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 symbolism remains significant 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
The Symbolism of the 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 in corridors of today’s offices, the North Star has remained to be a timeless symbol. The underpinning message of Polaris is to be guided back to where one should be, a place of belonging — a 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.
Purpose — the North Star in Business Strategy
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 of the business or the ‘why’ of their existence, igniting a sense of self-awareness — or in other words the strategic philosophy that defines the company’s being, values and principles. This is the genesis vision that was the spark for creating 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, that illuminates the path to achieving a company’s strategic aspiration, but not the actual strategy.
I see it as a sign and reference point towards a unwavering commitment. 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.
Common Pitfalls in Defining a North Star
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 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 eventual loss in innovation to a lack of alignment and clarity on the purpose of the business:
“There’s a classic test I love to give companies struggling with scaling– I’ll ask the founders a simple question: “If I asked 10 employees what the top three goals are for the company, would they say the same thing?” 100 percent of the time the founders say yes. I’ll then go and do it, and 100 percent of the time no two employees say the same thing.”
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 / purpose, but the gatekeepers of it too. This mindset can stifle the 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, founders and leaders would be more better to embrace a more collaborative, creative and holistic approach to the nurturing of their North Star. This would ensure everyone comes together and cultivate an environment where innovation flourishes through collaboration and purposeful workshops.
Examples of Successful North Star Statements
A North Star is conceptually simple. Pulling off an effective and powerful North Star isn’t 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. Here are some of my favourites:
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 leaders, founders and creative professionals 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.
How to Define Your Own North Star Strategy
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 captain relies on the North Star for navigation at sea, workshop 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 can 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 workshop facilitator ensures that the company remains committed to its unwavering philosophy and goals and maximises the chances of success in a constantly evolving business landscape.
Need a facilitator? Learn more about how I design custom alignment workshops here.
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.