Be honest: Can you summarise the reason for your company's existence in one sentence? Can you say what its ‘why’ is, why it is here?
All too often, only a vision is defined instead of a ‘why’. But a vision is not a reason for existence. Especially not if it is misused as an advertising message for marketing purposes, as is unfortunately the case most of the time. The raison d'être of a company serves to provide internal orientation and to create clarity about what has priority and how the business should be managed.
A company's raison d'être can never be idealistic and grandiose enough! The ambition must be to improve people's lives and make the world a better place. If companies (authentically) contribute to this, they have two decisive advantages:
You act for the long term and with strategic clarity instead of opportunistically chasing the most diverse short-term opportunities.
You convey a sense of purpose to your employees. Everyone wants to feel that they are making good use of their time and working on meaningful tasks.
The ‘why’ of a company can lie in satisfying the needs of the market and its customers, or in its activity, its business area itself. It can be strongly rooted in its regionality or be committed to its employees, its people. Of course, the why can also be detached from this and lie in overriding goals.
The important thing is that the reason for existence corresponds to the truth so that it can be lived authentically. Ask yourself why your company was founded and what it contributes to a better world. If you don't find what you are looking for and see the purpose of your company purely as making as much money as possible and making the owners rich, then stand by that! But be as honest with your employees as you are with yourself. Don't confuse them by making them believe that their world is perfect.
Further information on values and principles in companies can be found in our white paper ‘OKR in practice’.