Organic Value vs. Forced Value

Lately, I’ve been learning about the difference between organic value and forced value. The difference is huge, but lies in the question: why? I met with a friend and very successful entrepreneur: Aaron Hageman, president of DDI, Inc. We shared our business challenges and opportunities, talked, analyzed and learned quite a bit in a 3 hour meeting last week.

As a business owner it is one thing to know what you do and how you do it [and to be good at it], but you also need to know why you do it. When you know why you do something your company’s value is organically communicated to your customers. When you don’t know why, you constantly have to force it, explaining to customers the what and the how.

Similarly, when you tell an employee what to do and they don’t know why they are doing it, they most likely will not perform up to par. If they know why, they will find a way to get the result.

The lesson: ask yourself ‘why’ before you start the ‘what’ and ‘how.’ If you know the why, your staff and customers will know too.