Who Are You?

What do you do before you talk with strangers? You introduce yourself. You tell them who you are.

Who Are You? The answer to that question is at the heart of any human relationship. It’s the basis of trust.

But before you can answer, you need to ask yourself, who do you think you are?

Organizations are the same way. Your name is just one piece of information. What you do is another. Why you do what you do is the most important piece of all.

Some people call these mission and vision statements.

What do you believe? What do you aspire to? What truths do you hold to be self-evident?

Write them down on paper. Then discuss them with those you trust. In the end you’ll reach a consensus on who you are as an organization of humans . . . and what you want to be.

Once you know who you are and what you believe, you can tell the world what you think.

And you don’t have to invent an entirely new rationale each time you speak.