"How do we change our customers life story?", our CEO recently asked in a team meeting. And ever since I'm fascinated by that question, not just for business, but beyond.

I wonder if you can actually answer this question without separating it into pieces and re-assemble the answers. In my view, there's three questions implied here. And all three do not just apply to a company, but to each and every individual - be it at work or in private.

1.) How do we impact people?

This is about what we do and how that helps our customers, family members, friends, or literally anyone in our environment to live a different (and for that sake better) life. It is a great way of assessing which of the activities we perform is really important, and which ones are not resulting in a significant difference. If we spend our time on something that does not add to how we impact people, why do we continue doing it? If it is something that's required to enable the more impactful activities (like accounting, or in the personal life analogy sleeping and eating), great. If it is not, chances are good it is either bureaucracy (think empire building) or laziness (think procrastinating).

2.) Why do people want to work with us?

If we do think that there is a positive impact from working with us, the next question to address is why people chose us over anyone else, who could impact the in a similar fashion. In business, this is the competitive advantage and any good sales/marketing person will have a pitch ready with 3-5 reasons. In our personal life this is a question we hardly ever ask. But wouldn't it be interesting to know why people like to come to you with a particular problem instead of taking it to someone else? What gives us the honour to impact people's life?

3.) Why do we do what we do?

Lastly, the above in my opinion requires one more question to be asked: why do we want to impact those people? What motivates us to do the things we do? It's probably the most difficult question of them - but also the most foundational one. Interestingly enough, at this level there's almost no difference if one speak about business or personal life. May be therefore it should even be the first question to ask. After all, if we don't know why we do it, we're most likely going to lose any interest in it pretty soon. Or worse, if we're not honest about the true reasons behind our actions, we'll be living a life that's inconsistent with our values. And that almost certainly leads to doubts and frustration.

Knowing how we impact our customers life story is a way to focus on purposeful activities that are aligned with what we stand for. A question worth asking.

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Please share any comments and inputs you may have (comment function, twitter, e-mail, etc.). In my short write-ups I address topics that I am particularly interested in because they align with my values and beliefs. As such, they are always a reflection of my ideas, thoughts, and opinions. The only thing I am positive in that regard is that I do not have all the perspectives, all the knowledge, or all the facts - help me be better tomorrow.