One of the key concepts I use in my consulting is the principle of "Start With Why," introduced by leadership thinker Simon Sinek. Before you worry about what you're selling or how you'll go about selling it, it's important to ask yourself why you're doing it in the first place. Why are you in the business you are in? What drives you? What is your purpose? If you don't ask this question, your work will end up mediocre at best, and catastrophic at worst.
As important as it is for you to ask yourself why you do what you do, it's also important as a leader for you to ask the same thing of your team. Why do your people do what they do? What drives them? What is their purpose? Think back to your last interview. What kinds of questions did you ask the person hired? Maybe you asked them about their experience. Maybe you asked them about their education. Maybe you asked them about skills specific to the position for which they were applying. These are all important questions, but did you remember to ask them, "Why?"
"Why do you want to work for us?" This is perhaps the most important question you will ever ask in an interview. The point is to get at the heart of what drives the job candidate. Is that person just looking for a job, or are they driven by a core set of values that they see mirrored in your company? Take a look at your team. Who is working for you just to have a job, and who is working for you because their "why" compels them to? Build a team dedicated to purpose, and you'll have a company committed to success.
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].
