Do you work in a good company but not sure what the future holds?
If you answer “Yes”, you work in a non-prophet company.
What is a prophet?
The English word prophet comes from the Greek word προφήτης (profétés) meaning advocate or speaker. Every successful organization needs a prophet who advocates for a bright future.
In business, prophets describe a better future and lead a process to achieve it. The Wall Street Journal called Steve Jobs a secular prophet. Jobs was extraordinary in countless ways—as a designer, an innovator, a leader. But his most singular quality was his ability to articulate a form of hope through a strategic plan.
If you and your leaders have not discussed corporate strategy during the past twelve months, I don’t need the gift of prophecy to accurately predict your future. If you keep doing what you’re doing, you’ll keep getting what you’ve been getting.
Business prophets consistently influence what happens in the next twelve months by defining a strategy. A strategy is “a coordinated and integrated set of five choices: a winning aspiration, where to play, how to win, core capabilities, and management systems.”
3-Steps to become a corporate prophet
Step #1: Read Playing to Win by A. G. Laley and Roger L. Martin. This book is the playbook used by super-successful Procter & Gamble. By reading it you will know more about how to create a successful strategy for adding customers than anyone else in your company.
Step #2: Write your company WHY. Push aside your corporate mission & vision statements and author a 7 to 8 word WHY your company exists. Simon Sinek says in his best-selling book Start With Why, “People don’t buy WHAT you do, they buy WHY you do it.”
A committee cannot write a good WHY. It will be frustrating and you’ll end up with a camel instead of a race horse. Writing a WHY is a one person job. Your job.
Defining your organization’s Why is the simplest, most powerful method to prophesy your future. CLICK HERE to request a list of the 8 characteristics of a great Why statement and several examples.
Step #3: Seek out a mentor. Find someone who has achieved what you want to achieve, and is available to respond to questions from you, in order to help you achieve your goal of defining a prophesy for your organization more quickly, with less friction. A mentor generally waits to be asked for help, and is reactive more than proactive. If you want to discuss mentoring CLICK HERE.
A prophecy is no good if you don’t end up somewhere new and better.
I prophesy the three steps listed above will get you started on the path to a brighter future.