Synopsis

Your “why”–the emotionally charged connection you have with your work–is the most important thing you can figure out about your business. If you don’t know why you do what you do, you’ll never fulfill your professional dreams.

Often your “why” goes back to an experience early in your life. Ivan Misner’s “why” dates back to an experience when he was a freshman in high school. The history teacher, Mr. Romero, selected Ivan to serve as a representative on the student council–a position he had wanted in middle school but not been elected for. Ivan’s classmates didn’t want him to hold the position, even though none of them had volunteered. Because he wanted so badly to prove himself, Ivan was determined to do his best.

At the end of the year, Ivan ran for student council, and this time his classmates elected him by a landslide. He was president of the student body in his senior year.

Dr. Misner’s entire life’s work centers around giving other people the same opportunity to succeed that Mr. Romero gave him.

When people understand your “why”, they understand you. And when they understand you, they can refer you.

Share your emotionally charged connection to your business in the comments.

Brought to you by Networking Now.

Complete Transcript of Episode 451 –

Priscilla:

Hello everyone and welcome back to the Official BNI Podcast, brought to you by NetworkingNow.com, which is the leading site on the net for networking downloadables. I am Priscilla Rice, and I am coming to you from Live Oak Recording Studio in Berkeley, California. I am joined on the phone today by the Founder and the Chief Visionary Officer of BNI, Dr. Ivan Misner. Hello, Ivan. How are you today?

Ivan:

I am doing great, Priscilla, and I think we are following up today on last week’s podcast, where you brought up a topic and we realized that I had never talked about that. Do you want to share what that topic was, that you asked me a question about?

Priscilla:

Sure. I wanted to know what your motivations were and why you do what you do. Then you suggested that it led you to a whole story from your teacher, Dr. Romero. Mr. Romero, I am sorry.

Ivan:

Yeah, Mr. Romero. He was my high school teacher. I realized in our conversation that I had never talked about this in any of our podcasts. It is so important. It is my emotionally charged connection, which is why I do what I do. This is really important because your “why” as a business person- if you are listening to this podcast I really want you to think about this because your “why” is the most important thing that you can figure out in business. It is the reason you do the things that you are passionate about.

If you don’t know your “why” you can never come full circle and really fulfill your professional dreams or your personal dream if you don’t have a good understanding of your “why”. Oftentimes, your “why” is connected to something that someone did, positive or negative. It can be negative. Mine was a positive experience. Mine was a negative experience where something positive happened. It is usually tied to someone in your life- a coach, a teacher, an aunt, a spiritual mentor, a professional mentor. Someone who has made a difference for you. It is often when you are young.

As a matter of fact, it is generally when you are young. Go back as far as you can. It could have been when you were a young adult maybe, but oftentimes, it is even farther back.

I have certainly had people make a difference in my life, but one of the people who made a huge difference in my life- in freshman high school, I had a teacher who made a huge difference in my life, Mr.