Purpose

This week, in a workshop facilitated by Dov Baron, we were asked the simple question: "what is your purpose?", and while I knew the answer within a few seconds, I was also surprised by the question and the brevity of it. If you asked your partner or your co-worker that same question randomly, what would you expect their response to be?

In business, we are pre-conditioned to remain in a "comfort zone" of language, behaviour, accepted etiquette, and norms. So what is it about asking "what's your purpose?" that has such a disruptive affect on that business thinking?

Well, it turns out the most successful companies are actually driven by purpose. They not only allow that question into the dialogue, they embrace it, and serve it. They surround structure, process, people, technology and strategy around it - and are essentially driven by it. But what makes those companies different? And why is purpose so important to them?

A great piece below by well-known speaker Simon Sinek explains it well in this video:

Why, how and what. This little idea explains why some organizations and some leaders can inspire others, and some others cannot.

Simply, they think from the inside out - why we do it, is more important than how we do it, or what we do.

People don't don't buy what we do, they buy why we do it.

So how does that relate to you? Your business? And how does that apply to the beer business? After all, people drink great (craft) beer, and they drink it because it's great (craft) beer - don't they?

Purpose is important. It's certainly important to the people that work for your company. And what is their purpose? How is their purpose aligned with the company purpose? Is it? Are they aligned? Do they feel fulfilled by the organization's purpose? And will those employees go the extra mile without them first believing in something more than just the product you make?

Purpose is difficult. To create one, falsely, could be construed as disingenuous or more modernly affiliated as creating "alternative facts", which we have seen too much of as of late. And doing this as a modern organization would do more harm than good - so how does one tackle it effectively?

At VI Brewing we recently went through the exercise, and with the help of our partners, guest speakers, consultants, and management team came to a solution that works for us all just today. It was a LIGHT BULB that went off, and it took all of us to figure it out. It was truly inspiring to see it unfold.

However, it will not be just words on a page - it was the culmination of months of hard work, resonating with that missing piece that led us all to purpose. Before that, we all knew something was missing - but could not pinpoint it. Now past it, it was easy to see we lacked the purpose to envelope everything we had been talking about; everything we believed; every reason why we did what we do. And finally we have it.

We finally have our guiding light. And having that won't make us "great again" by definition - it will simply fulfill us, guide us, and connect us with our customers, team and partners better. I'd encourage any organization struggling with how to differentiate your brand to go through that same process - and while painful, it's very rewarding in the end.