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The Four Parts of Purpose: The Passion of Vision

Purpose is a difficult word to define for many company leaders. Many confuse it with Vision or Mission, when it is distinctly different.

Determining your company’s purpose must begin with one question: “Why does our company exist?” The answer lies in the determination of four distinct parts:

1- Your Company’s Unique Gifts and Talents

These are the insights, the advantages, and the skills that separate you from all other companies. When you think Apple, you think Steve Jobs. His unique creativity and leadership has produced one of the most successful global companies – all based on his creative culture.

2- Your Company’s Source of Passion

You will usually find that these gifts are rooted in passion – the very

thing that drives you through obstacles that stand in your way. Great companies have a passion about what they do. At one time, Microsoft had on its website a mission statement that read, “Your potential, our passion”. That statement says it all. Microsoft is a company who uses its gifts, with passion, to unlock your potential.

3- Your Company’s Customers

Who are the people that your serve? For the retail segment, you might be asking questions like: How old are they? What gender are they? How much discretionary income do they have? What are their needs?

4- Your Customers Locations

Where are your customers? Are they global? Are they regional? Are they urban? Are they rural? Sam Walton thought his customer was rural some years ago, so he started many of his first stores in the same kind of rural towns that he grew up in. It was a successful formula then. But it changed. Now much of the world can shop at Wal-Mart because the company kept tabs on where their customers were and adjusted accordingly.

Defining these four aspects of your company reveals a true, core insight to your purpose. Knowing this, and making it part of your vision, creates a passion for your vision.

This is what we do. We help companies understand their purpose. We’re External Resources, a company that delivers interim and permanent executives who specialize in leadership and strategy, finance and human resources, sales and marketing, and informational technology for commerce and government.

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