What is the Heart & Soul of Your Business?

“It isn’t equipment that wins battles; it is the quality and the determination of the people fighting for a cause in which they believe.” Gene Kranz

What will it profit business people if they made all the money but lose their heart and soul in the process? Without the care and human feel that comes from the heart and the thoughts of how to make life better for others, we lose our humanity. When we lack human empathy and care, we become more like machines and animals. We tend to see all humans as a means to an end.

To have a heart means to possess human skills of kindness, empathy, and generosity. To have a soul means to be authentic and focus on others rather than on yourself. When an organization doesn’t have a heart and soul, it becomes a place where people act more like robots and machines than as humans.

Our soul is evoked when we go after something that is heroic, bigger than life. Our heart is evoked when we love and care for people. When our soul gets committed to whatever we are doing, we will find a way to make it happen. Bringing the heart and soul into a business is the best way to unleash the potential of your organization. Any organization that stirs up the heart and soul of its people will bring out the best in people.

This is exactly what the Truly Human Business Model does: It commits the heart and soul of everyone in that business. The heart of a business is its people-centric purpose, while its soul is the promise that purpose makes to people. The promise of a purpose is the cause the business is fighting. These are the foundation of a business.

Every business should have a purpose it exists and a cause it is fighting for. Talents should be drawn to the company because of its purpose and the cause it is fighting not what it pays. If the purpose is people-centric and the cause is bigger than life, it will attract the kind of people who want to help it fight its cause.

The question to ask is why do you exist and what cause does your business exist to fight? While researching on this, three particular companies came to my mind: Barry-Wehmiller, Google, Apple and Luck Companies. Each on of these organizations exist for a reason, fights a cause, attract the kind of people who will help fight the cause and create an environment that galvanize the efforts of its people to fight the cause.

You inspire your people with a purpose and challenge them with the cause. Bob Chapman, the Chairman and CEO of Barry-Wehmiller, describes purpose as “The purpose of every great business is usually something deeper and more transcendent. Aligned with having a positive impact on the world and on the lives of the people.”

Barry-Wehmiller

Purpose of Barry-Wehmiller: We’re in business so that all our team members can have a meaningful and fulfilled lives.

Cause Barry-Wehmiller Fights: Build A Better World By Caring For Its People

What The Do: Build Machineries

Alphabet

Purpose of Alphabet: Empower great entrepreneurs and companies to flourish.

Cause Alphabet Fights: Be an unconventional company

What They Do: Create Digital Platforms

Apple Inc

Purpose of Apple: To create products that enrich people’s daily lives

Cause Apple Fights: Make a ding on the world. Make a contribution to the world by making tools for the mind that advance humankind

What The Do: Build Computers, phones and other gadgets

Luck Companies

Purpose of Luck Companies: Ignite the extraordinary human potential through value-based leadership

Cause Luck Companies Fights: Make a positive difference in the world

What The Do: Quarries and real estates

Your purpose towards your employees is a caring relationship while that towards your customers is transformation. The promise of your purpose which is the cause you exist to fight is what produce your value proposition to both your employees and customers. To your employees, it becomes your culture. While to your customers it is your impact.

The cause you are fighting should complement your purpose. A small organization with a cause will be resilient and formidable than a big organization without a cause to fight. Why does the hero always beat the villain? Simply because the hero has a cause to protect people’s lives. A cause can keep you awake in the night thinking of ways to serve people.

“You lose nothing when fighting for a cause… In my mind the losers are those who don’t have a cause they care about.” Mohammed Ali

People fall in love with your organization when it has a heart and a soul (purpose and a cause it is fighting or advancing). Every human wants to be part of something that is bigger than life. We want to experience abundance that unleashes our potential and ingenuity. We want to collaborate with others to create and make life better for others. That is a deep rooted and seated human needs. That is what keeps people alive: knowing you are fighting a good cause for humanity.

The Business Model Canvas and the Lean Canvas don’t address this. The are more focused on having a business that makes profit and motivates its people than have a business with a heart and soul. That is what separates the Truly Human Business Model from others. It factors in every stakeholder and unleashes the humanity in everyone to create a workplace where people act like families.

Most businesses have lost their heart and soul, however when they adopt the Truly Human Business Model, they will experience a restoration. They will care for their people and create an environment that allow people to be all they can be and do all they can do. In the process, everyone will be seen and treated as humans. Our humanity shines through when we are fighting collaboratively a cause that is bigger than life.

In January 2022, I will be holding a Truly Human Business Model Design Masterclass. In this Masterclass, you will learn how to design a people-centered purpose for your business, employee value proposition, truly human culture, employee and customer experience and more. It will be on Zoom. If you are interested to joining, kindly email me at trulyhumanconcept@gmail.com