CHAPTER 23

Why Are Some Companies So Successful?

Why drives the business. A company is i n business to make money, but something deeper is more comp elling and inspiring than just making money—the big why. Several great thinkers before us have written about the big why: Simon Sinek put it most succinctly with the title of his book, Start with Why.14

In Built to Last, authors Jim Collins and Jerry Porras, framed it as this: “[It’s] the organization’s fundamental reason for being…. An effective purpose reflects the importance people attach to the company’s work—it taps their idealistic motivations—…and gets at the deeper reasons for an organization’s existence beyond just making money.”15

The big why is that lofty impact you may realistically never achieve, yet it inspires, guides, and motivates the entire organization to a higher purpose.

For example, our why is to change the way corporate America communicates. However, we may never change the way all of corporate America communicates. When we work with an executive or leadership team, they come away with a whole new sense of how to improve their business through better communication with each other and within the entire organization. We know we are having an impact!

Companies built around a compelling and emotional why, are companies in which people are committed to working together even through the rough spots. The purpose of these organizations is strong enough that they will opt in to conflict in order to fulfill their purpose. It is this deeper meaning, at both a company level and a personal level, that inspires people to hang together in order to get to results. Let us give you a few examples.

THE MANY WHYS

Over a three-year period, we worked with a twenty-million-dollar, family-owned mining business. Each of those three years, they experienced a 10 percent growth in revenue. The company mines the highest grade of magnesium and makes a darn good profit by partnering with a much larger company that uses magnesium to make high-grade pharmaceuticals. The business is highly profitable. Even so, money is not the only thing that drives the leadership team.

This magnesium mining company is in a beautiful, remote, mountain-range town. People don’t have a lot of options for safe, rewarding, well-paying jobs. Their core purpose is to provide magnesium to the world while supporting the families in our community.

Another example is a smash-hit, start-up niche distillery that makes innovative spirits. The company was created by a couple after the husband lost his job as a refinery engineer. The pair wanted to stay in their hometown, but finding another job in the area was nearly impossible. The town’s largest employer had shut down, and many people lost their jobs. But the husband had a talent for building distillery equipment and had a passion for making spirits.

Together they decided to launch a company that would take advantage of those skills and center it around their local community, which had once been strong. When we worked with them, their core purpose was clear: to provide an impactful return on community, telling stories of our past and writing new chapters for our future. The town could enthusiastically rally around the story and inspiration behind the distillery.

Both of these organizations knew their big why—their mission statement, their purpose for existing. Both companies are financially successful, but their purposes have a strong community focus.

Why are these whys so impactful? A company why is like a romance. Humans thrive on romance or falling in love.

When you are courting your potential mate, there is a drive to connect. This drive is created in part by the release of a hormone that acts like a drug in the brain. The same is true with a newborn baby or puppy. Those strong feelings of responsibility and somewhat blinding loyalty establish a connection that is strong even in the face of challenge and turbulence.

When we first fall in love, we project our hopes and dreams onto the person we adore. We believe that person to be my prince charming, or the love of my life. We feel certain that our newborn child will be brilliant and wildly successful! We project our expectations onto the other without really knowing yet who they are. Those hopes and dreams give us tremendous energy and drive to engage with the other and plan a life together.

The same is true within a company. The vision (the why) ignites and pulls people in, and it pulls on the emotions of everyone who is engaged. Once people are pulled in, the big why must sustain the individual within the relationship through the growing stages and development of the business or project.

THE PERSONAL WHY

The hope is that each person who comes to work for your company is inspired by your big corporate why, and that why trickles down to employees on an individual level. The power of the team increases when each person in the company, team, or project also has her own personal skin in the game—her personal why. She needs to know what’s in it for her, “Why does this matter to me personally?”

This is especially critical for the millennial generation in the work force. Unlike those who came before, millennials are not willing to blindly do their time, climb the ladder, and get the promotion. They must have personal meaning and purpose to stay engaged.

When each individual connects her personal why to the big why, the group harnesses a free natural resource: inspiration that carries the person, the team, and the organization through tough times and conflict. The big why ignites people’s commitment. The personal why sustains it.

My (CrisMarie’s) personal why is: to experience the sovereignty that comes when I access my courage and dare to disagree even in the face of someone’s authority and/or reaction, and the satisfaction from empowering others to do the same.

Susan’s personal why is: to show up real, raw, and curious about myself and others, embrace and utilize our differences for transformation, creativity, and connection and encourage others to do the same.

Engaging the personal why is one of the greatest challenges in a family-owned business. The founder of a family business usually holds the compelling why beyond making money. Part of his why may be to have a business that lasts beyond his generation. The incoming generation, on the other hand, may not share that passion or even be interested in carrying on what Dad or Mom started.

If the why of the next generation doesn’t naturally match the why of the parents, a family business will lose its compelling purpose as time goes on. Worst-case scenario, the new generation runs the business into the ground. For a family business to succeed, it must bridge the differences between what made the business great in the beginning and what will make it great going forward.

When we work with teams—corporate, family businesses, non-profits, or start-ups—we begin with ME and WE team focus and then turn toward the business to address some key questions. We ask the group to consider, “Why do we (company or team) exist beyond making money?” The discussion that follows provides great insight into how aligned the team is about the vision and purpose.

We keep it alive by asking, “Why does this matter to each of you personally?” We take time to discover and discuss the personal why for the people on the team. Here are some other good questions to ask:

Individual connections to the big why will pave the way for each individual to show up as the ME, a whole person. If a leadership team, department, and company as a whole doesn’t understand and value each person’s individual why and how that connects them to the bigger why, people come to believe that they are expendable, like an object to be used up and thrown away. Objects may be easier to deal with in the beginning, but if people remain objects, they have no motivation to hang in when times get tough or when big change is needed. Objects aren’t creative; whole people are creative.

Engaging and nurturing the personal why keeps the team connected and engaged. It brings to light when someone is misaligned, however justifiably. Take the time to make sure people are clear on the big why, and regularly discuss and check in about personal whys. You will be better prepared to position people and the company for success.

So, why does your company or team exist beyond making money? The answer is important for your team, whether you’re part of an executive leadership team or on a specific departmental or project team.

Start with why. Make sure everyone knows why this business or project matters beyond making money. Awareness of big why, or core purpose, guides your action. Regularly refresh your focus and connection with the big why, the real reason you choose to do what you do.

Make sure your big why translates down to your personal why. Take the time to move beyond a big idea or romance. Sustain your vision by empowering your people to show up as whole people, not mere pieces on the chessboard to be moved about by others.

Now you know the secret of the why beneath the why! Next up, ensure that inspiration isn’t lost amid day-to-day perspiration.