We are not made for stasis, a state of total rigidity, where we don’t develop anymore. We all want to be transformed in some way. What this means for any business that is serious about delivering transformational value to their clients is that they first need to invest into their honesty and authenticity before even thinking of a product or service that will deliver the value.
Too often we focus only on the “thing” that we sell, the transactional branch of our business, because we get quick gratification from it. We sell something, we get something back. We feel great and rewarded for good work, but… it feels short-lived.
I like to compare this to building a house without proper foundation. If we only invest in fancy doors, large windows and hardwood floors, but forget to strap those joists to the floor, don’t insulate the subfloor, forget to inspect the bedrock for water and potential cracks, everything we build on top might be compromised. Yes, we get to quickly entertain friends and feel great about our home. But down the line we get bugged with repairs, maintenance and potentially disastrous events.
And yet here we are: spending unproportional amounts of money in advertising, product development, sales funnels even though we don’t have a foundation in place. This foundation, this bedrock, is your mission – the belief and the promise of value that we offer that brought us into our business in the first place.
Investing into discovering your mission and putting it to work means investing time and energy defining the reason your business exists and the impact of its actions. It is not just a piece of paper, it is a principle that you share with everyone so trust can exist from day one.
It is one part discovery of convictions and one part unlearning of hindering beliefs. In combination the two become hardened granite that will hold up any structure you put on it.
