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Purpose Passion and People

The "Three P's" for building business success...

We have been told that the fundamentals of education are the three R's: Reading, Writing and Arithmetic. These fundamentals are the basis for all future learning and are the building blocks of education. These fundamentals change when we get out of school and into the business world. The foundations for success in the business world, the building blocks of all successful ventures, are the three P's: Purpose, Passion and People. With these three P's a group of people becomes a team, with these three P's powerful companies are built from nothing, with these three P's dreams become reality.

Leadership is action not position, so those individuals who are in leadership positions should lead by example. When this philosphy starts at the top of an organization and filters down, you will have a truly successful organization.

Leadership takes place at all levels of an organization. Each person in the company should work to be the best he or she can be. Leadership is action not position, so those individuals who are in leadership positions should lead by example. When this philosphy starts at the top of an organization and filters down, you will have a truly successful organization.

Purpose is the life force of your people and thus of your organization. Purpose is the compas that sets the direction of the organization, and allows you to stay on course. When an organization is "On Purpose", acting in accordance with its purpose, it becomes a powerful team. Its mission statement best defines the purpose of an organization. A mission statement is a statement that declares the purpose of the organization or individual.

If you take a look at those organizations that you consider successful, you will find that a majority of those organizations have mission statements. A mission statement answers three basic questions: who you are, what you do and the quality in which you do it. People want to be a part of something bigger than they are.

The mission statement allows for people to get emotionally involved with what they do. As the philosopher Nietzche said. "He who has a 'why" to live for can bear almost any 'how'. The 'why' is the purpose, it is the mission statement.

Passion is about having emotion. Passion and enthusiasm in an organization is the fuel that runs the engine. When people in your organization are excited about what they are doing, when they are passionate about their purpose, they become committed to the companys cause.

In his book, Selling The Dream, Guy Kawasaki describes passion:

To the luckiest of people, a time comes when they join or launch a cause that forever changes their lives and the lives of others. Losing yourself in a cause is delicious and intoxicating; the best word to describe the sensation is a crusade. The first thing you need to believe about a crusade is never underestimate its power. It can transform ordinary people, products and companies into devastating flame-throwers! You have to have passionate desire to make a difference and fearlessly believe in you cause.

That type of passion and enthusiasm in an organization is contagious. When the boss has it the employees have it. When the employees have it the customers have it!

What I mean by people is the relationships that we have with our customers both internal and external. Internal customers are our fellow team members, external customers are those that pay us for our services. It is hard to enjoy what we do when we do not like whom we do it with. Without these people none of us are in business.

There is an old saying: people don't care how much you know until they knowhow much you care. Relationships must be genuinely built; fake and cosmetic actions to 'try' to build a relationship are transparent and will backfire.

In our training organization we realize that sales is where everything starts, because without people in our classes nobody gets to play trainer. It is imperative that we take care of our clients.

People enjoy doing business with people they like. When I left my former employer back in August, what I missed most were the relationships with my clients. Many of my clients had since become friends. I enjoyed a relationship that started out as a business and then grew into business and a friendship.

When people realize you are interested in them as a person, not just as a sale, that is when business becomes pleasure. There is an old saying: people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. Relationships must be genuinely built; fake and cosmetic actions to 'try' to build a relationship are transparent and will backfire.

Over the next three issues I will take each of the three P's and expand on why each one is crucial to the success of the individual or organization. I will go over many examples of how these show up in organizations. I will also have you ask yourself specific questions that will allow you to see where you are in relation to these three areas. I encourage you to take a look at how you are currently doing in these areas and how you might do better.

I remain...

Enthusiastically yours,

Scott V. Black
The Empower U Leadership Team
September 1998

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