Profits with a Purpose

I spent this past week at the Inc sponsored "Grow Your Company (or GROWCO for short) event in Nashville.  What a great week!  I had the opportunity to meet Jeff Haden (one of my favorite writers with Inc.), took a class with Kevin Daun who challenged me to change the way I pitch my business, and listened to Les Mckeon about creating leaders in my organization.

I even was in the room when Mark Cuban created a controversy about race by telling the truth...but that's another story.

The one glaring thing that I took away from the GrowCo event this year was the Power of Purpose in growing an organization.  Bert Jacobs, from Life is Good, was really impactful.  Wearing a t-shirt that said "All Who Wander Are Not Lost" Bert told the story of his company and what they are all about.  His company, from my perspective, really understood their purpose.

The purpose of your organization is what drives passion, innovation and even profits.  The purpose is why you want to get out of bed in the morning...and why your employees want to rock stars for you.  Your purpose can even make hiring and finding talent easier, because it helps find people that want to be a part of what you are all about.

So I think what this event made me do is dig deeper on this issue.  I am excited about that.  I have always wanted to create a great company.  I have always wanted to make the world a better place from me being in it.  My hope now is that by targeting that purpose, I can do both...even better.