When a computer company starts selling phones you could be excused for thinking that they’ve diluted their core business. But in Apple’s case, it was strengthened. Why? Because, their core business was always to sell the iPhone, they just didn’t know what it was yet.

Simon Sinek says it best. “People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it”. Which is why people are perfectly comfortable not only buying computers and phones from Apple but media players, and even the content they’re playing.

Because according to the late Steve Jobs, Apple’s core business, their ‘why’, has always been to enable “Man (to be the) creator of change in this world. As such he should be above systems and structures, and not subordinate to them”. They called out change and have delivered on that promise time and time again.

Similarly, Red Bull has transcended from their original offering of a caffeinated, carbonated drink to now include world class sports teams, events, media distribution and even a record label. Does this evolved eco-system dilute their core business or strengthen it? When you consider that Red Bull’s ‘why’ is to “Give Wings to People and Ideas”, the answer is clear.

So how can you too set yourself up for the same diverse success as Red Bull and Apple have experienced? The answer lies in your personal values and is revealed in your organisation’s mission statement.

If you define what it is that truly motivates you to want to take on the painstaking challenge of becoming a founder, then, and only then, can you even begin to dream of the profoundly dynamic results of these aspirational organisations.

And it all starts with a single word.

Why?

Stay Lean, my friends,

#TLF