Finding delight in purpose

In the year that I was born, 1973, Peter Drucker came out and said, “the only valid purpose of a firm is to create a customer.” I'd like to add Steven Denning's thoughts on this and develop the idea— in his book  Radical Management, he says: 'the purpose of a company is to create delighted customers and keep them delighted. 

The sweet spot

Put simply, if your high-end interiors company does not delight its customers—the people it ought to be working for—neither team members nor the organization can reach the sweet spot for there will be a damaged organization left remaining to carry out its mission.

 

Inspiration from downmarket

If we look for inspiration downstream at furniture giant, IKEA, there's a lesson in simplicity, with its elegant vision crafted in 1943 by Kamprad himself. Though let's not get confused with Purpose and Vision, better refer to our blog article that helps define your Reason for being as your unchanging Purpose (remembering a vision is a picture of shared success). And at Patagonia, a succinct Reason for Being (although they've called theirs a Mission Statement - again a little confused about terminology).

 

And if it helps start a conversation about what your purpose in business is, other than creating delight, then consider this simple illustrated Venn diagram - where is your 'sweet spot?