely! 

Creating Your Purpose, building your Brand Promise, and developing a differentiated strategy will give your team, and yourself a business you can be proud of.

More importantly, it will build a business that performs better than your competitors. 

We can help you create a Purpose to Scale Up measurable growth.

To create an environment where everyone is inspired to give their best, contact Positioning Systems to schedule a free exploratory meeting.

Let’s help you to turn your business into a growth organization!    

Growth demands Strategic Discipline.

Next blog I’ll share insights on leadership I learned from Doris Kearns’ Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln. If you’re a leader you’ll discover incredible ideas on handling friends, and enemies, which Lincoln powerfully used to move from obscure lawyer to perhaps the most important president in our history.

Building an enduring great organization requires disciplined people, disciplined thought, disciplined action, superior results, producing a distinctive impact on the world.

Discipline sustains momentum, over a long period of time, laying the foundations for lasting endurance.

A winning habit starts with 3 Strategic Disciplines: Priority, Metrics, and Meeting Rhythms.   Forecasting, accountability, individual, and team performance improve dramatically.

Meeting Rhythms achieve a disciplined focus on performance metrics to drive growth.

Let Positioning Systems help your business achieve these outcomes on the Four most Important Decisions your business faces:

Positioning Systems helps mid-sized ($5M - $500M+) businesses Scale-UP. We align your business to focus on Your One Thing! Contact dwick@positioningsystems.com to Scale Up your business! Take our Four Decisions Needs Assessment to discover how your business measures against other Scaled Up companies. We’ll contact you.

NEXT BLOG – Team of Rivals – Lincoln’s Leadership Genius