Why do you exist?

That’s a deep question. Whether you apply it to an individual, yourself, a team, a community, a movement, or a brand, there is no easy way to answer.

Sometimes the simplest solutions are the hardest to reach. This is one of those cases.

Sure, give someone 500 words, and they can answer it, but that’s not really helpful for anyone curious about the reply. You must be clear and concise.

That reminds me of one of my favorite quotes from Mark Twain (paraphrase): “I was going to write you a short letter, but I didn’t have the time, so I wrote a long one.”

There lies the work, and to be honest, answering this query with three or fewer words is worth the effort. Furthermore, I love this type of work, but that’s me. As you know, if it were easy, everyone would do it. And as you know, maybe from experience, since it isn’t easy, you haven’t done it. And chances are, neither has your competition.

And that’s the opportunity. So, what are you going to do about it?

I know what I’d do about it. Here’s what you shouldn’t do:

– Hire someone who says they can make it easy and get it done cheap.
– Use AI to regurgitate an answer. (But definitely use AI to research, ideate, test, and explore)
– Have an employee or consultant do it without letting them ask a million questions.
– Act with ego, opinion, whim, or emotion.
– Make up some BS.

Now, what I would do:

1. Ask a million questions.
2. Then talk with as many of your team, collaborators, clients, and prospects as possible, to listen and hear what they see and think.
3. Write the story a couple of times.
4. Tell the story a couple more times.
5. Go back to writing a little more and fine-tune it.
6. Then, let it marinate in your subconscious mind, while moving it from your conscious thinking.
7. Give it some time.
8. Experience the epiphany, then start using it internally, slowly, then externally, a little faster.
9. Watch, listen, and gather all the feedback, see if it felt right and how closely it hit the target. Use as many of your senses as possible, write it, say it, hear it, etc.
10. Revise and hone some more, with experimentation, while resisting the urge for perfection (tip: there is no such thing). Still, don’t overthink it, settle on something that is “good enough” for this phase of your journey, while keeping an open mind for change in the future.

How would you answer this question, either as a personal or a company brand?

I’ll start. I exist to inspire.

Now it’s your turn.

We had a good bit of responses when I posted this on LinkedIn the other day. Hit reply with your answer, or go to the post and get social to keep the conversation going. Click here!