To bring value to the world is the holy duty of any entrepreneur, family member or friend. We’ve covered this principle extensively in previous emails.
As business owners, and as members of society, we have to ask ourselves on the daily whether or not we are still living up to our purpose of providing value, or if we have become complacent to filling a commercial void and benefitting from the system by receiving a financial reward.
Many companies are admitting now as the first wave of Covid-19 has rolled over us, that they are being overly scrutinized and tested by their audience for flaws in their work ethics, their culture and their offerings. I am seriously surprised that they are surprised.
In times of crises, there is a heightened awareness in people to detect “traitors” to the system of providing value. When everything is bleak, when nerves are exposed, when we get itchy and jumpy because we feel tested by the news, by Tweets, posts and life itself… that is when those who are not in it to provide value are exposed.
If it was easy for businesses to take money, to grab attention and ask for 5 star reviews in times of abundance, it is not so much in times of uncertainty. This is a good, if not a great thing because, now, it’s all about who provides value.
How do we qualify the value we bring?
It is a means for transformation. Value that we offer to the world through a business or any institution is an act of care. Care for someone else’s betterment. But it is important to understand, that as provider of such care, we are NOT adding anything to anyone. We are, in fact, subtracting something.
The value that we bring, be it as a teacher, a guide, a supplier of tools, is like a chisel that removes something in order to bring another thing out. It is not our duty to force our originality upon others. It is our duty to use our originality to bring out the originality in others.
A true provider of value will always remember that it is about serving the potential that already rests within a person. To guide that person back to it, or make that person aware of that potential, is the true value we can bring.
We cannot pour skills or wisdom into someone. But we can open their hearts and minds to become aware of it. We cannot make someone love us. But we can direct their ability for love towards us. Remember, such a value comes in many shapes and colors. The secret is to think beyond the obvious product or service and realize that what you do serves an individual or a community’s ability to do better. You think you are selling home appliances? I say you are providing households with peace of mind to focus on what’s really relevant. It is up to you to develop a mindset and culture that sells the value and not the product; your appliances are not adding anything that’s not already there. Remember, it is about removing blockages so that someone else has a better life. That is what makes you valuable. That is what will secure your future. That is building a legacy.
