Operating from your center leads to a purposeful life. The same applies to a business. To be operating from your center all your life – is highly unlikely. Often, it isn't until having enough experiences over time that some of us can find our life's purpose.. But; It doesn't have to be that way for a business. Purpose is your "Why." transcript: 01:17 This is Brenda with Next Act Advisors. I'm reading one of my evergreen posts that sits not only on my website www.nextactadvisors.com but also 01:33 You can find this in some of my published posts on LinkedIn. I wrote this blog around 2018 when I was beginning to think about the activities that I would undergo while working with founders of companies. And it truly came back to purposeful organizations, finding your true north. 02:03 Fit for purpose. Operating from your center leads to a purposeful life. The same applies to a business. To be operating from your center all your life is highly unlikely. Often it isn't until having enough experiences over time that some of us can find our life's purpose. It doesn't have to be that way for a business. Purpose is your why. 02:33 The purpose may have originated from an unpleasant customer experience, the inability to get a product on time, exorbitant prices for a particular service, or as the founder of a safety and traceability software company that I worked with in the outpatient chemotherapy sector said there had to be a better way. This founder was a cancer patient himself. 03:03 He was an engineer at Kraft working on the EDI codes for those millennials listening, EDI's Electronic Data Interchange, today's QR codes, for safety and traceability in the food sector. He went for his third cycle of chemotherapy and upon seeing handwritten notes that the treatment he was about to receive was usually reserved for a four cycle. 03:33 He stopped the nurse and said, there's got to be a better way. He adapted and built code for individualized cytostatic treatments with safety and traceability from the manufacturer of the medication to the hospital, to the patient's bedside. He then developed a bedside app for the nurses who were administering the treatments. The end result of this software 04:03 It was no adverse reactions or deaths from medical mistakes and treatments and a 20 % savings per year in hospital procurement of cytostatic drugs. 04:15 The why of your business is your true north. In my experience, successful business owners are more likely to achieve their purpose by operating from a center of authenticity. They're willing to learn and unlearn. They experiment all while not losing their true north, the why. When I work with clients, 04:44 I asked them what company or CEO they admire or who they aspire their company to emulate. Recently, the CEO and co-founder of Whole Foods, John McKay, announced his retirement in September 2022 after 43 years at the helm. In an essay he wrote called, Creating the High Trust Organizations, John stated, 05:13 You know, the single most important requirement for the recreation of higher levels of trust for any organization is to discover or rediscover the higher purpose of the organization. Why does the organization exist? What is it trying to accomplish? What core values will inspire the organization and create greater trust from all of its stakeholders? 05:42 He goes on to share purposeful ideals and companies business models that emulate these ideals. The good, service to others, improving health, education, communication, and the quality of life. Examples, Southwest Airlines, Nordstroms, the Container Store, amazon.com, and Joie de Vivre, hospitality or examples of this great. 06:11 purpose. The good, the true discovery and furthering human knowledge examples, Google, Intel, Genentech and Wikipedia all express this higher aspiration of the true. The beautiful excellence and the creation of beauty. Apple and Berkshire Hathaway share this ideal of beautiful and their own 06:41 unique ways. And finally, another example of purposeful ideals is the heroic courage to do what is right to change and improve the world. Graham and bank and the Gates Foundation expressed this higher purpose in their actions. 07:03 In the announcement by CNBC on September 30th, Whole Foods CEO John McKay on Thursday announced he will retire in 2022 and be succeeded by current COO Jason Bujel. 07:21 Mackey stated in a memo to his staff that he is ready to pursue some of my other life passions after more than four decades at the Amazon owned grocer. He wrote, I've decided that it's time to begin to transition my role as CEO to the next generation of leadership. I have thought long and hard about this and while it is still surreal to write, I have decided to retire on September 1st, 2022. 07:51 Whole Foods, we all know, in the US, is a company. It's operating a very large market, food. They found an unmet need and started with a purpose. This is what John McKay had to say to his employees about his purpose in life. Many people can go their entire lives without ever discovering their higher purpose. 08:18 But I was lucky enough to discover mine back in 1976 when I was living in a vegetarian co-op named Prana House in Austin, two years before we first opened Safer Way. 08:33 I ask you, listener, how basic can grocery shopping be? Whole Foods was born with a purpose to provide natural, nutritious food. In my work at Next Act Advisors, there are three tenets that I look for that help founders along the journey of honoring their true north. 09:02 A large addressable market. 09:06 Early team members, maybe a co-founder, who also share the purpose and advocate this among team members as the company scales. Good communication, transparent and focused. Say what you mean and mean what you say. You will track the talent that shares your purpose. 09:33 If you are authentic and willing to learn and experiment, I would be very honored to serve you at Next Act Advisors. Thank you.