Retail Observer

RETAILOBSERVER.COM MARCH 2016 40 Y ears ago, I worked with a large tech organization that was growing quickly almost despite itself. The original founder and CEO had infused the company with his excitement and innovation along with an American southern charm. Everyone was family. They had each other's backs. Even when they began buying up small companies left and right—in Asia, South America, Europe—they tried to imbue their pioneering essence and family spirit with each new acquisition. Finally, it was time for the CEO to retire and to pass on his legacy to the next generation. The board of directors hired a sparkly new leader from "the city" with a multi-billion dollar firm history. This guy was going to really help them take it to the next level. For the first 6 months of his tenure, he went to visit different locations and piped in video taped messages: "We're going to be a BILLION-dollar business!" he said with enthusiasm and Wall Street gusto in his tailored suits. He talked a lot. He didn't listen much. In just over a year, he was gone and a big-name corporation bought out the company. Most of the top leaders were fired or let go. Talented people left by the dozens and signed up with other tech firms like Google or FaceBook or Apple. Perhaps this is just an ordinary story about mergers and acquisitions in modern business society, but since I was on the periphery of this story—I worked with them for several years prior to the founder's departure and I had a sense of their potential—I was out in the field hearing the new leader's message and seeing the response and engagement of the workers and mid- level leaders dip, dive and plummet. Here's a not-so-common news flash: your team is never really motivated by your numbers. They only sort of care about how much money you make; whether you're a million, billion or kazillion dollar business is low on their priority list. Even for your sales people, who love to measure their numbers and find hitting and exceeding targets generally exciting, your top line and profit margin are blips on their work-life radar. What, then, does motivate them? What if you really want to grow your business significantly and as a leader or owner, you not only care about your numbers, you must care about and be responsible for them? Purpose and meaning are the differentiators. Purpose and meaning will help you engage the hearts and minds of your team. It will accelerate their performance and help you reach your goals. Did you know that "organizations with a noble purpose outperform the market by over 350%?" Last year, I got to share a TEDx stage with my dear friend, author and speaker Lisa McLeod, whose best selling book Selling with Noble Purpose was a precursor to this year's release of Leading With Noble Purpose: How to Create a Tribe of True Believers (Wiley 2016). You might think she's talking to non-profits or companies with obvious associations to social consciousness or "doing good" in the world? Not necessarily—every business and company can have a Noble Purpose, and it's the leader's job to identify exactly what that is and communicate it to his or her people. McLeod says, "Human beings are hardwired for meaning. We want our lives to count for something. Unfortunately, many people see their work as devoid of higher purpose. Instead, they experience work as an endless grind. But, it's not the work that kills our spirit. It's doing work without meaning." Often, I help organizations identify the language that describes their meaning and purpose. When it's done right, this language articulates their mission, vision and values. It resonates, like a good song resonates, with the leaders or owners, and with every single employee. Sound like a dream? It's not, and most importantly, it's the paradigm that's shifting in organizations across the world, businesses large and small. Your reason for being as a company isn't actually making money or being profitable: those are consequences and outcomes of your work if you've got great products and services meeting a market need. Even the rise in conscious capitalism shows that many companies want to do well by also doing good in the world and in their communities. Think your product or concept isn't noble or sexy enough? It is. You just need the right words in the right order to convey the greater meaning of your company. What's your noble purpose? And more importantly, how are you getting the message out? WORK AND M EANING A PARADIGM REVIVAL Libby Wagner Culture Coach RO RO Libby Wagner, author of The Influencing Option: The Art of Building a Profit Culture in Business, works with clients to help them create and sustain Profit Cultures www.libbywagner.com

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