Discovering Your Purpose Starts With Your Mission & Why

Articulate the purpose of your business in two or three sentences for maximum success.

A business without a purpose is like a car on a dyno. The engine might be running, but no matter how fast you accelerate, the car doesn’t move forward. If there is no clear purpose for your business, then the efforts of your individual stakeholders will never completely align, and you aren’t going to move forward in any meaningful way. Fortunately, articulating your purpose isn’t as hard as many believe it to be.

Many founders believe their businesses are inherently understandable. Yet, when asked to explain their businesses, many founders can’t do it in a concise and meaningful way. This is a fundamental problem and is typically a sign that they haven’t clearly defined the purpose of their business.

A clear purpose is important as it’s the foundation upon which all other elements of a business are built. Your staff, customers, investors, and board members all rely on your purpose to help align their individual contributions, and if it’s not clear what this purpose is, your stakeholders are forced to interpret this for themselves. This isn’t conducive to efficient stakeholder buy-in and creates a lot of unintended waste.