One of my favorite movies to watch during the Christmas season is It’s a Wonderful Life, Frank Capra’s fantasy drama starring Jimmy Stewart as George Bailey, a man who has given up on his dreams to help others. It’s always a good reminder how much your life matters and that good deeds, acts of kindness and generosity extend well-beyond our immediate awareness.
The same idea can extend to your brand. So much of the year, you’re just running and driving your business—taking care of the next deal or the next customer. The end of the year is a great time to pause, reflect, and ask yourself these two questions:
1. Why are you here?
Do you have vision, passion and a purpose for your business? Are you truly focused on serving others? At Ramsey Solutions, Dave reminds the team regularly that “we exist for the people that aren’t here.” In other words, the work we do is for the purpose of serving others and providing them with hope and a way forward. If you don’t have that, you’re not going to have long-term success.
Simon Senek, author of Start With Why, sums it up best in this 2009 talk. If you’ve never seen it, you owe it to yourself to take a few minutes and absorb his words and ideas, as they will truly inspire. If you have seen it before, you should watch it again. I view it at least once a year and it always resets my perspective.
2. How much does your brand really matter?
At the end of the day, would anybody care if your business didn’t exist? How much of an impact are you making? With your customers? With your employees? In your community? Are you just transacting or are you sharing meaningful moments with people and developing real relationships? Do you invest the proceeds from your business into worthy and righteous ventures? All of this matters.
Here’s a great example of how a company (Ramsey Solutions)—by offering a curriculum to high school students to teach them about money—has a ripple effect in the community and beyond even this generation.
What you do matters. Why you do it matters even more. Don’t ever lose sight of that–and share it often with your leadership and your team. Your talents, intelligence and energy can only take your business so far. Your ability to transcend yourself—and inspire, encourage and empower those you come in contact with every day—will make an impact beyond what you could ever imagine.
