Simon Mainwaring On His Personal and Company Purpose
We First Works is deeply personal for me because it represents the codification of something I experienced directly. As an advertising copywriter and worldwide creative director, I traveled around the globe. Working at various agencies and exploring different versions of success. In Australia, the UK, and all over the United States, I found I wasn’t happy and didn’t understand why. The net result of this process was asking myself, “What is my purpose? What am I here to do? And what do I have to achieve that would make my life meaningful?”
Prior to starting We First, the process was very complicated. First, it took the form of blog posts and then, eventually writing a book. The blogs provided an outlet to express myself and articulate what I truly cared about. However, the lack of focused attention on the question — “what should I do with my life?” — never really prioritizing it, I ended up wondering what the whole point was.
So, by writing the book, I started to see certain themes emerge in terms of what I cared about. I went through a gradual process of reduction. Distilling those down into an opposition of a “me first” mentality having been with me in business so long. The solution, a “We First” mentality, I felt had the potential to be a powerful force for good. That in turn led to the book being called We First and the company as well. Consequently, the book provided the vehicle to defining my personal (and company) purpose.
Getting to Purpose
The benefit of knowing my purpose (via the book) was on several levels. Firstly, there is a lot of relief that comes with knowing exactly what your role is meant to be. Similarly, how to apply the skills you’ve developed to address societal needs. Secondly, I stopped wasting energy on wondering what I should be doing, or comparing myself to others. This behavior really wasn’t relevant to me anymore. And thirdly, by defining my personal purpose. This allowed me to take ownership of my commitment using storytelling to help companies become a force of good. That is why We First was born. And why, for 7 years we’ve worked with brands of all sizes to help define their purpose and bring IT to life. Helping to grow the business and scale social impact.
We First as a company itself with purpose has also benefited me. That fundamental purpose has attracted people with great skill sets that care about similar things. We work together to help accelerate the movement amongst partnership with many other businesses, non-profits, social enterprises and individual. Anyone who cares about similar things. It has also allowed us to really focus on something we care about. That being to meet marketplace needs, purpose, which is to allow companies to grow.
The Foundation
When first founded, people perceived it as a “nice-to-have” rather than “must-have”. Over time, however, it has become a very competitive landscape with companies are latching on to purpose to differentiate themselves.
All of this personal and professional experience informs the courseware that takes the form of We First Works. The courses have the latest pedagogy practices to ensure we’re teaching in a way that people are most apt to learn. Using a platform that gave us the best engagement, we also incorporate first-hand conversations and best practices by purpose-driven companies. Along with our own direct experience in story, purpose journeys and business evolution.
Our intent is to accelerate the personal and professional benefits of purpose to founders, entrepreneurs, startups, and business leaders. We seek to accelerate the growth of companies of all sizes. Through the strength of insights we’ve gleaned from our experience as well as the work we’ve developed across workshops, blogs, training seminars and beyond, for brands.
The high-level course structure below – will give you a quick understanding of how we walk you through this step-by-step process. One that empowers you to define and activate your personal and company purpose given you will be able to drive business growth if you can also find that purpose.
Personal Purpose
- Understanding Your purpose gaps
- Writing your purpose statement
- Creating your action plan
Company Purpose
- Assessing Your Company’s Purpose Challenges
- Align on Your Company’s Purpose Statement
- Build your Company’s Strategic Purpose Plan
- Scaling Purpose Through Culture
Explore today our first 2 courses on Personal Purpose and Company Purpose.
