One of my favorite scenes in Alice in Wonderland is the part where Alice confronts The Cheshire Cat as she is wandering in the forest:

Alice: Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?
The Cheshire Cat: That depends a good deal on where you want to get to.

Alice: I don’t much care where.
The Cheshire Cat: Then it doesn’t much matter which way you go.

Alice: …So long as I get somewhere.
The Cheshire Cat: Oh, you’re sure to do that, if only you walk long enough.

Many leaders and organizations are like Alice – they really don’t seem to understand where they are going.  It’s not intentional lack of caring; rather, it’s a lack of setting clear priorities.

The priority should always be on where you are going, by setting your Azimuth.

Simply stated, your Azimuth is your cardinal direction, your true north.  It starts with your Mission:

Who are we?  What do we do?  Why do we do it?

The best ones I have seen are only one or two sentences, but they clearly define the essence of the organization.

Surprisingly, some companies don’t have a clearly stated mission.  Or if they have one, few people inside or outside the organization know what it is.  Small wonder team members don’t buy into the culture. Instead, they just go through the motions of doing a job, collecting a paycheck.  As I wrote in The Power of Being All In they belong to the ‘Nametag’ (Level 1) or ‘Follower’ (Level 2) cultures.  These are hollow organizations without true purpose or direction.  They don’t have a clear azimuth.

Once you create a clear mission with the who, what, and why, the understanding of that mission is essential to its credibility.  Unlike the Ron Popeil rotisserie infomercials of the 1990s, you can’t just “Set it and Forget it.”  Your mission should be repeated every day, understood by even the most junior members of your team.  Then you’ll begin to create alignment and the buy-in critical to living in a healthy culture.

Enjoy the journey!

The book, “The Power of Being All In”, has the first chapter for free at this link. If you’d like to purchase the entire book (available in paperback, eBook, and audiobook), it is available on Amazon.