This past Saturday, November 3, marked 23 years in business for Geile/Leon Marketing Communications. We celebrated with employees on Friday with a lunch and a presentation from our management team titled, Make It Mean Something.
It’s Not About the What or the How
Our theme for the meeting was inspired by an author/speaker named Simon Sinek, who wrote a book in 2009 called Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action. Sinek’s premise is that most organizations have no problem explaining what they do and some can explain how they are different or better. But, very few companies can explain why they do what they do. Sinek goes on to say that those companies that can answer the “Why” ultimately find success. When it comes to consumers, Sinek believes that, “People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.” I find that very profound and inspiring. (If you have time, watch Sinek speak at Tedx.)
So, we spent the afternoon answering the “Why” for Geile/Leon. Why do our employees come to work everyday here? Why do we attract the clients we attract? And ultimately, why are we in business?
G/L’s “Why”
At our Founders’ Day celebration last Friday, we agreed that all of us at G/L believe we are in business to create work and relationships that mean something. We create relationships between brand and consumer that mean something, causing consumers to make decisions that will benefit them, and ultimately our clients. We believe that creating, building, strengthening and maintaining strong relationships drive us. Everything we do centers around building a relationship – whether it’s between agency and client, agency and supplier, brand and consumer, or the relationships we build with each other. All are equally important and none are taken for granted.
Relationships are what drive us here at G/L and, most importantly, they are what drive our success. It only took us 23 years to figure it out, but I’m glad we did. So if you haven’t taken time to answer the “Why” for your company, I recommend doing it. And if you need some help, don’t hesitate giving us a call!