Polaris, Purpose and Progress
How does a North Star guide strategic success in business?
Throughout history, the North Star, also known as Polaris, has served as both a practical guide for ancient travelers across land and sea and a symbolic tool for those seeking truth and purpose. Today, this enduring symbol continues to hold its significance, finding a place in the world of business as a guiding metaphor, helping organisations realign with their core mission and purpose.
Key Article Takeaways
- The ‘North Star’ represents a guiding principle used throughout time as a metaphor for purpose.
- Integrating core values, mission, and purpose into strategy helps in manifesting a final goal and aspiration.
- Top-level management’s vision with collective understanding and innovation within the company is core challenge.
- The role of facilitators is crucial in helping companies align with their North Star
In Norse mythology, the North Star was linked to a legend in which Odin is said to have offered one of his eyes as a sacrifice on the cosmic altar in the quest for wisdom and truth. For the Norsemen, Polaris served as a constant, unwavering reminder of Odin’s devotion to the relentless quest for enlightenment, an ever-burning guide for Viking vessels traversing across mysterious oceans of exploration and discovery.
Whether on land or sea, in one’s inner journey or between the bustling corridors of today’s offices, the North Star has endured to be a timeless symbol, both metaphorical and literal. The underpinning message of Polaris is to be guided one back to where they should be, a place of belonging and Purpose.
Every business needs a guiding light to ensure it remains on course towards its strategic objectives. This guiding light, often referred to as the ‘North Star,’ is essential not just for navigation, but for maintaining business alignment with your core values and long-term organizational goals. A clear North Star strategy helps unite various aspects of business planning and decision-making, providing a focal point that drives all organizational efforts
It’s a simple statement that provides a clear, overarching destination that aligns all efforts.
Finding Purpose from a Strategic Philosophy
But what really is Purpose in terms of business strategy?
Much like Polaris guiding wanderers back to their origins, the North Star guides enterprises back to the authentic ‘core’ or ‘why’ of their existence, rekindling a sense of self-awareness — the strategic philosophy — that defines the company’s being, values and principles. This is the genesis vision that was the spark for the creation of the business.
Polaris in commercial cosmology serves as the guiding star, steering businesses on a course that reconnects it with their core purpose while providing a compass to navigate the complexities and confusion that come with the journey of modern commerce towards the an ultimate goal.
Most of the time this powerful metaphor is misunderstood and misconstrued as the strategy. The North Star, in essence, should be viewed as a guiding light, a beacon that illuminates the path to achieving a company’s strategic aspiration.
The way to look at it is an allegorical tool that serves as a constant reference point to an unwavering commitment to an understood set of core values, mission, and purpose that helps manifest the final goal and aspiration of a business. It helps align the efforts of an organisation, ensuring that strategies and tactics are in harmony with that larger strategic philosophy of the organisation. When correctly understood and applied, the North Star can inspire teams, foster a sense of purpose, and steer the organisation through the ever-changing business landscape towards growth and sustainable success agnostic to outside challenges.
Common North Star Pitfalls and Solutions
Purpose – not strategy – is the reason an organisation exists. Its definition and articulation must be top management’s first responsibility. But in reality this is hardly the case resulting in companies and teams struggling to constantly innovate, grow and find sustainable success.
Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI once wrote:
“Building a company that is able to innovate repeatedly is the hardest thing in business. Most companies do one great thing then stop innovating.”
He attributes this to lack of alignment being a key reason why businesses become unproductive — because people are not on the same page or lack a sense of unified direction and vision.
One of the most common challenges businesses have is top-level managers who often see themselves as not only the exclusive creators of an organisation’s core strategic intent and vision— i.e. purpose — but the gatekeepers of it too. This mindset can stifle collective understanding within the company. It limits the diversity of perspectives, hampers innovation, disengages employees, and risks overlooking critical insights that lead to costly losses and drawbacks.
In response to this challenge, leaders would be more better to embrace a more collaborative and holistic approach to the cultivation and nurturing of their strategic vision and their North Star. This approach would ensure that all employees come together to cultivate an environment where innovation flourishes through collective collaboration and purposeful workshops Embracing diverse voices and perspectives can lead to more agile, innovative, and resilient organisations.
Most importantly this needs to be initiated from the top. CEOs, founders, and top management need to be not only sharing the strategic philosophy that shape an organisation’s approach, but also asking for input by important stakeholders on how decisions are made and actions are taken.
Defining Your North Star in Business with Examples of Well Defined North Stars
A North Star is conceptually simple. Pulling off an effective and powerful North Star is not so easy. It requires careful consideration to the right use of language but also designed for effective interpretation to then be able to be absorbed into all efforts across the business. Some of my personal favourite examples of North Stars in action ca be found in successfully innovative companies such as Ralph Lauren, 3M and Tesla:
Ralph Lauren
On the 50th anniversary of Ralph Lauren, CEO and President Patrice Louvet promoted the next chapter for the company by revealing:
“The guiding ‘North Star’ as we begin our Next Great Chapter has to be rooted in a purpose that defines who we are as a company and the impact we seek to make in the world.
Our purpose at Ralph Lauren is to inspire the dream of a better life through authenticity and timeless style.”
‘Authenticity’ and ‘timelessness’ are broad yet highly focused concepts. An illustration of how Ralph Lauren’s enduring commitment to sustainability aligns with their ultimate goal of ‘authenticity and timeless style’ can be seen in a recent statement by Patrice Louvet during an interview:
“You can’t expect to be timeless if we’ve run out of resources.”
3M
3M’s North Star is to “solve unsolved problems innovatively”. At first glance it sounds like something written by a high school student. But it’s in the simpleness that allows it to be easily understood and serve the guiding principle and overarching goal; its unwavering focus on innovation and problem-solving. This philosophy has been a driving force behind the company’s success to consistently introduce new products and technologies that benefit both customers and society at large.
Rather than rigid strategic plans, 3M prioritises a flexible corporate purpose allowing it to achieve 30% of its sales from new innovations in the last 4 years.
Tesla
“To accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.”
This statement reflects Tesla’s overarching goal of not only producing electric vehicles but also fundamentally transforming the way the world uses energy. Tesla’s North Star is its dedication to pioneering innovative technologies and solutions that drive the transition from fossil fuels to clean and sustainable energy sources regardless of market conditions, black swans or changing trends. The purpose and goals of the company are clear and easily translated in all it’s actions, it’s not just about electric cars, it’s about fundamentally changing the way we live in a post-fossil fuel world that will allow Tesla to innovate new products beyond cars.
Effective executives at successful companies possess the skill to communicate their overarching vision in a captivating manner that engages employees and stakeholders, focusing on their interests rather than using purely strategic or financial terms. They also actively engage the entire organisation in shaping, enhancing, and revitalizing their ambitions, ensuring they translate into measurable actions that serve as both progress benchmarks and catalysts for momentum.
The importance of strategic alignment — Facilitating a North Star workshop
However, highly effective leaders are a rare breed. Numerous obstacles can complicate the task of founders or teams in establishing or realigning their guiding principle, such as changes in leadership, corporate mergers, adapting to disruptive forces, or even constraints on time and resources.
This is precisely where the expertise of a facilitator or workshop designer can be invaluable. Much like a mariner relies on the North Star for navigation at sea, facilitators assume a vital role in steering a company toward the development and sustained alignment with its North Star. They serve as impartial, adept guides in the intricate voyage of shaping and pursuing a company’s overarching vision and strategic objectives.
Facilitators design workshops that bring a structured and inclusive approach to strategic discussions, ensuring that diverse perspectives within the organisation are heard and considered. They create an environment where open discussions and ideas can flourish, fostering collaboration and consensus-building among team members.
They simplify complex ideas into actionable steps, ensuring the company’s strategic direction is both ambitious and practical. Facilitators also maintain alignment through regular check-ins and adjustments, ensuring adaptability to changing market dynamics and internal shifts, thus helping the company stay on track with its North Star.
Having a facilitator onboard ensures that the company remains committed to its unwavering philosophy and goals and maximises the chances of success in a constantly evolving business landscape.
The North Star remains a timeless symbol of guidance, both in our celestial skies and in the business world. It is a reminder that, amid the challenges and uncertainties of our journeys, there exists a constant, unwavering purpose that shines light on an ultimate goal that defines a businesses existence. Just as it has guided explorers, seekers, and mariners for centuries, the North Star continues to guide modern businesses back to their true essence and purpose, lighting the way to growth, innovation, and lasting success.
Companies like Ralph Lauren, 3M, and Tesla have successfully harnessed the power of the North Star by effectively communicating their ambitions and involving their organisations in shaping and implementing their visions. For others, facilitators and workshop designers now play a crucial role in guiding organisations in shaping and aligning with their North Star, fostering collaboration, and simplifying complex ideas into actionable plans.