Gina Soleil takes the reader through a thought-provoking journey on how to transform your business into a haven of productivity in "FUEL YOUR BUSINESS: How to Energize People, Ignite Action and Drive Profits."
Based on Soleil's Eight Principles of Business, the book provides a framework to create a high-performing business that gets results by creating a culture that's fueled with human energy to achieve greater levels of growth and innovation.
To actually enjoy waking up and going to work again, you want to live life the way you want to live it...not the way everyone else in this world is telling you to live. The search for your purpose---your life signature---matters.
You can't separate your business life from your personal life.
You can try, but it's not possible. Our energy is our energy. It doesn't matter if you're at home, at work, in the car, with your kids, or with your dog, our energy and who you are remain exactly the same. When people are on a constant search for their purpose, they become absolutely exhausted, easily frustrated with life, and the energy they put into the world is that of frustration, exhaustion and irritation. Home or work, it makes no difference where you are; if you're on the search for your purpose, everything you do is impacted by the exhaustion you carry with you.
In highly developed countries, there is a growing percentage of people thinking about their meaning of life. This genuine spiritual concern is broader than traditional views of religion practiced in numerous countries of the world. Yet, it is unclear to most how they want to live their life in a meaningful way. Purpose is a verb. Your purpose shows up in how you show up to live your life. It's not a thing that's waiting to be found.
"No man is born into the world whose work is not born with him." James Russell Lowell
The message is: Life is not a dress rehearsal. You can solve your problems using the mind you know you have. You can stop seeking answers outside yourself. You can look within.
When your business helps people live their purpose, people want to help your business live its purpose. The purpose of every individual person in your business needs to come first. There is no exception. The energy that comes from the people who authentically live their truth is the same energy you need to help move your business to its destination.
Everyone in your business wants a life full of purpose and meaning. When they do, there's nothing they can't accomplish. If your business isn't set up to help people spread their wings and fly, they will leave your business and go work somewhere they can honor their own life purpose.
We live in an economy where we don't have to tolerate jobs we hate. For the most part, we get to choose. But that choice isn't about a job search so much as an identity quest. So, don't be cursed because of your tremendous ability and infinite choice of jobs. Decide what you can devote your life to and then live your dream.
Bottom line: If you want to fuel your business, energize people, and drive profits by increasing the healthy energy flow in your business, you have to create opportunities for people to want to be part of the business---on their own terms, and in their own way. You have to create experiences that make people want to stay because being part of the business makes them feel good. People need to have a genuine belief that the business has their best interests in mind.
When everyone engaged in the business can agree that their personal beliefs fit well with the company's intangibles (of assumptions/beliefs, vision, values and guiding principles), they will understand and contribute to a meaningful corporate mission statement.
Here are intangible elements defined:
•Assumptions/beliefs: A reality map formed through your collective reinforced experience. This would be a manifesto of the mental models you use and believe in to create your work and personal lives.
•Values/Aspirations: An attitude or world-view depicted by one word or one single concept observed through one's behavior. Values often influence people's choices about where to invest their energies. Please recognize that values change over time. Being "fair" means something different for a person at 44 than at 4 years old.
•Vision: A word picture of the future leading from now through near to far reality. You energize people to support your purpose or life signature with an overarching description of what you see.
•Guiding Principles: A universal operating standard that guides decision-making both personally and organizationally. Use guiding principles to align, create trust and walk the talk by putting everybody on the same playing field. Energy isn’t wasted in the politics of the team, organization or community because there aren't different rules for everybody.
That corporate mission statement then becomes the foundation for every business plan that will be developed, understood and supported by all employees. However, if there is no joint agreement of those "intangibles," every future business plan will slowly and painfully fail.
Source: Gina Soleil: Fuel Your Business: How to Energize People, Ignite Action, and Drive Profits