Revive Your Mission Advises Robert Kiyosaki

There was a time, not long ago, when Robert Kiyosaki faced a problem with one of his companies. His key personnel were leaving, company morale was crumbling, innovation had come to a standstill, and sales were dangerously low.

When Robert Kiyosaki investigated the cause, he came to some disturbing conclusions:

• The company had lost touch with the customer’s needs. The CEO and top managers had lost touch with the needs of the staff members; and the staff, in turn, had lost touch with the needs of their intended audience.

• The company had not developed new distribution outlets. Instead, they returned to their existing customer base again and again, trying to eke more sales from a jaded population.

• The company was not generating new marketing ideas and innovating new products. Creativity had come to a complete standstill.

• The company, in desperation, had fired the old marketing manager and hired a new one. Unfortunately, he was a bad marketing manager. He belittled the marketing team and did not understand the purpose and value of the products.

Three months later, he had replaced the CEO and the top people and created a new team. Gradually, the company began to make a comeback.
Today, the company is flourishing. With new people running the company, morale is high, innovation is on the rise, and sales are soaring.

Dynamics of Reinvention

What made the difference? It was more than just acquiring new executives. It was finding competent people who were willing to revive the original mission that had inspired the creation of the company in the first place. The old team had forgotten the original vision. They had trampled on the mission, strayed from the inspiration that founded the company and lost their way, distracted by quotidian business issues.

In his early book, “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” Robert Kiyosaki discusses the vital importance of defining and following a company mission in his discussion of the B-I Triangle. Without a mission, a company, like a person, has no spirit. Without a mission, a company is destitute of a driving force. Without a mission, a company lacks purpose and direction and morale's low
. When there is only a vague sense of mission, not much got done.

Recalling Rich Dad’s Advice

The near collapse of his company and the apparently miraculous turnaround once he re-introduced the value of the mission and found new people to champion it reminded Robert Kiyosaki of a warning his Rich Dad had given him many years ago.

Rich Dad had said that the founder of a company had to be careful when hiring executives to lead the company because they often did not share his passion. These corporate executives would pay lip service to the value of the mission, but might not respect it. When this happened, the spirit of the company was lost. The entrepreneur’s vision would die. The corporation would turn into a corpse.

A Visionary Role Model

When Robert Kiyosaki met his hero, Sir Richard Branson, in South Africa, he was reminded of the value of an entrepreneur holding a clear mission. They met because they were both on a radio show. Branson was very clear about why he was introducing the Virgin brand, a billion dollar enterprise, into South Africa. He understood his mission and he articulated it clearly on the air. He wanted to offer the South African consumer a much better deal than they were enjoying with the current incumbent companies, who, unfortunately, took them for granted. Similarly, when he met Branson again in Australia, the billionaire was on the same mission: to take on the incumbents and to revitalize the airline business in that country.

Branson was remarkably successful in his enterprises because he had a clear idea of what he was doing, developing Virgin as an international brand name by taking on the established companies in an industry and offering the target audience a much better deal for their money.

How to Resurrect a Company

If a company is not flourishing, it is dying. This death is due to one single reason--the company was no longer profitable because it had lost its mission. Without a mission, the spirit of innovation and adaptation to a changed environment were missing. By refocusing on the mission of a company, it would infuse it with life force. Only companies with a mission had a passion for excellence.

Jack Jameson is a life coach, financial planner and real estate investment guru. When he is not brokering deals, he spends time writing to share his tips for success. He frequently draws on advice from the writings of his mentor Robert Kiyosaki at https://www.richdadcoaching.com.