I’ve had this idea the other day — given that I plan writing every day, they’ll pile up. I think of it as training towards writing my book. Therefore, piling things up into chapters could be a good idea.

I’ve also noticed that if you pick someone who’s contributed a lot towards society and track down to the very deep of their beginnings, you’ll see the same points they said in the spotlight (that are then adored and showered with gratitude and validation) coming out of their mouth in those years when no one was listening.

My conclusion was that nothing really changed, their base was the same. It’s just that experience along the years made them calibrate these ideas/value packages they’ve had and adapt them. In the meantime, they’ve gathered social proof and followers. But the core is the same.

I’ve started this written piece saying I’ll pick older articles of mine and continue with part 2, part 3 etc. Hoping that one day I’ll get to part 14 of something — and there’s a chapter.

I’ve changed my mind though. This point I was making above is strong enough for a written piece in itself, so let’s keep the “saga” thing for tomorrow.

The Fundamental

Here’s a parallel for whoever’s leading a company. When you started you’ve had something on your mind. Not a goal, but a theme. Not the “raise £5m” but the “help people do X in no time”. Or “shape the way people perceive Y” — whatever it is.

That’s the core of the company. In time, everything went for better until it hit an inflexion point. Companies require services provided by agencies like mine when that inflexion point event happens. They have strayed away too far from their fundamental principles and are screaming for help.

It happened a lot of times for big players. Coca-Cola. Apple. Microsoft. And those are just A-list giants. It can happen to a small business as well.

The Practical Bit

If everything seems… not lost… but more direction-less, it might be this. It might be that you, the CEO, have forgotten what the company is about. Maybe you’ve been focusing too much on delivering in front of the board. And that applies even if your company is not public.

In there, somewhere in your brain, there’s a voice that acts like a board of directors. The kind of board that’s focused on checking KPIs, their ROI and goals, not themes. That voice is keeping everything responsible for the time investment, the level of efficiency and so on.

Maybe, just maybe…

If the loss of direction happens, you’ve been listening too much to the board voice and too little to the other voice that’s about the core fundamentals.

Here’s one of our documents that fills itself automatically as a result of the discussions we’re having with some clients. And by some clients I mean most of them, those who are taken through our strategy & discovery process. Feel free to use it for yourself.

And remember, the more time you need to spend on thinking about the answers, probably the farther you are from that core.

About Ch Daniel

I run chagency, an experiences design agency that specialises on helping tech CEOs reduce user churn. We believe experiences are not only the reason why users choose not to leave but also what generates word of mouth. We’re building a credo around this belief.

If I’ve brought you any kind of value, follow me and get in touch here: LinkedIn | Twitter | Email

I’ve also created an infinitely-valuable app for sneaker/fashion enthusiasts called Legit Check that impacted hundreds of thousands over millions of times – check it out at chdaniel.com/app

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Illustration Credits: ILLO Studio