Let purpose be your lighthouse

Your purpose is your reason why. Your soul, your heart, your purpose; call it what you want.

Your business purpose is the reason you have formed your company in the first place. Best boiled down to a single sentence (or two).

It can be industry-specific or general enough to include ancillary and future business activities.

To understand business purpose, it’s important to distinguish it from your company’s vision or mission. This is what it takes to create a purpose driven business.

Imagine you are a small company producing toothbrushes.

You and your entire organization are dedicated to selling more, cheaper and better toothbrushes.

That is the how and the what, but it’s not the why.

It’s not the reason why your company exists, or at least in my humble opinion, it shouldn’t be.

Focusing on the how and the what limits perspectives and ultimately opportunities. It keeps attention on one solution instead of the challenge and actually
prevents from building worlds instead of companies.

In order to build a more sustainable strategy, you need to understand the “why.”
This will keep you flexible and create smart goals, to adjust your how and what depending on your needs and circumstances.

If it was my toothbrush company, I would look at it this way:

1. Why did you start your business in the first place?
2. When you first started thinking about your business, what change did you want to bring to the world?
3. Thinking of your target market, what change do your customers want to see?
4. What strengths are you bringing to the table that make you unique?
5. What would you like your audience to know you for?

Now it depends on your culture and personal bag of experience, but I would redefine my business model this way:

Purpose
Improve humanity’s dental hygiene to drive better teeth and personal well being.

Vision
A world of healthy smiles across all spectrums of society.

Mission
Develop and make world-class dental hygiene products accessible.

Ambition
Become the world leader in sustainable and healthy dental products by 2025.

You can feel that our purpose immediately gives us guidance. Our product/service becomes about something bigger than ourselves – or toothbrushes. It helps us to reframe our objectives, perspectives and COVID-19 from a challenge to an opportunity.

It also allows you to be clearer in your business strategy about how you can stay relevant in these times of need.

Our first response to a crisis is naturally to go into survival mode. We’re doing everything we can to protect our loved ones and ourselves.

In other words, the world as a whole tends to take a step back on Maslow’s Pyramid.

We retreat into our shells, waiting for this to be over, BUT – as entrepreneurs we know how important it is to be proactive. Purpose, therefore, acts as a counterweight; a lighthouse leading you to the end of the tunnel. It helps companies to be proactive, top of mind, and relevant; especially in a crisis.

While consumers and the best talent already gravitated towards purpose-driven brands before the crisis, they will now be even more mindful about which ones created a positive impact for themselves and their communities during the crisis.

More and more consumers will be loyal to brands and services that truly provide value. More and more communities will support and promote small businesses that they care about. Even more future talent will judge companies by how they responded to this crisis; and their effects on both the short and long term.

Employees will be your biggest allies and ambassadors if they believe in your company’s purpose. This is an opportunity to sharpen your company profile and purposefully evolve your business.

Creating better value for your customers, enabling your company to stand out as an employer, cultivating a motivational organizational culture and inspiring innovation will all lead to business success.

My advice is to not get too scientific about it. Your purpose does not need to be perfectly formulated. It’s more important that it’s clearly communicated and truly shared across your team.

In the past 4 weeks but also in the past 7 years, we were able to gather a lot of insights on how to best integrate your purpose across 4 layers of intervention to start gaining momentum.

Culture

• Employee support
• Mental health & wellbeing
• HR

Brand / Communication

• Owned and earned communication
• Storytelling
• Content

Product / Innovation

• Digital services / Digital support
• Brand partnerships & collaboration
• Digital content
• Vouchers / fundraisers / crowdfunding

Shared Value

• Support your community
• Share your expertise
• Fund initiatives and NGOs aiding your most vulnerable customers
• Mitigate risks & prepare to recover mid-term

We’re all experiencing the same storm, but the truth is we’re all experiencing its effects differently. Along this journey of prioritizing your and your company’s mental health, there are some further points to consider. Placing importance on your company’s mental health will help you stay sane during these times.

It’s time to put your mental health first:

• Prioritize your people and their health. This will keep your business running even in the darkest of times.
• Inspire confidence not fear. It’s true what they say, positivity is contagious.
• Retool to maintain operations. It’s necessary to rewire and reboot certain operations within your company so they can run in this new landscape.
• Plan for an extended disruption. It’s going to take a while for the effects of this crisis to calm, so be prepared for the long haul.
• Support all stakeholders including employees, investors, consumers, and your communities. They’re your biggest supporters right now, so leverage them accordingly.

Accept reality. Ask for support.
The bad news is that this is going to affect your business. The good news is we’re all in this together! Even as a leader you have the right to be authentic. This is overwhelming. This is difficult. Share your worries, share responsibilities, and rely and trust others to bear some of the load.

“You can only make exactly decision you’re going to make.”

Be purposeful with yourself.
This isn’t a marathon, it’s a very long sprint. Which means a high pace for a long time. Be careful not to exhaust your energy on the first 400 meters. You don’t need to find all the answers overnight. This isn’t a short term plan, but a goal for the long haul. Get some rest, stay sharp and accept what you can not control. Ask yourself; what do you need right now to make the best decisions possible?

“God, grant us the serenity to accept the things we cannot change, the courage to change the things we can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”

If you allow yourself to be led by purpose and do the best you can, you’re already courageous. I salute you and we’ll see each other on the other side of this tunnel.