The Soulful Blueprint for Building a Lasting Business

how human-centered leadership, aligned messaging, and strategic development create holistic impact

So you want to build a business? 

If you’re new to the “construction” industry, welcome! You’re on a path to wield a power that few dare to possess. If you’ve been around for a while, then you’re already planning for a long-term commitment with significant effects. Whether you’re just starting out or a seasoned expert, business-building is an on-going journey of discovering how you can positively and substantially impact not only your own life, but also the lives of your stakeholders.

From employees and investors to customers and communities, embodying a holistic approach that nurtures your whole can strengthen your reputation and establish your brand as a go-to favorite in your field. What does it take to build such a positive business with a foundation in human care and a legacy of trustworthiness? Assess your soul and your surroundings with the following questions as you blaze your trail. 

First and foremost, what meaning are you making?

Before offering what you do, clarify why you’re doing it. Why are you building a business? What ultimate good would this endeavor do for you, for others, and for the economy? Why are you designing a particular product or service? What needs are you serving for your target audience(s)? When you anchor every aspect of your organization to the meaning it’s making—to the needs it’s serving and the impact it’s leaving—you can facilitate strong individual, organizational, and communal connections. 

To create goodness, look to servant leadership for guidance. Servant leadership suggests that putting the needs of others before your own will lead to overall organizational success. It encourages you to build well by listening to what your stakeholders need to flourish; creating opportunities, resources, and solutions that speak to these needs; and ensuring that every aspect of your business is collaborating to add value to your spheres of influence. 

BOOK RECOMMENDATION: The Go-Giver by Bob Burg & John David Mann

A modern business parable that flips traditional success thinking, showing how putting others first and focusing on value creation can lead to extraordinary personal and professional results.

For example, to nurture employees and cultivate a sense of belonging and support, you can embed a mentorship program at the individual level, emphasize the design and stewardship of developmental paths at the team or departmental level, and instill a dynamic serving culture at the organizational level. When it comes to clients and customers, you can learn what they expect of you and your business, prioritize authenticity and transparency to earn their trust, empathize with their lived experiences, and offer bridges that close the gaps in their needs and desires.

As employees recognize a healthy space for psychological safety and whole-person empowerment, their organizational commitment is likely to strengthen, increasing engagement and decreasing turnover. As customers build trust in and form attachments to brands, they become a built-in sales funnel (and even advocacy funnel) through brand loyalty. By supporting positive business, investors risk the loss of short-term financial gains for the hope and wonder of long-term collective wellbeing. When owners, employees, and investors center themselves around customer fulfillment and community alignment, an organization can expand its positively perceived reach, grounding itself even more in meaning, through corporate social responsibility. 

After clarifying and structuring your meaning, consider: What messages are you communicating?

Your messages create memories. What do people remember about you and your business? What do you want them to remember? To encourage positive memories about your business, your messaging should invite others into the meaning you're making and reflect your core values and brand story. In fact, your core values are essential for clearly, consistently, and cohesively communicating your brand identity. 

It is highly recommended for job applicants to familiarize themselves with an organization’s core values as they prepare their cover letter, resume, and interview responses. Relating to an organization's core values helps to determine person-organization fit. This means that clear values can attract better matched candidates. To imprint your clear messages on the minds of others, your core values should be ingrained into every aspect of your business. Get creative in assessing the consistency and repetition of your core values by retooling a 360-degree feedback template to evaluate value integration of all organizational processes and levels. 

BOOK RECOMMENDATION: The Art of Possibility, by Rosamund & Benjamin Zander

Part inspiration, part leadership guide, this book reimagines challenges as opportunities, urging leaders to lead with creativity, possibility-thinking, and the belief in the human potential within organizations.

Regarding cohesiveness, take notes from the design industry. In Freeform’s Project Runway series, contestants are often challenged to create cohesive collections in which each piece has a unique personality but together they all tell one story. Similarly, you can customize the application of your core values in different aspects of your organization, while together they share the same message of what your business stands for. Your core values provide parameters for discerning and managing the who, what, when, where, why, and how of your business. They’re not just cute little feel-good words on your website. They’re your guiding light in aligning every message you convey with how you want to be remembered. 

Along with your core values, your strengths stories can add depth and direction to your messaging. What do you take pride in? What sets you apart from other businesses and business-builders? Center your brand story on what you bring to the table: a unique perspective, a relatable background, a transformational strategy. Give potential customers a mirror in which they see their own reflection, their own lives, in your messaging and offerings. Encourage them to celebrate the moment they see themselves in you because they have discovered an oasis of answers to their questions, of solutions to their problems. Partner with them in expanding their own strengths story from yours by equipping them with your products and services.

As you build confidence in your messaging, ask yourself: What measures are you improving?

At this point, you know your “why” and the words that bring your business to life. You know the meaning behind your messaging, influencing others to buy into your authentic story and aligned offerings. Now, it’s time to level up your initiatives. What systems and operations are you drawn to take action on? How do you analyze and execute positive improvements? Wait, aren’t improvements positive in nature? Not necessarily. Sometimes we obsess over what we think should be improved and miss what actually needs to be improved. How can we grow in our awareness of the right refinements?

First, it helps to pinpoint whether you prioritize quantity or quality in your approach to business. Both are important. Neither should be ignored. But we tend to compartmentalize these concepts, unintentionally positioning them to compete rather than collaborate with one another. A biased focus on quantity may generate a tried-and-true system for cost management but miss out on the benefits of innovation and adaptability. A biased focus on quality may advocate for sustainable practices and positive work environments but underestimate foundational financial needs. 

BOOK RECOMMENDATION: The Infinite Game by Simon Sinek

Sinek challenges leaders to think beyond short-term wins, focusing on building enduring organizations through trust, ethical leadership, and an unwavering commitment to long-term purpose.

In essence, a quantitative approach thinks about “what” and “how”. What do you want and how can you get it? A qualitative approach thinks about “who” and “why”. Who are you serving and why should they come to you? If you are a natural quantitative thinker, challenge yourself to grow in quality and vice versa. A positive business model is rooted in working together, not only between stakeholders but also in practices and operations.  

Are you a good balance of process and people-minded?

On a related but different note, assess whether your approach is more process-minded or people-minded. Again, both serve important purposes and are necessary for organizational flourishing, but overemphasizing one at the expense of the other can be detrimental. If you are more process-minded, your strengths may shine in operational efficiency and performance measurement but fall short on employee engagement or customer service. If you are more people-minded, you may passionately design opportunities for employee development and pride yourself on customer satisfaction but fall behind in technological integration or rely too heavily on intuitive rather than data-driven decision-making. 

A process-thinker is highly skilled in building a house, cementing the basics needed to survive. A people-thinker is highly skilled in making that house a home, tending to the details that allow it to thrive. Which are you? Make sure to give whichever you are not extra care and consideration because a positive business strives towards practical hospitality. That is, a space that nourishes our economy while honoring our humanity. 

So you want to build a business? 

Good! Fill your supply closet with insightful guidance and valuable resources. Make sure to ground yourself in meaning, align your core messaging, and expand the measures you’re taking to make a lasting, holistic impact. You have the opportunity to cultivate economic gains and soul-inspiring goodness—powers that beautifully complement each other when wielded with a positive approach to business.

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