this was originally posted on monday9am.tv

————————

It occurred to me that if a company doesn’t know its own essence, its reason for being perhaps even its soul then it will, as a result, spend most of its time and money re-inventing itself to react to the world.

It will always be telling the market what it thinks it needs to hear in order the convince that market to act how it wants. That sounds frustrating and expensive.

And I’m not sure that such a company could ever possess the sense of wonder & curiosity that would act as a lighthouse to customers, employees, ideas, funding etc. That also sounds no fun at all. Why do it, why run such a business?

This reason for being is often deep, well hidden and essentially intangible. I have met few who can articulate it, despite many cleverly constructed sentences. I do believe the recognition of this company soul allows it to run freer through everything that organisation does. And I have this idea that it makes many decisions very very simple, particularly the important ones.

Now, I seem to have landed myself in a situation where it’s my job to draw out and capture this intangible company soul on camera, part of my work outside of monday9am. The process is unusual, a ride in which I am not entirely in control.

During a recent assignment in Chicago, I walked into the office and instantly knew ‘it’ was there. All the evidence was there to sense; from client reaction, to the way everyone could look me in the eye, and from the way I could sit there sometimes exhilarated, sometimes peaceful but never ‘not at home’, to the way people spoke about life.

After three days in supposedly random conversations, some filmed & some not, it was obvious to me what the company had, and why most who come in to contact with it end up saying ‘there is just something about …’.

It was also obvious that this intangible element is too easy to forget in preference to the practicalities that we presume will make a more successful company. And in the ‘act of forgetting’, that magic can be lost and life & business becomes one vast struggle. Perhaps a norm that we aren’t even conscious about. If this is the case, then once again WHAT’S THE POINT?

I am currently making this particular film. Perhaps the client will allow me to show you when it’s complete. I think that if you are certain about WHY, certain about your company’s soul then it IS worth showing, unconditionally.

Actually, I believe it is the most essential element you could show the world.