BUSINESS DNA

Your foundation supports your entire business. It’s the base that anchors and supports the business and keeps it stable, even when everything else is changing.

All great companies have a strong foundation. The thing that anchors that foundation is the business DNA, the fundamental building blocks of the business. Just like human DNA, business DNA is unique for every company. There is a big difference, though: Humans are born with their DNA, and it’s present in every cell. Businesses have to shape their DNA over time, and instill it in every employee.

Research over the last 15 years has illuminated the importance of business DNA. Jim Collins made many foundational elements popular in his 1996 book, Built to Last, co-authored by Jerry Porras. While the core buzzwords spread through most Fortune 500 companies, many small to mid-market companies are just now starting to learn the importance of creating a common DNA to strengthen their core.

To put it in more tangible terms, when first considering your business DNA, think about a group of core values or a single guiding principle that is essential to your company and is driven internally instead of externally. Your company’s core values and beliefs are at the very heart of what you do each day and over the years. They’re established by the company leaders, they define the company existence, and they can serve as a compass for strategic decisions. They should not change dramatically over time, if at all.

Operate with a Purpose

Next, consider your company’s purpose. Your purpose is your higher calling–your reason for being. Profit is never a purpose; profit is simply a requirement for survival. For individuals, a purpose is the reason they get up get up each day and live life. For some it’s religion; for others it’s family; for others it might be a challenge or a cause. Great companies have a purpose just like people do. Think of Disney, Southwest Airlines, or Google. Can you see their purpose?

Finally, pull it all together and select an astonishing and distant milestone that will sustain and inspire your people for many years into the future. This is your public agenda. It may seem a bit unattainable, but that’s fine, as long as it is aligned to your purpose. It’s okay if your milestone is a bit crazy or outlandish. The point of the public agenda is to tell everyone, internally and externally, what you’re striving toward. It’s setting a very high bar, focusing on achieving a goal that will take decades of effort to obtain, if ever.

Business DNA Concepts & Steps

Humans are born with their DNA, and it’s present in every cell; businesses are not, so they have to create theirs.

Start by completing a SWOT analysis

• Identify your company strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. A common exercise, the SWOT analysis matrix helps identify what you do well, what you need to improve, external opportunities on which you should attempt to capitalize, and threats that may stand in your way. With all of these factors in front of you, you’ll be able to map out a plan of action that focuses on strengths and opportunities, while minimizing weaknesses and threats.

Select your core values

• Find the values and beliefs that are at the very heart of what you do each day and over the years. These will never change, and they can serve as a compass for strategic decisions.

Identify your purpose

• Your purpose is your higher calling–your reason for being. Identify the impact you want your company to make on the world at large.

Declare your public agenda

• You’ve identified your purpose and selected your core values, so put them together to determine your long-term company goal, a specific achievement to reach in 20 or 30 years in the future–something spectacular that’s almost unthinkable now, yet aligned with your purpose.

Determine actions reinforcing your core values

• Your core values won’t come alive unless you determine the actions that will bring them to life to guide and inspire your people for years to come. A value without an associated action to reinforce it isn’t likely to survive.

What’s next?

Start defining your company culture. Culture starts at the top with the business leadership, so it’s important to gain an understanding of what motivates your key leadership team and create actions and rewards for making your purpose and core values visible within your organization.

Learn about Company Culture