The most important, and often most neglected, aspect of leadership in the mortgage industry is understanding, developing, and living out the core purpose of your organization. All too often, leaders try to move their organization forward without defining any kind of central purpose. But the simple truth is that you can't really get anywhere if you don't know where you're going. Purpose is the foundation to productivity, profit, and progress. You simply cannot succeed without it.
So, how do you know what your organization's purpose is? Discovering your purpose can be a long process, but I want to discuss here two simple questions you can ask to get yourself started. First, what comes natural to you? What are you already doing in your organization simply because you're good at it and you simply do it without thinking. Chances are, this can be incorporated as part of your purpose. If it's already a part of who you are, you can make it explicitly by building it into a stated purpose.
One other question to ask is this: what are you better at than 90 percent of the organizations in your industry. Your purpose will undoubtedly be similar to others in the mortgage industry, but you have to have something unique that differentiates you from others. Hang your hat on the unique characteristic that you excel at. What do you do better than anyone else? And what are you already doing because it comes natural to you? Ask these questions, and you will be well on your way to defining your purpose.
David Lykken, a 43-year veteran of the mortgage industry, is president of Transformational Mortgage Solutions (TMS), a management consulting firm that provides transformative business strategies to owners and “C-Level” executives via consulting, executive coaching and various communications strategies. He is a frequent guest on FOX Business News and hosts his own weekly podcast called “Lykken On Lending” heard Monday’s at 1:00 p.m. ET at LykkenOnLending.com. David’s phone number is (512) 759-0999 and his e-mail is [email protected].
