I read a blog post yesterday by Commando Steve about ownership and taking responsibility for your own life, and I couldn’t help but feel the alignment to my own beliefs about business. Commando argues quite rightfully that diets and exercise programs mean absolutely nothing if you’re not prepared to own the change.
Here’s my favourite part:
“I understand the appeal of buying into the superficial, fast, measurable results and I can appreciate the motivation and confidence (although short lived) that comes from dropping a couple of Kgs and seeing improvements.
BUT and it’s a big BUT: Do you understand your real reasons for starting in the first place? Will you be able to adopt this new routine, way of life as part of your everyday for the long term? Will you have the resolve to endure with the routine beyond the initial few weeks or months? OR will you default to your old ways? Will it all get too hard? Will the excuses come creeping back in?”
It’s appealing and easy to buy into the superficial, fast, measurable results that come with the latest marketing tactic or digital trend. BUT do you understand why you’re doing it all in the first place? Do you have a bigger ‘why’ than a short-term spike in profits? The truth is that tactics, trends and the latest marketing ‘diet’ may give you a short-term high, but they don’t build brands, and they don’t build enduring businesses.
Commando declares that it takes courage, strength and wisdom to ‘own it’ and do what it takes to live a flourishing, meaningful life, and it couldn’t be any truer in business. If we want flourishing, meaningful businesses then we need to be prepared to do what it takes. We need to do the hard thing and start from the inside-out. We need to go out on a limb and ask ourselves, ‘Why are we here?’ ‘What do we stand for?’ and ‘Who do we want to become?’ Then we need to have the strength to act every day in a way that brings us closer and closer to that identity.
Business needs intrinsic motivation back, we need to look inward for direction and ignite the fire in our bellies before we’ll see any kind of enduring and positive change. While we continue to chase the latest short-term tactic and stay reactive we’ll all keep missing our chance to find our full potential.
The people who work for you want to be a part of something worthwhile and inspiring. No one ever chooses a career hoping it will be meaningless beyond their paycheque. The kind of energy you build when a team know exactly why they come to work every day – when they are empowered to demonstrate coherent intent in their role – is more valuable to your business than any tactic you could dream up. That’s the power of building a brand that lives and acts towards its true potential every day. It isn’t easy, but its worth it.
If you’re interested, Commando finishes with a series of pretty compelling questions to ask yourself before you succumb to the next ‘quick fix’ – you can find them here.
