3 ideas that can make your business and the world a little bit better

I’ve been thinking a lot about work and what it means, especially as I talk to clients who look to convey what they do and love to others.  But every once in a while a client will ask me, “How do we convey our mission and story to our customers?”

And the inherent problem is, their mission and story is all over the place. As an editor will say: They totally bury the lede. Deep, deep, deep, where no one could find it even with all of the key search words written in front of them.

These are organizations that, especially in a new economy, are  grasping at new business ideas with windmill arms; they’re tossing a ball into a spinning wheel and hoping it lands somewhere not scary; or they’re in a business for all the wrong reasons (mostly profit over passion and people),  and have an environment of uninspired and burn-out workers to prove it.

Yet there is hope, ye withering ones. More and more businesses are focusing on and finding success in a purpose-driven mission.  Author/creative thinker Dan Pink says there are three necessary elements for happy businesses–and happy people: autonomy; mastery; and purpose. Personal and professional satisfaction (and the most creative, inspiring ideas), he says, come about when people feel that they are self-directed; that they are challenged, learning, and making a contribution; and that they have a transcendent purpose. All businesses should, in fact, have a purpose motive that goes well beyond profit, Pink says, in order to be truly successful.

As Pink says in this fantastic, inspiring video (it’s 10 mins. long, but I encourage you to watch it all!): “When profit gets unmoored from purpose, bad things happen…Bad things like lame services, crappy products, and uninspiring places to work.” However, even in this economy, companies that are flourishing are animated by a larger sense of purpose.

Quote of possibly the Century: “If we start treating people like people,” Pink says, “and not assuming that they’re simply horses, if we get past the ideology of ‘carrots and sticks’ and look at the science…we can build organizations and work lives that make us better off, but also the promise to make our world just a little bit better.”

How’s that for Good Ideas?

I watch this video every now and then for a little bit of inspiration: It reminds me why I do what I do every day, and makes my sense of purpose even stronger. Plus, the animation is really fun, making Pink’s ideas come to life even more.

–Molly P.

Tags: Daniel Pink, management, recession, work