Back in Sept. of 2010, Chip, Jason, and I went to Chicago to learn how to put together a traditional business strategic plan. We spent 3 days in a windowless building near O’Hare Airport and were taught about vision, mission, core values, etc. After a couple of years of doing the traditional plan we realized that while vision statements can be good mission statements are often worthless strung together words that don’t really provide the intended goal of communicating what we are all about. So we set out to Find a Better way.
Luckily in a short period of time we were introduced to a book by Simon Sinek called ‘Start with Why’. If you haven’t read his book you can check out his 15 minute Ted Talk summary here. In his talk/book Simon talks about leading with your purpose, why the organization exists. After reading this and another year or two of debate, we landed on Comfort for All and the four pillars on which it stands are:
Comfort products for the masses
Comfort for our Ambassadors by being a great place to work
Comfort for the environment by being Lean and Green
Comfort for our community by giving 10% back to the community
In my blog called Mold Your Own which can be found here, I share some of these tidbits we have learned the hard way over the years. I hope others can learn from our numerous mistakes. The reason why I am sharing this one with you, is because once we found our aligned Purpose, our Why, everything else became a little bit easier. When you know why you are doing something and you can communicate it in a clear and concise manner, you and everyone else around know where you are going.
A Purpose doesn’t just apply to organizations. A Purpose also applies to individuals. I challenge all of you to think about and Mold Your Own Purpose. Find your own Why. It isn’t easy and it is going to take you some time but once you do everything else will become easier.