Having long ago left the college scene, I still hear a similar social question around the B2B networking table: “What business are you in?” is one of those loaded questions: “No, what business are you really in?” which can lead to the more provocative: “What’s your passion?” or more to the point, though never asked at the table this way: “Are you achieving your full potential in life?”
Such questions can make one uncomfortable. Even as thousands of people remain unemployed, the questions seem ungratefully out of place. The overriding sentiment is that now is the time to be thankful and to accept what we have.
And therein lies a danger all B2B leaders now face.
It is one thing to be grateful for a job, but it is counterproductive for a company’s workforce to accept status quo. For CEO’s and other business leaders, now is the time to lead; and if you agree that establishing a sense of urgency is the first step to leading organizational change, then you will also agree that now is the time for your marketing and branding disciplines to communicate the change vision for your company.
From the perspective of business leadership, these earlier questions go to the heart of the matter: What business are you in? What is your company’s passion? Is it the purpose of your company to more efficiently sell products, or to create customer relationships that bring greater profitability?
The point being, clarity and consensus is essential to overcoming the entropy that will otherwise hold your company back. As to the need for establishing this clarity and consensus within your company, it depends on your answer to yet another question:
What is your company’s greater business potential?
JB
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