👋 Hi, I’m Mark Scrimenti, a Fractional COO and Business Coach, as well as the Founder and Principal of Vivid Path Operations. My blog, “The Whole Ops Workshop,” focuses on exploring the concepts, practices, and tools every small to midsized business needs for sustainable growth and profitability.
As a systems thinker, I see businesses as dynamic, adaptive entities, whose growth must be designed, engineered, and cultivated over time. Every business function — sales, marketing, product, delivery, customer service, human resources, and so on — involves operations. In fact, operations is the dynamic structure holding all the interrelated parts and processes of a business together and enabling its health and top- and bottom-line growth.
By definition, every system has a function or purpose. Hence, every business, as a system, must start with why. Having a purpose doesn’t mean you need to be on a mission from God — there are multiple ways to define purpose, and all of them can be meaningful. However, without a compelling purpose by which to motivate and sustain you and your team, your business will ultimately wither and die.
Of course, this doesn’t mean profitability isn’t important. It’s absolutely essential. It’s just not the end all and be all for a business. As Peter Drucker put it:
Profit for a company is like oxygen for a person. If you don’t have enough of it, you’re out of the game. But if you think your life is about breathing, you’re really missing something.”
Peter Drucker
Why? Because money alone, can only take you so far. On the other hand, doing meaningful work, aspiring for greatness, making an impact — these are the things that motivate people to innovate, grow, and realize their highest potential. Building a business and a healthy culture around meaningful purpose will attract and retain the best talent. Aligned with sound strategy and dynamic, scalable operations, for-profit businesses can change the world. And, no matter what you do, there’s no reason why this can’t be true for your business as well.
If you’re curious and want to see how you might transform your business to make a bigger difference in the world, schedule a free one-hour call with me, and we’ll explore possibilities together.
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