One may frame life as a lifelong pursuit of discovering our essence, our core. On some level we are all archeologists searching for a deeper meaning, purpose, understanding of who we are. We all have a part of us that is static, core, unshakable. Yet this core is layered with artifacts saved, treasured as a byproduct of interacting with others, experiencing and expressing different manifestations of our being, and expectations or ideals we have of ourselves. The more we inquire, seek to learn, go deep within ourselves, the more we can start to surface why we exist – our purpose. But getting to the heart of our individual reason for existence requires courage and steadfastness. The strength to face the pain and flurry of emotions that emerges from working to understand oneself and the determination to keep chipping away.

This practice of looking inward, reflecting on changes and evolutions to our core being, starts at an individual level. From only there can we start to ask the question of how might a group of individuals, operating as an organization, a community recognize their group purpose.

How might a group of human beings, generating value-add for the economy and society, taking the form of an entity to do so, have a valid reason to exist? As society places increasing demands on businesses, asking the questions around purpose, mission, values before exercising any spending power as a consumer, businesses are going to have to do deeper work to get to a true, believable answer to the question of why they exist.

This process of uncovering organizational identity is more of a journey, a difficult one, that organizations will need to mentally prepare for and seriously consider as part of their strategy if they want to continue to exist. It’s a process of sensing and responding, an understanding that change and scale may not always be necessary for the particular organization and its phase of growth. As with any journey, exploration of the unknown is a fluid process, one that cannot and should not be rushed. It helps to start with the basics, with what exists, and in this case that means the core essence of the organization, where it came from, where it is going, and who it is now as a living organism of employees.

So that this sense of self, uniqueness as an organization can start to reflect to the outside world, to radiate outwards. With the intention of paving a way for consumers to clearly see and connect with the entity’s identity rather than perceiving an image. Then only a market (of a certain size) may come to an organization, without the organization forcing unnecessary scale or fit without reason. And during an ebb and flow, sense and respond process, organizations can adapt, innovate, change as necessary. As such, an ecosystem of businesses can co-exist, that mirrors the positive symbiotic relationships of humans and nature.