Put Purpose at the Core of Your Strategy

January is an ideal time to renew your commitment to your purpose. As a reminder, your mission is what you do; your purpose is why you do what you do. At AIA, our purpose is to Empower Success for our Owners, Suppliers, and Team. We exist to drive success for our AIA Community.

A clearly defined “why” – a stated purpose – drives action and moves your organization forward. It gives meaning to the work you do every day.

Developing your purpose can be both a daunting and rewarding exercise. At AIA, we conducted a comprehensive internal discovery process to define ours. First, our executive team and next-level leaders gathered to discuss and clarify our purpose. We examined, as a group, our areas of expertise and what we’re passionate about as an organization. We then rolled out cross-functional groups throughout the organization who engaged in similar conversations. 

As a result of these sessions, it was clear that empowering the success of our Owners, Suppliers and Team is the driving force that motivates us. As an organization, we enable promotional products business owners to compete in a larger market space, empower suppliers to reach a broad community of business owners, and engage our teams in ways that allow them to achieve their career and life goals. 

We’re taking our own advice and putting purpose at the core of our strategy, now and moving forward. Our Empower 2025 plan is designed to put the needs of our Owners, Suppliers and Team at the heart of every decision. 

For example, we’re undergoing a technology transformation that is providing business owners with an ecosystem to support all aspects of their operation, and we’re focusing our Owner Success efforts on the Owner’s growth journey and/or development of a well-defined business model – customized to suit each Owner’s individual goals and aspirations. We are also initiating a brand refresh that will better capture who we are and where we’re headed – because we have big plans when it comes to empowering success for our Owners, Suppliers and Team. 

As Simon Sinek says, “People don’t buy WHAT you do, they buy WHY you do it.” If you need help defining your purpose and elevating your business plan, we invite you to partner with AIA in 2023. Because purpose matters.