Simon Sinek argues that organizations currently labeled as "non-profits" should instead call themselves "for impact" organizations, focusing on a clear, visualizable vision (their "why") rather than financial measures. He urges redefining "profit" as impact achieved, keeping the mission visible, and encouraging collaboration rather than competition among organizations working toward similar causes.
Chapters
Let me pull out my soapbox for a minute here, please. Stop calling yourself not for profit. Right? That is a tax delineation, right? And no one wants to be defined by what you're not. First. That's number one. Number two, of course you're profitable. You just don't define profit in terms of dollars and cents. If you set up an organization to rescue kittens out of trees, you better be profitable because it means you're rescuing more trick and chick chick kittens out of trees than not. So just redefine how you define profit. Stop calling yourselves not for profit and start calling yourselves for impact organizations. That's the first way to get your back on track. Because what it does is it puts your why front and center and not money. Money is just an object. It's just fuel. Money is fuel. You need fuel to make the car go, but that's not why the car exists. You're for impact organization. The question is, what impact are you trying to make in the world? And that's how you can help keep your why front and center, which is you're constantly, constantly, constantly reminding yourself of it. It's written on the walls. I think one of the big mistakes that a lot of for impact organizations make is they actually don't know how to define their cause.
We want to change the world. Well, I don't know what that looks like. You know, great vision is something that you can imagine in your mind's eye. And the great leaders in our world, whether they're business leaders, political leaders, or civil, civil leaders, are able to articulate vision in terms that we can imagine ourselves in that world. I have a dream that one day little black children will hold hands on the playground. With little white children like you can see that in your mind's eye, paint a picture for us, and then set yourself on course towards that. I think the other thing is for impact organizations need to stop competing against each other. Drives me nuts, you know, two organizations that are trying to help, you know, find the cure for cancer competing against each other. You've got to be nuts. One has strength, the other one has weaknesses. This one has strengths, but the other one has weaknesses. Why not combine forces? You're more likely to find the cure for cancer if you actually work together as opposed to in competition with each other. But the whole idea is keep the why front and center in crystal clear terms that we can imagine. And call yourself a four impact organization. It'll go a long way. La.
