
John and I talked about The Commitment Engine and here’s what he had to say:
What is the driving force behind The Commitment Engine?
The thing that started me on the quest to write this book was a desire to understand why one seemingly successful entrepreneur felt completely fulfilled by their business while another seemingly successful entrepreneur felt their business was sucking the life out of them. I started with the happy customer and worked my way back to the happy owner and found the commitment connection.
Why do you think clarity, community and culture are so important?
What I discovered is that they are the common bond in companies that I call commitment engines – clarity is strategy, culture is clarity amplified and community is the natural outcome of clarity.
What is the business value of focusing on these things?
While I talk about things like peace, grace and love in this book, I also draw a very direct line between clarity of purpose and profit. When an organization is crystal clear about the single-minded “why” of what they do, they will attract a staff that shares this purpose and that staff will care for the community in a way the breeds extreme customer loyalty – perhaps the most profitable characteristic of all.
I don’t know about you, but this makes perfect sense to me. And as I read the book, it’s got me thinking about the companies I know who seem to be truly focused on clarity, community and culture (and I’m happy to say we have several of them as clients), and how they’re so very different from other companies who are only focused on profitability.
My friend Marjorie Clayman wrote a terrific review of The Commitment Engine, and you should check it out, because she talks about completely different things than John and I covered here.
If you’d like to know more, you need to buy the book, doggone it. And really? I’m pretty sure you won’t be disappointed. And for our Kansas City friends, there’s a reception at the Kansas City Public Library on Wednesday, October 24th that starts at 6 p.m. You should most definitely register and come join us to hear John talk about this. I’m pretty sure he said that drinks were on him, but we’ll have to ask him when we get there. (I crack myself up sometimes) (seriously).