I like asking founders I work with this question,
‘What’s the most magical thing about your business?”
I like asking founders this question because if there’s a vivid, sincere, heartfelt and consistently prioritised response in the founder’s mind, they physically change in the seconds before they answer.
‘What’s the most magical thing about your business?”
Eyes widen. They smile open-mouthed. Both eyebrows raise by a full 10mm. Their eyes lock on my eyes. The palms of their hands open and face me as fingers splay. And just before the founder speaks, their eyes – quick-as-a-flash – flick right and left, as if checking for poachers as they reveal all. The founder becomes, well, childlike.
Try it. Ask yourself. ‘What’s the most magical thing about my business?” Answer quickly and instinctively. If you get the childlike thing, that’s amazing! Hold on to it. Home in on it. Anchor it at the heart of your business – for good. And if you don’t get the childlike thing, you likely have a problem. So pause. Rethink. Think back to why you started. Think back to the change you wanted to make – on day one. Be childlike. And go again.