What if your business started with a much bigger purpose than just making money? What if you could use your business to make a real difference in the world? It’s not impossible – in fact, there are plenty of businesses out there that are already doing it. So how can you get started on your own massive transformative purpose journey? Read on for tips!
What is Massive Transformative Purpose (MTP)?
Eradicating diseases, mastering flight, near-instant global communication, going to the moon—humans have developed a taste for making the impossible possible.
Though we still face a daunting list of global challenges, we have learned that science and technology can uncover big solutions. However, mind-blowing breakthroughs do not just happen. They take teams of bright and dedicated people chipping away at the problem day and night. They take a huge amount of motivation, toil, and at least a few failures. To solve our biggest problems, we need people to undertake big tasks. Nevertheless, what drives someone to take on such a difficult, uncertain process and stick with it?
There is a secret to motivating individuals and teams to do great things: its purpose.
Social movements, rapidly growing organizations, and remarkable breakthroughs in science and technology have something in common—they are often byproducts of a deeply unifying purpose. There is a name for this breed of motivation. It is called massive transformative purpose or MTP.
Why is having an MTP important for entrepreneurs and businesses?
In 2014, Salim Ismail published Exponential Organizations, co-authored by Mike Malone and Yuri van Geest. In the book, the team analyzed the 100 fastest growing organizations and synthesized their key traits. They discovered every single company on the list had a massive transformative purpose.
In the simplest sense, an MTP is a “highly aspirational tagline” for an individual or group, like a company, organization, community, or social movement. It is a huge and audacious purpose statement.
Examples of companies who have followed their MTP
Elon Musk and SpaceX are a good example for understanding MTPs. Musk did not found SpaceX to have a luxurious retirement on Mars or just for the sake of building the most profitable aerospace company. He is driven by the belief humans must become a multi-planetary species. Making this a reality is his purpose.
SpaceX’s MTP to revolutionize space technology and enable people to live on another planet creates a shared aspirational purpose within the organization.
Notice that SpaceX’s MTP is:
- Huge and aspirational
- Clearly focused
- Unique to the company
- Aimed at radical transformation
- Forward-looking
MTPs are not representative of what is possible today; they are aspirational and focused on creating a different future. This aspirational element is what ignites passion in individuals and groups; it is what engages people’s hearts and minds to work together to realize their goal.
SpaceX’s MTP does this so well that they have also activated a cultural shift outside of the company’s walls, which is a secondary effect of having a strong MTP.
Other examples Ismail, Malone, and van Geest note in their book include the massive lines that form when Apple releases a new iPhone or the huge waitlist each year to get a seat at TED’s annual conference. MTPs can inspire whole communities and evangelists to form around them.
How can you create an MTP for your business or yourself?
Peter Diamandis boils down two main areas of focus to identify your purpose:
Identify the whom: Ask yourself whom you want to impact. What community do you want to create a lasting positive impact for? Is it high school students? The elderly? People suffering a chronic disease? These are just a few examples of potential groups to focus your purpose towards.
Identify the what: What problem do you want to take on and solve? Here’s an exercise created by Diamandis to identify the “what” of your purpose:
Step one: Write down the top three items you are most excited about or get you most riled up (that you want to solve).
Step two: For each of the three problems listed above, ask the following six questions and score each from 1-10.
(1 = small difference; 10 = big difference)
Realizing an MTP requires a different type of thinking. It requires a mindset and work environment that leans into complex problems and dares to think big—really, big. SpaceX is not where they are today because they focused on making 10% improvements to existing aerospace technology. In addition, Google’s self-driving car is not the byproduct of a goal to make a 10% improvement to driving.
10% thinking leads to incremental progress, which does not lead to making the impossible possible—like sending people to the moon.
The benefits of having an MTP
Having an MTP is powerful in so many ways. Above all, it gives clarity, it inspires, it unites, it enables global transformation, and it promotes a positive impact. Just like with any other goal, it gives you your every day and life direction. You will feel less lost and more motivated if you know what you are working towards.
MTPs are not representative of what is possible today; they are aspirational and focused on creating a different future. This aspirational element is what ignites passion in individuals and groups; it is what engages people’s hearts and minds to work together to realize their goal.
As such, a strong MTP will also engage the community, attract top talent, and act as a stabilizing factor as they become acclimated to your organization. In the end, it will also help you retain talent with the right mindset and skillsets to keep your company moving forward.
Salim Ismail outlines a three-step iterative process for creating your Massive Transformative Purpose. This will not be something you knock out in a single afternoon, so be prepared to take some time with it.
How can you start working towards your MTP today?
Through history, however, we have learned that radically big thinking can lead to these types of breakthroughs.
You have the recipe for creating a massive transformative purpose to push you and your organization to the next level of performance and impact.
Now, it is time to get to work.
Final thoughts
Creating your Massive Transformational Purpose is and should be a developmental process that can take anywhere from a week to most of a year. Once you complete the iterative process outlined by Ismail, you can start working the wording. Brainstorm. Use a whiteboard, post-its, paper airplanes, whatever works for your team. Then go test out your phrasing with real people.
Ismail suggests bouncing wording ideas off not only friends but also people, you encounter at networking events. “When someone asks what you do, include the MTP briefly in your answer. If they stick around to ask you more questions about it and learn more, then you have a winner.”
Creating your MTP is just the start, but it is the essential first step in any company transformation. Moreover, the better you do the work of creating this MTP, the larger the potential impact and the speed of change will be.
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