First up, despite what the cover image may suggest, this is NOT an article promoting one of the many 4C models out there.
It’s just a reminder that, whilst you’re evaluating your business & considering
What you’re good at doing
How well you can evidence it
How closely it meets customer needs (existing or potential)
How different it is from what’s already on offer
... don’t forget to also ask yourself “do I really care?”.
Social media is always telling us to "find our why" or "define our purpose". If we believed all the hype, we wouldn't be able to be successful without an inspirational statement on our websites that sums up what motivates us every day to run our businesses "beyond profit". But does it really matter?
"Finding your why" is a fallacy
TLDR: Rock thinks the whole “power of purpose” piece is a bit over-played.
Don't get us wrong - over the years, Rock’s founder, Rachel Vigers, has had the privilege of working with many truly passionate, purpose-led founders & business leaders.
People like Megan Devine (Author, Public Speaker & Founder of Refuge In Grief & The After Institute), Emma Payne (Founder & CEO of HelpTexts) & Kerry Byrne (Founder of The Long Distance Grandparent). Fabulous female founders all inspired by very personal experiences to establish businesses that help others.
And also people like Charles Caldwell (Head of HR for the English Schools Foundation) or Simon Squibb (Author, investor, entrepenur & founder of Helpbnk). Business leaders whose strong personal value codes have a huge impact on the way they work & the culture they encourage.
For these people, purpose is integral into everything they do & it pays off.
BUT
(there’s always a ‘but’, it’s just not one that gets a lot of mentions because it doesn’t help some consultants to sell their approach to you)...
For every founder who is fuelled by passion, for every leader who is led by purpose, there’s a dozen more with far more down-to-earth motivations - people for whom their emotional investment in their business is just not related to "finding their why". And that's ok.
Asking the wrong question
Take the question “Why does your business exist, beyond making money?”
It's a common question to ask when trying to define a company's "purpose".
But is it really an effective one?
The answer may be informative without being emotive or inspiring.
Take the answers below. These are real quotes from real founders running real businesses, in response to this same, specific question.
Some interpreted it as“how did your business come about?”, resulting in answers like
"I got made redundant & couldn't find another job that suited me so I decided to take control of my own destiny"
"I met XX at work & we realised we could do a better job outside our employer's business than inside it"
"I kind of fell into it really, it wasn’t intentional at all."
Some saw it as “why do you do what you do, beyond financial considerations?”, e.g
"As a single parent, I started off wanting more flexibility. Running my own business did that. But now, I have a team to be responsible for so I can’t just jack it in!"
"It’s what I qualified in, what I’ve always done – honestly, I've never thought about it."
"Pays the bills, gives us autonomy & delivers value to clients. That’s it really – we’re not trying to save the world"
Would any of these answers count as the basis for an inspirational purpose statement? No.
Would they feature prominently on the company website evidencing a belief system, credo, commitment, passion, obsession even? Also no.
So, are these business owners wrong?
No, they’re not.
It's just that the source of their personal emotional investment doesn't come from why their business got started or why it still exists. And that's ok.
What the business needs
The problem with output-led frameworks is that they force businesses to fit a tick-box - aka "you need to define your" purpose, vision, mission, values, this, that, the other...
This is wrong - because the discussion becomes about how to define a particular output not whether the business actually needs it. In truth, if your business doesn't have an inspirational purpose statement, it doesn't mean that people don't care.
Emotional connection might not come from WHY the business exists - it might be about WHAT it stands for or HOW it behaves or any other type of reason.
So, a better question to ask yourself & anyone else who has an interest in your business, as an employee, customer, partner etc. - is "why do you care?" (or, more specifically, "What is it about what we do, or how or why we do it, that matters to you?")
Focus on the source of your emotional investment.
In whatever way that is relevant to you, your business & its audiences
And then call it whatever you need to.
Why "emotional investment" matters
You don’t need to be starting a movement or saving the world.
But you do need to feel beyond the financials.
Here's why.
1. Emotion Sells
Founders are often the spokespeople for their business, especially in the early stages when there isn’t a sales team out there. Anyone who’s ever listened to anyone talking about their business can feel immediately if they have a passion for it or not, if they believe in it or not.
And, if you get the sense that a founder isn’t really feeling their own business – why should you? Why should you invest your time or money in working for them or with them? In buying their products or services? In supporting them or promoting them to others? When you suspect they don't even believe in it themselves? Once there's a sales team in place, or any other people acting as advocates for your business, emotion is even more effective. Hello, word of mouth? Referrals? All emotionally led.
Experience is what counts for keeping people connected to a business - i.e. whether the business actually delivers in a way that matches or exceeds the expectations set - but emotion still plays a part in convincing people to commit in the first place.
2. Emotion is hard to copy
Rational or practical features & benefits – speed, quality, convenience, price etc.- can be replicated by others. Salaries & benefit packages can be easily beaten.
But emotion? Once you feel an emotional connection to a business, product or service, you’re much less likely to ditch it for a competitor – whether as a customer or employee.
It’s much harder for a competitor to compete effectively on emotional territory – which gives your business a competitive advantage over others in the same space.
3. Emotion Energises
Founding & growing an owner-managed business is hard. It's rarely a linear path to success and there’s usually a heap of sizeable “bumps” in the road.
The boundaries between personal & professional can get fuzzy. Sometimes, they disappear altogether. Compromises need to be made - which is not a comfortable experience.
At times, tough decisions need to be made too. Especially if you’ve grown too quickly and then find yourself in the position of having to downsize, to reconsolidate before trying again.
When business gets hard, you need your heart to be in it in order to get through it.
4. Emotion broadens perspective
Sometimes, a situation doesn’t make sense. And reason tells you to give up. But emotion tells you to push through. Why? Data is important. But, if it’s incomplete or biased, data can also be misleading. Your instinct is a prompt – not to ignore the data but to explore it in more detail. Sometimes, pushing through gets you somewhere even better.
Sometimes, opportunities arise that could be lucrative. But they don’t feel right. Why? Recognise the feeling & question it. It might be down to fear – something that needs to be considered, explored & worked through. It might be a moral issue – something that could dictate whether that opportunity really is ‘too good to be true’ or might even be detrimental to the business. The point is, trust your intuition along with (not instead of) your spreadsheets.
5. Emotion is an essential part of being human
Businesses are made of people too. It seems so obvious - but, in the pursuit of EBITDA, ARR, GPM etc., this essential truth can get forgotten. Especially when there’s an ambitious exit plan & everyone’s chasing to get the metrics looking shiny.
If you really want to reach that goal, objective, target or vision, everyone needs to be motivated. But what motivation looks like is different to everyone – which is why it is misplaced to assume “purpose” is the panacea.
If you want to build a team that works well together, you’ll find emotion plays a huge part – which is why it’s easy to talk about the importance of culture, but hard to define exactly what creates it specifically within any one business.
Purpose. Passion. Belief. Commitment. Values. Motivation. Energy. Character. Whatever you want to call it, it doesn’t really matter.
What matters is that an emotional connection exists - to the business, the work, the role or the individual.
Caring translates to Impact
The 5 reasons above all illustrate different ways in which caring counts in your business. Caring fosters connection. And Connection is what turns Direction into Impact.
If you want to explore what connection means to your business, talk to Rock.
We're ready for you
We are Rock
Rock.Partners is a business consultancy focused on core foundations.
We define them. We align whole businesses around them.
We care about what really matters to your business.
Not what labels you use to describe it.
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