Making money is not a mission

The internet is full of people who boast how much money their companies made, or how much they grew their company. Whenever I come across such a message, I can’t help myself but think: Was this their only motive?

We know it is possible. There are companies that set out a goal to be 10 times more profitable than last year, and some of them achieve this goal. But how do they do it?

Do their employees know what the company is about, or are they just coming up with any idea to turn the resources they have into something that makes more money?

Do they know their constraints? If there are no constraints at all, given the nature of humans, it is completely up to the individuals what they are comfortable doing. This might include lying to customers, telling or spreading lies about competitors, lying to investors. There are plenty of examples where this happened.

It is also the reason why some people believe that money is evil. But money is not evil. It is just a tool. A tool that humans attach some energy to, and without any constraints it will just do what free energy does… It creates some chaos, and will eventually dissipate. This can happen in an explosion, an implosion, or slowly – almost unnoticed.

If you, yourself, are just there for the money, you can do it this way. But in my experience - leaders are usually in it for something else. They do want to create something lasting.

They direct money energy to shape something meaningful: The money is just the tool to prove that, not the driver itself.

Successful teams know their constraints, such as a mission, a shared vision, existing or ideal customer relationships, a common culture, and their financial goals and limitations.

Sometimes this might be easy and straightforward. But the real challenge comes when there is lots of ambiguity, or when the company’s ownership changes, and they - rightfully - want to see some return on investment. Or at least a coherent story on how this investment can be achieved.

Naturally, there should be only one story coherent enough to explain to the team how to produce results, and to the investors how they get their returns.

Even for experienced leaders that can be difficult, especially if they are no longer used to ambiguity. Plans rarely pass the reality check after the first draft. Iterations happen.

Two things can go wrong:

• The company might end up with one story for the investors, and a different one for the team. Even if the numbers match up, the investors might lose trust in such a situation. I have seen this happen - too often.
• An overburdened leader might turn the investors’ return-on-investment goals into the company’s mission. I talked about this in the beginning: Team culture and the company’s differentiation will die - in an explosion or a slow erosion.

So, what needs to happen to keep stories aligned - even in times of high ambiguity?

Well, it is clear that this is a difficult task. And if something is difficult there is one thing that helps: Do it more often.

If you are interested in tips on how to establish a more continuous storytelling framework, write me an email and I will forward a worksheet that helps you pressure-test if your team story and investor story still match.

With care,

Martin