Friday
Mar142008
A higher calling
Friday, March 14, 2008 at 10:00AM
Every month I get to spend a whole day out of the office with an extraordinary group of fellow business owners through an organization called C12. We discuss business specifics and actual scenarios happening in our businesses, but we tend more to the strategic side of things. This month we discussed the case of a business owner performing a SWOT analysis and what recommendations and advice we would give him.
Our discussion reminded me of a struggle all too common among our new clients. It is this: businesses without a vision, without a calling, find themselves constantly troubleshooting, constantly trying to find an answer that will take them somewhere other than where they are right now. The problem is that if you don’t know where you’re going anywhere will do. A business without a vision of where it wants to go is like a rudderless ship where everyone is busy running about the deck tending to the rigging. They’re making great time, but to what purpose?
It’s no coincidence that the first thing we want business owners to do is spend a half day with us where we flesh out and articulate their vision. It takes time and it takes some discipline but the results are well worth it. At the end of the day you need to have a higher calling, something bigger than yourself that you answer to and use as a yardstick to measure your progress. It’s true for your life and it’s equally true for your business. Activity without a vision, without a calling is just busy work.
Our discussion reminded me of a struggle all too common among our new clients. It is this: businesses without a vision, without a calling, find themselves constantly troubleshooting, constantly trying to find an answer that will take them somewhere other than where they are right now. The problem is that if you don’t know where you’re going anywhere will do. A business without a vision of where it wants to go is like a rudderless ship where everyone is busy running about the deck tending to the rigging. They’re making great time, but to what purpose?
It’s no coincidence that the first thing we want business owners to do is spend a half day with us where we flesh out and articulate their vision. It takes time and it takes some discipline but the results are well worth it. At the end of the day you need to have a higher calling, something bigger than yourself that you answer to and use as a yardstick to measure your progress. It’s true for your life and it’s equally true for your business. Activity without a vision, without a calling is just busy work.
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