The Power of Having a Strong Core

In his book Good to Great, Jim Collins states, “Core ideology is the glue that holds a company together as it grows and changes.” Collins believes the core ideology is made up of core values and core purpose.

• Core values are an organization’s essential and enduring tenets – the values it would hold even if they became a competitive disadvantage.
• Core purpose is an organization’s fundamental reason for being. 

Great companies have their core ideologies defined and use them regularly in their day-to-day business culture.

As Verne Harnish describes in Scaling Up, successful athletes need a strong core ideology to provide overall stability, power, and control. The same is true for growth firms. Without a strong core, the organization risks instability from cultural challenges, loss of focus, disengagement, and lack of heart as it scales up.

Harnish believes in addition to core values and core purpose there is another foundational attribute that should be at the center of your organization: core competencies. Core competencies are activities and aspects that make you operationally different and superior to your competition.

An organization must ensure it has defined all three core ideology foundations: core values, core purpose, and core competencies. Once defined it is equally important to be sure the organization is living its core throughout day-to-day operations.

On a scale of one to ten, where ten is the highest, how strong is your organization’s core? If you’d like to continue this conversation and explore your organization’s core ideology, contact me for a free consultation.