There is so much speak about having a purpose and how everyone must Start With Why. Simon Sinek romanticises 'purpose' so much, that one can't but agree on how a purpose driven organization is guaranteed of far greater success than those that just chase money. It sounds reasonable and logical even. Just one problem: not all entrepreneurs are lucky enough to find their purpose as organically.
The 'Why' is a Luxury
I'm not saying Sinek is wrong. Not by a long shot. I'm a big fan and am even guilty of propagating the Golden Circle vehemently in our workshops. But I've since realised that to 'Start With a Why' is a luxury. Finding one's purpose does not come as naturally to most.
Great philosophers have lived and died trying to figure out the purpose of human life. It's not that easy a job.
It’s great if you can start with a 'Why' and build from there. Not everybody has that luxury. Starting from the wrong 'Why' can do more damage than good.
Often, by the time we realise it to be a false purpose, we're so far down the line that we have no choice but to fake it. What good is it to anybody when we decide to fake the very reason of our existence?
Profits Are A Good Thing
In an increasingly woke culture, money making is so stigmatised that businesses even forget to plan for profits. This is probably why most start-ups pride themselves on not making any money.
Most businesses DO NOT start with a profound purpose. Most of them just want to create a name / wealth for themselves first. It isn't selfish or amoral. It is practical. It is reality.
A business organization must work to make money and profit all stakeholders. It's about exchanging one's idea, talent, resources, and time to make a living.
If not 'Why', then Where?
A business idea is usually born out of answering these simple yet difficult questions:
- What can we do?
- Who do we do it for?
If we can even answer one of these questions, then that’s where we start. But it is important that we find the second answer very quickly. These answers help us identify our positioning in the market and more importantly in our customers' minds.
Positioning Defines Purpose
Identifying a niche customer set to serve and identifying our role in their life is a great way to find business purpose.
Starting with positioning, builds in us and in the business a sense of humility. The humility of being in service of our customers.
Instead of defining the business to be centred around 'our' purpose, positioning centres the business around the customers. We don't take the moral high ground of purpose, but we make our customers' needs our purpose.
Positioning instils in the business a willingness to spare no effort in seeing things through and respect every square centimetre of ground gained.
Positioning Drives Specialization
Some worry that positioning without being anchored to a purpose will only create a superficial business. That's a fallacy. It is only lack of commitment in any business that leads to superficiality.
While a purpose gives us breadth of opportunities, positioning gives us depth and rooting.
The advantage with starting with positioning is that, when we focus solely on the customer, we seed ourselves deeper and deeper in their lives over time and this helps discover more needs that we can address for them, while maintaining the role we play in their lives.
Positioning beats Purpose. Always.
Sinek isn't wrong. But an organization's purpose is very different from that of an individual's. Having one, focusses the organization.
Instead of starting from there, if we make ourselves comfortable with the ambiguity of arriving there, then it will help us move faster, grow together and even purposefully.
At the role of the 'WHY' is to inspire teams to pull in one direction without distraction. We can start with the why to inspire our teams, but when defining our business, its better if we start with the 'WHO', to give ourselves a better chance at success.
