Purpose Archive - This Moment Counts

How the Macintosh team became unstoppable

When a team aligns on a PATH they passionately believe in, they become unstoppable.

That’s the whole premise of “The PATH to Strategic Impact”. And the Macintosh team proves it beautifully. Here are some quotes from an old documentary:

“Everybody just wanted to work, not because it was work that had to be done, but it was because something that we really believed in” – Rony Sebok

“We all wanted exactly the same thing. And instead of spending our time arguing about [it] we just went and did it.” – Andy Hertzfeld

“I’m certainly not doing it for Steve Jobs. I’m doing it for something that I think is a much greater good than that. And that’s the chance to change something, really, honestly, truly, for the better.” – Michael Murray

Most employees would feel lucky if their business had a concise strategy at all. Let alone one that’s so clearly articulated that the entire team wholeheartedly embraces it.

But that’s exactly what Steve Jobs managed to do.

He found words that laid out the path for everyone to see very clearly:
→ Where are we headed?
→ Why does this matter?

Words that were deeply heartfelt and transformative to the team.

And then?
He stepped back and trusted his team to figure it out.
(A terrifying thought for many managers.)

Lighting the PATH isn’t about persuading people to do the work.

It’s about resonating so strongly that they can’t help but travel it – because it’s fully aligned with their passion and dedication.

Keep lighting the path!

How Spotify chooses the price it’s willing to pay for success

Daniel Ek, CEO of Spotify, had this to say during a company wide town hall about the Joe Rogan controversy:

“If we want even a shot at achieving our bold ambitions, it will mean having content on Spotify that many of us may not be proud to be associated with,” he says. “Not anything goes, but there will be opinions, ideas, and beliefs that we disagree with strongly and even makes us angry or sad.”

The crucial word in this statement is “if”. It’s a choice. In many ways. You choose your goals (what Ek calls “ambition”), and you choose the conditions which you are not going to sacrifice to reach the goal (in other words: the price you’re willing to pay to reach the goal).

For Spotify, the ambition Ek is speaking of is named later in the meeting (emphasis mine):

“So I think ultimately, this really comes down to two things. First, do we believe in our mission: 50 million creators and 1 billion users? And finally, are we willing to consistently enforce our policies on even the loudest and most popular voices on the platform? And I’m telling you, I believe both.”

Their mission is “50 million creators and 1 billion users”. That’s the goal they’re trying to reach. That’s the ambition that motivates the company. Together with the first quote, it’s clear that the policies are a servant to this mission. They are designed so that they get out of the way of reaching the mission as much as possible. For example, the policies ensure legality, not pride.

That is a valid stance and Spotify is free to choose that stance.

But the takeaway here is that it is a choice. Spotify can choose to have different policies, e.g. policies that ensure that they would be proud of any content that’s on Spotify.

Spotify can also choose to have a different mission, e.g. related to the quality of the content, the kind of content, the kind of relationship they have with their customer, or a vast number of completely different takes.

They choose to make their ambition purely about numbers. As a price to achieve this mission, they choose to accept to be associated with content that many will “not be proud to be associated with”.

Is it a product?

Is it a product? Or a bunch of features?

Can you say why it exists without saying how it does what it does?

Can your customers?

For great products, the features are there for a reason. They serve a cause. That cause sparks a story and that story can be told and retold.

For bad products it’s the other way around. The features are the reason the product exists. There is no clear and concise cause and therefore, there is no simple story to tell.

This is usually the point at which a marketing agency is hired to come up with a story. Which they do. And it might be a good story. Or it might not. In which case, it becomes really hard to sell the product.

I’d suggest starting with the cause so the story is built into your product. It simplifies the whole marketing.

Good resistance, bad resistance

Resistance is the universal force that keeps you from doing things.

However, there’s an important distinction about two very different types of resistance.

The first is knowing that you need to do this but you hide from actually doing it. For example, you just know that you have to publish this video, build that product, pitch that idea to your boss, but you hide from it because resistance has sent you fear.

This type of resistance is a great compass for the things we should do. When it kicks in, we know we’re onto something. The fear is there precisely because it matters so much to us.

The second type is knowing that you need to stay away from doing that thing but everyone keeps telling you that you should really do it. It sounds perfectly reasonable when they say it. It works for others, so why shouldn’t it work for you? And yet, your gut tells you that something is off. It just doesn’t feel right. Somehow, you know it’s not right although you can’t pinpoint why.

This type of resistance is a great compass for the things we shouldn’t do. When it kicks in, we know we should run. The doubt was there because it wasn’t true to who we are.

The art is in knowing which kind of resistance you’re in. A great first step is to start noticing it. When you do, then pay attention to how you feel, the patterns in your thinking, and, of course, the outcome.

Order from above

“Don’t ask me why. It’s an order from above.”

Still a common scheme in corporations – both outward and inward facing. It frustrates customers and teams alike.

One solution – basically the default in many corporations – is to explain harder, i.e. longer, i.e. repeatedly.

Using. The. Exact. Same. Words.

As if not getting it was the team’s fault.

Clarity is the leader’s responsibility. The days of command & control have long passed by. Lighting the path so that people see where we’re going – and why – is a much stronger approach. It starts with seeing from the team’s perspective.

(Likewise for customers.)

If there was no fear …

If there was no fear, everyone would just be courageous enough to do anything.

But there is fear. In real world, our actions have consequences. And these consequences might be not what we like. So we fear the consequences: What if people don’t like this? What if it breaks? What if it’s the wrong direction?

But that’s precisely why fear is such a good compass. It forces us to confront the consequences: Are we willing to take the risk for this vision? Will it be worth it? It forces us to get serious about our vision. To mean it when we say: “We’re heading this way.”

This is the positive side effect of fear. It leads us the way.

If there was no fear associated with our path, everyone would probably be taking it because nobody would fear the consequences. But that not everyone does might just be the reason why it’s worth it.

The point is not to get rid of fear but to navigate fear.

Skip that meeting?

“I’ve got more important business to do so I’ll cancel this meeting.”

Of course, you’ve got more important business to do. That’s out of the question. The real question is why did you agree to the meeting in the first place?

It’s easy to schedule a meeting when it’s a week or more away. It’s much more difficult to schedule a meeting that you actually want to attend when the day has come.

For me, the following question has proven to be a valuable tool: What would this meeting that I’m about to agree to need to provide so that I absolutely wouldn’t want to miss it? Make this specific before agreeing to the meeting. State it clearly and publicly.

Because if people would be ok to miss the meeting, then why should it be ok for the others to reserve the time just in case? If you feel that it will be ok to miss a meeting, you might just as well skip the meeting and schedule one that you wouldn’t want to miss, instead.

This is where we go

How many of your team members are able to say in a few simple words why they do what they do?

While most companies have a mission statement, few companies are actually on that mission – simply because most team members can’t even repeat that mission without reading it from the posters.

Most mission statements are made to sound good, to cover all grounds, or to contain something for everyone. But by being vague, abstract and everything to everyone, they turn out to be easily forgotten and not at all useful for actually making decisions.

What’s much more useful – and thus, much more powerful – is a navigation system. One that makes everyday decisions easier. One that makes everyone pull into the direction.

The other day, I saw a clever slogan that just did this. It said “Quick logistics”. It’s short. It doesn’t sound fancy. Some might even argue, it’s boring.

But it does one thing that all those elaborate 10 bullet point, fancy sounding mission statements don’t achieve. It provides focus and direction, and it makes everyday decisions easy. Whenever a team member is faced with a decision, she can simply ask: Does this help to make delivery quicker? If yes, do it. If not, don’t.

So, where are you headed?

Posts in Tag: Purpose