Set the Mission: Leading with "Why"

"WHY should I follow you?"

A couple of years ago when I was just starting my entrepreneurial journey, I was reading books on leadership and "how to start initiatives". Often times, the authors would tell you to start with a vision or a mission. However the track record for good ones is pretty bad: traditional vision statements tend to be a bunch of fluffy paragraphs that cause me to eye-roll with its abundance of ambiguity and lack of courage. In the end, you could do anything and the vision statement would still apply.

So, it was refreshing that Guy Kawasaki stated in his "Art of the Start" book that he felt the same way. He introduced to me the idea of using a simple mantra. Then, Simon Sinek introduced his "Golden Circle" concept where leaders should "Start with Why" in his book of the same name. A couple of years later, I read my friend Ainsley Moir's book "Branding Beyond Logos", which introduced Singularity University's Big Transformative Purpose (BTP), which resonated with me the most. I'd like to share these with you.

Having started a few companies and a bunch of projects, it is fundamental to set a mission for an organization, company, team, project, or project, and the mission should answer the question, "Why?". One this is known, as a leader, it is very important to communicate it constantly and to reaffirm the direction. In general, people want to be part of something transformative. They want to be part of something that matters. They want to know that their work hours and sacrifices are meaningful.

For example, we know that a sales person's goal is to sell. However, they need to know that their individual effort is enabling a certain product or service to grow, that their sales are helping to keep other people employed, but at the core, how all this is contributing to the company's main mission of "Why". When times are tough, this is what will motivate them to keep going if they believe in the mission.

A team of software developers might be debating an implementation path. In my experience, conversations get focused and speed up when the conversation comes back to the WHY of the product and the team mission.

Leaders must continuously repeat WHY at every chance possible to everyone in their organization. Every decision comes back to WHY, especially when there is conflict or when times are extremely difficult. It is at these points that WHY matters most.

The "Why" or mission of the organization can be summed up into infinite goals. Here are the two that I like:

• Big Transformation Purpose (BTP)

• Mantra

Big Transformative Purpose (BTP)

Ainsley Moir dedicates the first chapter in her book "Branding Beyond Logos" on this subject, so she explains it better than me. Since it comes from Singularity University, you can find more information with them. Using a BTP really resinated with me, and I prefer to use this when I am building a company, rather than a product.

Criteria: Find something you would die for - and live for. Generally, BTPs are fairly static; after all, you can't be changing a mission that often. But BTP can change as the company evolves too.

Examples:

• Tesla Inc. (before): Accelerate the transition to sustainable transportation.

• Tesla Inc (current as of 2019): Accelerate the world's transition to sustainable energy.

If you notice, Tesla constantly repeats this BTP in all their branding, their investor meetings, their public presentations, the types of products they make, etc. And you notice that this mission is repeated at all levels of the organization. The best ones always do and are very focused on this mission.

Mantra

Another version of "Why" is from Guy Kawasaki "Art of the Start". I encourage you to read this book for more information on how to use a mantra. I copied the examples he had for this piece.

Criteria: Use three to four words only. Mantras don't usually change with time.

Examples:

• Starbucks: "Rewarding everyday moments".

• Apple: "Think different".

• Wendy's: "Healthy fast food".

• Federal Express: “Peace of mind”.

• Nike: “Authentic athletic performance”.

• Mary Kay: “Enriching women’s lives”.

How to Use "Why"

Fundamental, "Why" drives purpose for the team.

Once this is established, then "Why" influences throughout all subsequent actions. Here are some of them:

• Focuses the team: drives product strategy even among multiple products.

• Forms the foundation for your branding. Read Ainsley Moir's book.

• Forms the foundation of your sales material.

• Is the reason customers buy your product; they believe in your mission.

• Causes polarization: People will love or hate you for your mission. People love and hate Apple because they "think different through simple, clean user experiences". This results in a lack of flexibility that fosters love and hate. Read Guy Kawasaki book.

My Thoughts: BTPs and Mantras at a bank

When I was working to re-design a bank's underwriting system, I found that a mantra worked best for the environment I was coming into. I found that introducing a BTP was rather too ambitious to fit the conservative, risk-adverse culture of the bank set by the leadership team I was working for; a mantra was simpler for the product we were building.

I settled on the mantra of "Awarding credit quickly and prudently". This meant that we would focus on the speed of the system while maintaining the risk tolerance of the bank. It was speed that mattered, and we could be ambitious on this front. However, I found the need to write down why awarding credit mattered. I settled on the fact that lending improves quality of life.

What?! How does lending improve quality of life? Let's take a step back to understand why this seem to fit; awarding credit assumes that the creditor believes optimistically in the future. You would only lend someone money if you assumed the person could pay back the amount plus interest. Thus, a bank lends out credit card money to a trusted individual, who would purchase goods and services to increase the quality of their life. In turn, the businesses could take the money and reinvested it in improving goods, services, and the lives of its people, most of whom would use and repay credit and interest. The bank could then award more credit, and the cycle repeats in an optimistic fashion.

Without credit, a trusted individual may need to wait for sufficient funds for purchases. Mortgages wouldn't exist so people wouldn't have new homes. Perhaps a trusted individual needs to purchase a new computer for their work, but without access to credit, they would need to weigh purchasing food vs. a means to earn a living.

In hindsight, the mantra I chose seemed to fit the bank leadership and the team around me, although it's pretty bland. I would re-work it to be more inspired. Once again, people like to be part of something transformative.

I know of other organizations who feel that people who are awarded credit are generally privileged. Thus, these organizations have missions along the lines of "to accelerate quality of life by making credit accessible". For me, I think of business micro-loans that are occurring in Bangladesh and in other parts of the world. But there's no reason traditional banks can't do this either, even in their own markets. This could drive education programs on how to borrow, different insurance offerings, more compassionate ways to deal with bankruptcy, etc. It would be a reason to expand into global markets. I don't know about you, but I think such a mission would excite many people and cause them to rally around the effort.

Wouldn't you want to be part of this? I would.