Instilling A Sense Of Purpose For Everyone Involved

Everyone wants to feel proud about what they do. Even if they feel unsuccessful in getting the job they dreamed of, everyone intrinsically prefers working for someone or company they feel proud to be associated with. In making your teammates, employees and contractors proud of being associated with your enterprise, you motivate them to do what they can to help you succeed; that becomes a purpose for what they do, they are helping make something they are proud of be more successful.

Making them proud

Entrepreneurs have an advantage over professionally managed larger businesses in instilling purpose with their stakeholders because entrepreneurial business succeed based upon the Fundamental Principle of Entrepreneurship: that entrepreneurs succeed by making others so happy that they gladly give money or things of value in return. By emphasizing to your stakeholders how you are making many people happy you are instilling a sense of purpose for them to help you.

Emphasizing that your purpose is to become richer or a make your company profitable or increase its profitability does not make many people, other than bankers, proud to be associated with you. If your profitability comes from making lots of people happy, nobody will hold that against you, provided they feel you have acted ethically. Very few people will feel proud about working for someone that makes senior citizens feel momentarily happy because they were tricked into thinking they won the lottery. You can pay them large amounts of money to help you, but they will not be motivated to help you get better at behaving unethically.

Sincerity counts

It is one thing to say you are dedicated to making other people happy, it is another to show it, and show it constantly. You can do that best by behaving as follows:

• Phrasing how you ask others about what they are doing, and about the results of what they are doing, in terms of making customers happy.

• Giving recognition and rewards to employees and contractors for making customers happy.

• Publicly demonstrating and explaining how you are making it easier and easier for everyone to make more and more customers happier and happier.

These actions help create and perpetuate a culture where employees feel responsible for, and proud of their work making the world a happier place.