Profit Insights #8: Establish a Compelling Vision. Logotherapy and the Five Whys.

Why do great companies invest time and energy in vision statements, and what does a Holocaust survivor have to teach us about building one? 

In this episode, Alex Franklin draws on Viktor Frankl's Logotherapy, Nietzsche, Seneca, and Jim Collins' Five Whys framework to make the case that a compelling vision is not philosophical fluff. It is a competitive advantage. With a practical worked example from his own business, this episode gives you the tools to establish your own.

Read the full article: ithacacybersecurity.com/establish-a-compelling-vision-logotherapy-and-the-five-whys

Work with Alex: ithacacybersecurity.com | penpole.co.uk

References and Further Reading

Frankl, V. E. (1992). Man's Search for Meaning. Blackstone Publishing. (Original work published 1946)
 Seneca. (2016). Letters from a Stoic, Letter No. LXI. (R. Gummere, Trans.). Dover Publications. (Original work published ca. 65 CE)
 Collins, J. & Lazier, B. (2020). BE 2.0. Penguin Random House UK.

Read all Profit Insights: https://www.ithacacybersecurity.com/insights/

Work with Alex: alex@ithacacybersecurity.com

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hi, it's Alex at Ithaca Cyber Security. On this week's edition of Profit Insights, we have Establishing a Compelling Vision, Logotherapy, and the Five Wys. To provide access to the world's information in one click, Google. To be the Earth's most customer-centric company where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online. Amazon. Increasing investor value by reducing cybersecurity risk. Ithaca cyber security. So there out of those three, of course, there's one of the greatest vision statements ever created. And then two, pretenders. But why do we bother? Why do great companies invest time and energy in vision statements? Isn't it just a bunch of hyperbolic bluff? Something that's pasted into glossy marketing materials a front, just for organizations' real underlying mission, which is of course maximizing short-term shareholder returns. Well, maybe not. So when we look at the 20th-century psychotherapist Victor E. Frankl and his work, it might be able to bring us some insight with his theory of logotherapy. Frankel's thesis expands on the work of his philosophical antecedent, Frederick Nietzsche, who succinctly outlines their collective outlook. Those that have a white to live can bear with almost any how. Now, this is an absolute must read or listen if you haven't done so already. Frankel reveals his death-defy mindset. Even in Auschwitz, he would concentrate on his life and meaning beyond the camp. He dreamed of teaching in a lecture theatre, publishing his reconstructed manuscript, which was taken off of him when he went into Auschwitz. That manuscript is what we're talking about today on logotherapy, and being reunited with his then pregnant wife. Frankel also managed to find meaning through simply enduring his unrelenting hardship with dignity. And although he has a really stark example in his own life, he cautions us against suffering for its own sake. In his view, suffering with a benevolent attitude should only provide meaning if it's absolutely unavoidable. Logotherapy also acknowledges that human meaning is fluid. So changing as our circumstances evolve, both across the short and longer timeframe. So, for example, and this is a personal example, today my purpose might be to support my family. Tomorrow, to help a client. For the next decade, my meaning centres on providing and being present with my family. When I've finished that, when my kids have grown up, maybe I can then discover a new meaning. Do you ever find yourself more irritable or susceptible to low mood during the weekends? I definitely do. And I think it's the lack, and Frankel agrees, well, I've stolen Frankel's idea. Frankel would suggest that the lack of structure, the inward focus, the absence of specific objectives, may be the underlying cause of what Frankel calls Sunday neurosis. Of course, as with much of Western culture and thinking, Frankel's work traces back to the Romans. So logotherapy emphasizes the freedom to choose one's attitude, one's attitude in any given set of circumstances. And this freedom in choosing our thoughts, what Stoic philosophers will call the reasoning faculty, underpins much of the Stoic school of philosophy develops over 1900 years before Frankel's lifetime. The man who must who does something under orders is not happy. He is unhappy who does something against his will. Let us therefore so set our minds in order that we may desire whatever is demanded of us by our circumstances. So that's a quote from the Stoic philosopher Seneca in his 124 letters to Lucilius, and I believe that is letter number 61. The idea of being engrossed in meaningful work is, of course, one I agree with, and it follows then that organizations that unify behind a meaningful vision or mission statement will have a more cohesive and highly motivated workforce, and we could infer greater profits or productivity. The most practical approach I found to establishing a vision statement came out of Stanford University in the early 1990s, and it's called the five wise method. As described by its inventors, Jim Collins and Bill Lazier. Their method asserts that every organization has a purpose, whether that is stated or not. But it's only when this purpose is clarified that it can act as a test for all decisions by asking: is this action consistent with our purpose? Establishing a clear vision statement also has another huge benefit. It helps us say no a lot lot more, and it leverages by doing so the power of the 8020 principle, which I banged on about so much in this Profit Insight series, and is discussed in other recordings and columentaries and YouTubes, wherever you're getting this. So freeing up time for the important stuff is what establishing a clear vision statement is all about from an organizational perspective. Organizations with a defined vision are less likely to get distracted with unprofitable blunders such as strategic inverted commas acquisitions that lack synergy or attractive opportunities from customers really outside of their target market. So it stops the hubris, it stops the overconfidence. We always go back and we ask: Is this action consistent with our purpose? Here's how the five wides method work for me in a recent, not so recent venture actually, in one of my earliest um entrepreneurial ventures, Penball Consulting. What exactly is our purpose? Question. Answer. We provide and manage contractors for the NHS. Question why? Well, to help them with their digital transformation. Question Why do they do that? Answer, well, first we Google the NHS vision statements. Well, so they can provide safer and more efficient patient care. Question. Why is that important? Answer. We help our clients deliver safer, more efficient patient care through quality, long-lasting relationships. Creating a vision statement and consistently using it as a test for all decision making is a critical step. It will motivate you and your colleagues to help you reject 90% of the opportunities that come your way so you or your organization can be a world-class performer in the remaining 10% that you can do better than everyone else. Having a clear why isn't just a philosophical luxury, it is competitive advantage. As Frankel discovered in Humanity's Darkest Hour, meaning provides the strength to endure any challenge and the clarity to choose the right path forward.