Aug 16, 2022
Operating from your center leads to a purposeful life. The same applies to a business. To be operating from your center all your life – is highly unlikely. Often, it isn’t until having enough experiences over time that some of us can find our life’s purpose.. But; It doesn’t have to be that way for a business. Purpose is your “Why.”
transcript:
01:17
This is Brenda with Next Act Advisors. I'm reading one of my
evergreen posts that sits not only on my website
www.nextactadvisors.com but also
01:33
You can find this in some of my published posts on LinkedIn.
I wrote this blog around 2018 when I was beginning to think
about the activities that I would undergo while working
with founders of companies. And it truly came back to
purposeful organizations, finding your true north.
02:03
Fit for purpose. Operating from your center leads to a purposeful
life. The same applies to a business. To be operating from your
center all your life is highly unlikely. Often it isn't until
having enough experiences over time that some of us can find our
life's purpose. It doesn't have to be that way for a business.
Purpose is your why.
02:33
The purpose may have originated from an unpleasant customer
experience, the inability to get a product on time, exorbitant
prices for a particular service, or as the founder of a safety and
traceability software company that I worked with in the
outpatient chemotherapy sector said there had to be a better way.
This founder was a cancer patient himself.
03:03
He was an engineer at Kraft working on the EDI codes for
those millennials listening, EDI's Electronic Data Interchange,
today's QR codes, for safety and traceability in the food sector.
He went for his third cycle of chemotherapy and upon seeing
handwritten notes that the treatment he was about to receive was
usually reserved for a four cycle.
03:33
He stopped the nurse and said, there's got to be a better way. He
adapted and built code for individualized cytostatic treatments
with safety and traceability from the manufacturer of the
medication to the hospital, to the patient's bedside. He then
developed a bedside app for the nurses who were administering the
treatments. The end result of this software
04:03
It was no adverse reactions or deaths from medical mistakes and
treatments and a 20 % savings per year in hospital procurement of
cytostatic drugs.
04:15
The why of your business is your true north. In my
experience, successful business owners are more likely to achieve
their purpose by operating from a center of authenticity. They're
willing to learn and unlearn. They experiment all while
not losing their true north, the why. When I work with clients,
04:44
I asked them what company or CEO they admire or who they aspire
their company to emulate. Recently, the CEO and co-founder of Whole
Foods, John McKay, announced his retirement in September 2022 after
43 years at the helm. In an essay he wrote called, Creating
the High Trust Organizations, John stated,
05:13
You know, the single most important requirement for the recreation
of higher levels of trust for any organization is to discover or
rediscover the higher purpose of the organization. Why does the
organization exist? What is it trying to accomplish? What core
values will inspire the organization and create greater trust from
all of its stakeholders?
05:42
He goes on to share purposeful ideals and companies business models
that emulate these ideals. The good, service to others, improving
health, education, communication, and the quality of life.
Examples, Southwest Airlines, Nordstroms, the Container Store,
amazon.com, and Joie de Vivre, hospitality or examples of this
great.
06:11
purpose. The good, the true discovery and furthering human
knowledge examples, Google, Intel, Genentech and Wikipedia all
express this higher aspiration of the true. The beautiful
excellence and the creation of beauty. Apple and Berkshire
Hathaway share this ideal of beautiful and their own
06:41
unique ways. And finally, another example of purposeful ideals is
the heroic courage to do what is right to change and improve the
world. Graham and bank and the Gates Foundation expressed this
higher purpose in their actions.
07:03
In the announcement by CNBC on September 30th, Whole Foods CEO John
McKay on Thursday announced he will retire in 2022 and be succeeded
by current COO Jason Bujel.
07:21
Mackey stated in a memo to his staff that he is ready to pursue
some of my other life passions after more than four decades at the
Amazon owned grocer. He wrote, I've decided that it's time to begin
to transition my role as CEO to the next generation of leadership.
I have thought long and hard about this and while it is still
surreal to write, I have decided to retire on September 1st,
2022.
07:51
Whole Foods, we all know, in the US, is a company. It's operating a
very large market, food. They found an unmet need and started with
a purpose. This is what John McKay had to say to his employees
about his purpose in life. Many people can go their entire
lives without ever discovering their higher purpose.
08:18
But I was lucky enough to discover mine back in 1976 when I was
living in a vegetarian co-op named Prana House in Austin, two years
before we first opened Safer Way.
08:33
I ask you, listener, how basic can grocery shopping be? Whole
Foods was born with a purpose to provide natural, nutritious food.
In my work at Next Act Advisors, there are three tenets that I look
for that help founders along the journey of honoring their true
north.
09:02
A large addressable market.
09:06
Early team members, maybe a co-founder, who also share the purpose
and advocate this among team members as the company scales. Good
communication, transparent and focused. Say what you mean and
mean what you say. You will track the talent that shares your
purpose.
09:33
If you are authentic and willing to learn and experiment, I would
be very honored to serve you at Next Act Advisors. Thank you.