From ‘Why’ to sustainable impact 03 Januari 2023

"The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why."
- Mark Twain

A quote that really appeals to me. It touches the core of what life is all about, as a person but also as an organization. If you know the answer to the why question and remind yourself of it every day, it helps you to make a thousand and one choices.

The Golden Circle
Simon Sinek also has this vision. He developed the 'Golden Circle', a tool that answers the Why-How-What question of an entrepreneur or company. Sinek discovered that behind every successful brand lies the same way of thinking, acting, and communicating, which is completely the opposite of how the majority thinks, acts, and communicates. According to his vision, successful organizations all start from the core (Why). Why do we do the things we do? Then they answer how they do it (How). How do we do things and how is that distinctive? Then answer the what-question (What). What are you going to make or sell in the end?

The ’why’ from DeltaZuid
Of course, DeltaZuid also asked itself the why-question. Why did we start DeltaZuid? What is our drive? What is our Why? That question turned out not to be so easy to answer. An initial formulation was something like: 'We want to help organizations grow and be successful'. But this was still far too superficial and generic. Isn't this what every company wants to achieve for its customers? No, this is not yet the answer we get excited about, where we get out of bed enthusiastically in the morning. By constantly asking ourselves the why question, we really got to the heart of the matter:

“We believe in the power of branding and we are convinced that this is the key to sustainable growth. We use this for meaningful companies. That is our contribution to a more beautiful world.”

But what does this concretely means and what impact can we make with this? If we dive deeper into our 'Why', it consists of a number of parts:

The power of branding: We believe that companies that build their brand in a structured way can steer the growth of their business in a much more focused way. Our proven way of building brands helps organizations to do this.

Meaningful companies: By meaningful, we mean companies that are not only profit-driven but are also committed to making a positive contribution to our beautiful world.

A more beautiful world: If we help meaningful companies to be relevant in this world, we indirectly contribute to making the world a bit more beautiful.

Impact statement
Of course, this all sounds very nice and perhaps a bit holistic, which is why we have linked an impact statement to it. An impact statement is a concrete formulation of what you as an organization are going to do to realize your 'Why'. This is your goal, the dot on the horizon. If you have a clear impact statement you can base your business strategy on it, how are you going to achieve this?

Our impact statement
In 2030 we want 100 meaningful SME-companies helped with their growth ambitions. In this way, we contribute to a more beautiful world for our next generations.

Strategy
Based on the why and the impact statement we determined our strategy. An important part of the strategy is how we make the term 'meaningful' concrete and measurable. Because we want to prevent this from becoming a hollow slogan. That is why we have linked 'meaningful' to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) of the United Nations.

“The Sustainable Development Goals, drawn up by the United Nations (UN), are 17 interlinked goals to ensure a sustainable future for all and to make the world a better place in 2030. Companies as well as governments, NGOs, knowledge institutions and citizens will have to work hard to achieve these goals in 2030.”

When we search with our clients for their identity, we immediately make the connection with the SDGs, so that the sustainability objectives can be felt from the core of the organization. In this way, your organization can not only steer better for growth, but it also becomes (more) meaningful for the world.

At the end
Many companies are struggling with the question of how to embed sustainability in their organization and strategy. To help organizations take the first steps towards a (more) meaningful brand in an easily accessible way, we have developed a free Quickscan that provides a first insight into your identity and the SDGs that match it.

How does your organization contribute to a more beautiful world?

Tom van Zeeland
Creative director
040-266 15 25
tom@deltazuid.nl