Know What You’re FORChikamu

FOR You

Too often, we measure our success by comparing ourselves to other people, while rarely pausing long enough to ask ourselves a better question: “What is my potential?”

This is the question of excellence, a pathway to harvesting more of our potential that will result in greater impact for others. I believe there is enormous, untapped potential in businesses and nonprofits. But ultimately organizations don’t move toward potential; people do. When enough people move closer to their potential, the momentum it will generate will move the business forward.

It’s not enough to be FOR the customer, team, and community. You have to understand how to be FOR you—to grow and move closer to your own potential. 

One of the best ways you can be FOR the customer, the team, and the community is giving them an inspired, healthy you. Like anything, life flows from a source. The life of an organization, or lack thereof, flows from the people of the organization.

It’s impossible to have a healthy organization with unhealthy people. 

And eventually an unhealthy organization can be turned around with healthy people. The question is, “What kind of life is flowing from you and me? 

You, Inc.

If you were a corporation, we would begin with the two FOR questions:

• What do you want to be known FOR?
• What are you known FOR?

The reality is that many people haven’t done the introspective work of asking themselves these two questions.

What do you want to be known FOR?

I’ll admit. It’s an intimidating question, so let’s learn from Truett Cathy. His life verse from the Bible answered this question for him. Proverbs 22:1 (ESV) reads, “A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches.” 

It may make us uncomfortable to talk about our personal brand, but in essence that’s what a good name means. In other words, to ask how you can improve your “good name” is another way to ask how you can improve your “personal brand.” But this isn’t ultimately about you. It’s actually a great way to be FOR the customer, team, and community. For this to happen, we’re going to need a healthy and inspired you—clear on your purpose, locked in on purpose, remaining inspired.