And how about company purpose?

The easiest way to figure out what company purpose is about, is to figure out what it is they are celebrating, and who with.

Likewise, to figure out what your personal purpose may be about, is to take a look at celebrations you have been involved.

In my family we make a lot of effort in marking the new year. We celebrate birthdays and holidays. Some of the celebrations are about the end of a seasons (harvest), we commemorate death and dramatic past events (such as end of World War I, 100 years ago). Though some of these stem from deeper purpose, most of them do not to us. We are not deeply religious, nor are we farmers – so holidays may not mean as much to us as it means to some.

They merely mark the passing of time.

To me, what we celebrate is far less interesting than the who we celebrate with.

Just take notice of the activity and fuss involved and you will easily spot the difference. Major, non-recurring events such as weddings, births and funerals are more meaningful to us and will involve more groups of people than some of the automatically recurring ones. Events in which we involve close stakeholders such as neighbours, friends and family are key to our family purpose.

Business Awareness can be achieved provided you have a clearunderstanding of the relationship you have with stakeholders.

• Primary Business stakeholders will likely include employees, customers, shareholders, suppliers and maybe the community you operate in.
• Secondary stakeholders may include financial stakeholders, competitors, institutions, goverments, non-profits you sponsor etc.

Business Awareness is about finding a common purpose and determine common goals to inspire all stakeholder groups.

So: when your company celebrates, who do you party with?