“Meaning-as-a-Service: Know Thy Why”

“He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.” ― Friedrich Nietzsche. 

The value of knowing your “why” as an individual is huge, so imagine what knowing your “why” can do for your business? If one knows their meaning and purpose then one can navigate life while leaning on a strong foundation that allows for resiliency. Your defined and accepted “why” acts as a compass guiding you through daybreaks, smooth oceans, choppy seas, and even through the worst storms. 

What is your firm’s core reason for being, and where can you have a unique, positive impact on society? Now more than ever, you need to ask yourself these questions and provide in-tune answers to yourself, your employees, your clients, and the market. Asking these types of questions opens up one’s mind to new possibilities, and therefore allows a firm to increase its agility in the marketplace by it being open to diverse realities. A firm’s ability for agility is directly correlated to its ability to be open in its questioning of itself. 

Meaning-as-a-Service consulting provides its participants with a deep diving experience into the internal, so that the external reality can mirror the refined purposes that drive the spirit to do what it is meant to do. Businesses are entities, made up of all types of personalities, but the unifying mission, vision, and values are designed to serve as the foundation to an organization’s movement in the markets. Just like software a business needs to update its version of itself as the marketplace is dynamic and ever changing, so too does the business need to be. In order to keep the business heading on its destined path, its “why” must be defined and refined throughout its existence. Practicing intellectual honesty with a Socratic methodology can assist in lifting the veil of illusion caused by a narrow frame of ego-based thinking and enlighten you to draw from alternative perspectives. 

A higher purpose is not about economic exchanges - it reflects something more aspirational. It explains how the people involved with an organization are making a difference, gives them a sense of meaning, and draws their support. Every organization has a pool of change agents that usually goes untapped. If, like many business leaders, you’re applying conventional economic logic, you view your employee as self-interested agents and design your organizational practices and culture accordingly, and if it hasn’t paid off as you’d hoped - that can be a hard truth to recognize. 

You can double down on that approach, on the assumption that you just need more or stricter controls to achieve the desired impact; or you can align the organization with an authentic higher purpose that intersects with your business interests and helps guide your decisions. If you succeed in doing the latter, your people will try new things, move into deep learning, take risks, and make surprising contributions.

As James A. Froude once said, “You cannot dream yourself into a character; you must hammer and forge yourself one.” An individual cannot remake the self without suffering, for the self is both the marble and sculptor. Your organization runs in parallel to this truth, as an entity your organization will struggle and as a business leader you may suffer at times, but the struggle is innately beautiful as it allows you to shed your old form and create an evolved one. 

Many business leaders tend to avoid working on their firms’ purpose. Why? Because it defies what they have learned in business school and, perhaps, in subsequent experience: that work is fundamentally contractual, and employees will seek to minimize personal costs and effort. This type of transactional thought will result in a transactional culture - trading 1 for 1, but a firm with a defined, refined, and shared purpose results in a transformational culture - multiplying its stock exponentially - trading 1 for 2, 2 for 6, 3 for 12. 

Per Simon Sinek, “Once you understand your WHY, you’ll be able to clearly articulate what makes you feel fulfilled and to better understand what drives your behavior when you’re at your natural best. When you can do that, you’ll have a point of reference for everything you do going forward. You’ll be able to make more intentional choices for your business, your career and your life. You’ll be able to inspire others to buy from you, work with you and join your cause.” Passion is contagious - define, refine and spread your gospel. Your team and clients will thank you. 

A purpose-driven employee and team will positively impact results and increase productivity levels. Research by Bain & Company concludes that if a satisfied employee’s productivity level is 100%, an engaged employee’s level is 144%, but the productivity level of an employee that is truly inspired by the purpose of their employer is a whopping 225%. Purpose improves retention rates, it enhances recruitment, it increases employee pride and engagement and it inspires purpose-driven employees to assume the role of brand ambassadors. 

So what are the next steps for you to take as a business leader? Oscar Wilde once stated, “The aim of life is self-development, to realize one’s nature perfectly.” Strive to be the best business leader that you can be, be perfect in your nature… not “perfect-perfect” but “your-perfect.” To bridge your current purpose gaps you will need to embed your reflection, exploration, discussion, and action in the heart of your business. In order to take your firm to the next step in its evolution, you must size up where you are, including your vulnerabilities; clarify how your purpose connects with your company’s “superpower”; organize with purpose in mind; and measure and manage purpose so that it really becomes part of your core DNA.