We believe that despite the barriers, making money and doing social good can coexist. Redefining your company’s vision of success can help.
I was an overconfident teenager, especially when it came to driving. My dad threw me behind the wheel when I was 13 years old, saying “if you’re gonna learn, start doing.” Despite all of my “experience” I found myself on the side of the highway just two weeks after getting my license. As I left my house that sunny, spring morning I noticed that the steering wheel of my Dad’s car was off-center, but I thought nothing of it. Upon reaching 75 miles per hour the wheel began to shake and soon my entire body was flailing and my grasp fading. My confidence quickly waned as I jolted to the side of the off-ramp and called the only man who had all the answers: Dad. I learned later that the wheels of his 1997 Jeep Grand Cherokee were misaligned.
The process of alignment involves adjusting the angles of the wheels so that they match the car manufacturers specifications. When a car’s wheels are misaligned it causes the tires to wear quickly and sometimes unevenly, which is dangerous.
When you think about your organization as a vehicle, you recognize that alignment is crucial to progression and success. If the different “wheels” or facets of your company are pulling in different directions it will result in quick wear, and oftentimes uneven usage of employees, ideas, or funding.
As the public’s demands on corporations have changed, many of Utah’s own organizations have been striving to realign their company’s social impact “tires,”using their mission/purpose statement as manufacturer’s specifications. We’re excited to be learning from organizations like Lendio, Chatbooks, Dev Pipeline, Cotopaxi, Qualtrics, Lucid, and others who are keeping their mission statement front and center, as they focus on creating aligned social value, and not just driving profit. This alignment is both benefiting the organization and the consumers they seek to serve.
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