Before you started your business, I am sure you asked yourself, "why?" Did you want to provide a service that impacted someone's life, or maybe to bring awareness to the faulty systems currently in place? Our "why" is continuously changing, depending on what the day presents to us. Whether you are the founder of your company or in a subordinate role, your "why" is more important than your "how" or "what." It's up to you to dig deep and discover your "why" in your current position in the company, after all it could be what sets you apart from the competition.
The Difference Between What and Why
"What do you do" sounds like you are asking someone for their career title or their services they offer. So when you talk about your company, why should you talk about it in a similar corporate fashion? Instead, lead your discussion with why you do it, why you created the business, or why you chose to be in that specific role within the company. "What" you do is a broad description, but beginning with "why" gives you and your company a reason, purpose, or cause for people to invest themselves in.
Simon Sinek's TED Talk on "How Great Leaders Inspire Action," paves the way for inspirational leadership across business and everyday scenarios in life. You can view the full talk here. All of the great inspiring leaders of the world think in this mentality that Sinek discusses, "people don't buy what you do by why you do it." Sadly this is the opposite of how most of us think. 100% of businesses know what they do, some know how they do it, but little know why they do it.
Making a profit or getting a paycheck is not your "why," it is your result. A company that does not know their "why" will have employees that only believe in the result- the money to support themselves or family. Once you realize and begin with your "why," will you be able to lead others, whether it's staff or consumers; thus, you can build a stronger brand to support your beliefs. We all know the struggle of finding a good group of staff members, but the good ones are those that seek out purpose.
The Difference Between You Vs. Them
There are countless businesses and people out there who have the same access to resources, the same experience, and knowledge as you, and so many companies fail. But why? It's because they lead with what they do and how they do it. For example, your business is the same as one down the street, so how do you get people to choose yours over theirs? If your whole motivation is to outsell your competitors, you are no different structurally than they are. Your priority should be to explain to your consumers why you get out of bed in the morning; be raw and real. When you believe in this approach, what you do simply proves what you believe in.
Some may think your "why" is where your gut decisions come from because it derives from emotion, not reason. You created your business for a reason, so don't be afraid to share that with your consumers; it may be better off because you are not sharing your secrets or strategies to success with your competitors, but speaking volumes.
The Difference with Reframed
For Reframed, the “why” is never the same, mainly because our clients are all unique, and our ambitions for said client varies. Overall, our "why" is to empower you to give you the pride and confidence to unlock your highest potential in your industry. When we collaborate, it is not to tell you what to do but to invoke the passion you had when you first started- your passion is our purpose. When we collaborate, we come together to ignite the drive and grit to get your company to its highest potential, but you have to understand "why" you are doing it in the first place so we can reach the level of success and support we all know you deserve.
When you define your "why," it will motivate you to stay committed to your dreams and gather your supporters and cheerleaders, someone doesn't follow you because they have to, the support you because they want to and believe in your cause. We firmly believe that when you ask yourself this question, you are setting yourself up for success and giving yourself the ability to lead others.
For Reframed, we are lucky enough to not only have staff members who are ambitious and seek out their “why” on a daily basis, but it’s our ability to instill this on others. We are a group of individuals who practice what we preach and stand by our clients in helping them discover the "why" if they have lost it. Once we achieve this, we then have the capability of leading others.
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