The reason for being seems to have become the alpha and omega of all reflection on the future of companies. Rightly so. It is a work of revelation that is necessary to clarify all the intentions of the company for its future, their meaning and their understanding by those who make it up. Here are 8 points to ask the right questions.

1 – Define your “ Why ”?

The reason for being serves to say what you are here for. It is a dynamic reason, in the sense of the English purpose. It is a reason in the sense of a motive for acting as much as a goal that one sets for oneself. It is both the answer to a “why am I here?” and a “for what purpose am I here?”.

2 – Clarify your intentions

The reason for being serves to clarify, for oneself and by oneself, one’s own intentions. This is important, since just like in our personal life, when we do not know what we want, our actions are misdirected, our behavior can become erratic, we are misunderstood, and we consume a tremendous amount of energy for little concrete results.

3 – Follow a direction

The reason for being serves to focus in one direction. The reason for being consists of concentrating efforts in a precise direction. To achieve great things, scattering is not a solution. A wide beam of light illuminates a large surface but at a short distance. A concentrated beam of light illuminates further and with more clarity. In this sense, the precision of your reason for being is a sign of your determination.

4 – Open up to othersThe reason for being serves to step out of oneself and give oneself an otherness. What you are here for cannot be limited to the satisfaction of what you already are and what you would be fully satisfied with. A reason for being is always a project directed in a certain direction. Now, to go in a direction is always to go elsewhere than where one is already. Moving towards one’s dream, towards a greater accomplishment, towards an object that one desires, is always to move towards an otherness that helps us grow in the sense that it takes us out of our own solipsism.

5 – Create common ground

The reason for being is a necessary step to create a collective dynamic that withstands the test of time, capable of providing a constant effort in one direction and not just sporadic bursts obtained through occasional pressure. With the reason for being, we see the star that the company gives itself. We understand the meaning it gives itself. We can personally measure if this meaning corresponds to us… or not. Each person can thus evaluate their desire to be part of this common adventure and decide to join it or not. This decision is yours; it belongs to you. One is always more attached to what one chooses than to what one endures. The very expression of the reason for being allows for a choice that strengthens the community of interests gathered around this choice. 

6 – Mobilize

The reason for being serves to consolidate the company’s culture. The meaning indicated by the reason for being mobilizes around it talents, energies, wills, ways of being, desires, behaviors… that correspond to it. Over time, with the repetition of efforts in this direction, a culture gradually crystallizes. Beliefs, rituals, attitudes that look in the direction of this reason for being, agglomerate, strengthen each other and ultimately produce a corporate culture. This is very different from an unspoken corporate culture, whose boundaries are blurry, whose codes are not understood, which is not self-aware and does not propose a clear purpose that I can desire to join.

7 – Surpass yourself

The reason for being serves to transcend oneself. By nature, the reason for being should not be content with expressing what you are. It overflows the framework. It sets a point outside the framework. This point functions as a call. A call to surpass oneself. The reason for being should awaken a flame that inspires one to elevate oneself individually and collectively. This flame can arise from both a grand purpose like the conquest of Mars and a small purpose playing out at my door or in my garden. It is neither the quantity, nor the volume, nor the greatness that counts the most. It is the meaning, the value for humanity. And of course, the emotion it provides.

8 – Measure your ethics

The reason for being should always be an opportunity to measure your ethics. When we set a goal, a mission, we venture onto more or less known ground. We embark with others, on a path, in an environment that we must respect. From an ethical point of view, we cannot go where we are going while destroying everything in our path for the sole good reason that we want to go there. We cannot also go there together, by breaking those who participate in getting there. The reason for being should always be a consciousness that seeks to have a positive, not destructive, impact on its environment and that wishes to help grow those who participate in it.

This content is taken from the white paper " Have you defined the reason for being of your company? "