Story Driven: You don't need to compete when you know who you are

by Bernadette Jiwa

What every endeavour has in common is time. Time is the constant.

We achieve maximum impact only when all five elements of our story—backstory, values, purpose, vision, and strategy—are prioritised over time.

you can’t experience a sense of fulfilment, even in the face of material success, unless you believe in those choices. It’s impossible to be intentional and deliberate if you don’t articulate and prioritise what’s important to you.

The Power of Your Backstory Your company’s journey to now

Understanding your company’s backstory is akin to looking directly into your eyes in your reflection in the mirror—not to survey your appearance, attributes or flaws, as we are prone to do, but to begin to recognise who you are.

The Importance of Values Your company’s guiding values

‘It’s not hard to make decisions when you know what your values are.’ —Roy Disney

When our values and behaviours are in sync, we experience a sense of equilibrium, and when they’re not, we feel disappointed and dissatisfied.

An organisation’s culture is a manifestation of its values.

The Value of Purpose Your reason to exist

Successful businesses are powered by people who feel fulfilled. Having a strong sense of purpose is good for people, and it’s good for business, too.

As we know, customers, users and donors increasingly want to support businesses that share their values.

The things that came between who she was and who she wanted to be.

Loyalty is achieved only with resonance.

VisioN Your aspiration for the future

Without a purpose, we don’t know why we’re on the journey. But without a vision, we don’t know the destination.

Your mission is your purpose—which is the term I prefer and have chosen to use for the sake of clarity.

Your purpose is why you do what you do today and every day. Your vision is your aspiration for the future—the contribution you or your work will make.

‘Searchable Log of All Conversation and Knowledge’—which

Strategy The alignment of opportunities, plans and behaviour

Think of your strategy as a path of stepping stones that you navigate to your goal.

He learned that ‘one of the really tough things is figuring out what questions to ask,’ but ‘once you figure out the question, then the answer is relatively easy.’

What things will have a great impact on the future of humanity’s destiny?

VALUES Guiding beliefs Being useful Curiosity Determination Imagination Boldness Community

Family

Passion

Practicality

Design products ‘that are beautiful to look at but also a pleasure to use’.

Openness

Collaboration

‘Togetherness

Cost-consciousness

Simplicity

Renew and ...

‘To create the little things that have a big impact on people’s days’.

‘Create a portfolio of better products that solve everyday problems.’

‘The one thing that you have that nobody else has is you. Your voice, your mind, your

An epiphany of some kind has been the catalyst for many an entrepreneurial journey.

But there was very little instruction about how to become wise to ourselves. We were encouraged to find out what we were good at, but not to figure out what we stood for and how we came to stand for it. We learned the value of making good choices, but not to understand why we felt they were the right ones. We became good at telling people what they wanted to hear and stifled what we wanted to say.

‘Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.’ — Søren Kierkegaard

A great company respects and nurtures the people it employs and the customers it serves. A great company doesn’t just thrive because it’s profitable; it’s profitable because it helps people to thrive. Great companies leave the world better than they found it—which is why those of us responsible for creating and building businesses must be as clear about the way we get to our destination as we are about what that destination is.

The secret to being exceptional is in the small choices we make moment-to-moment.

Ordinary people, making small choices that transform them into the people who are creating the future we all want to see.

But if we ‘make it’ by doing things that don’t resonate with our values or by forsaking our humanity and identity, we will never feel like a success.

What does your good day look like? What are your reasons to be alive and doing what you do as only you can? You need to know. Because what we do today affects who we’ll become tomorrow.