Your organization reveals your values, and vice versa.
Irina Rokosz
I’m sure you’ve heard a lot about finding your purpose. Especially nowadays, people are really starved for purpose. Ikigai and other purpose-finding frameworks are suddenly everywhere.
You’ve probably also heard about business purpose (e.g., Start With Why). Knowing your business purpose is just as important as knowing your own. Companies create mission, vision, and other statements that capture their purpose and relay it to everyone.
The business purpose answers the question of “Why is this [your product or service] important to the world? Why should the customers care?” You’ve already figured this out, since you’re successfully selling to them.
Your personal purpose answers the question of “Why do I care?” You’ve already figured this out too, since you’re still running your business.
But every person has a different answer to “Why do I care?” So, how do you ensure that all your employees are aligned behind the same purpose?
By having an organizational purpose. Something that answers the question of “Why is this work important to us? Why does it matter to do it in exactly the way we do it?” Something that drives your HOW — because that will become your identity.