“The Core” is the steady center of your business. In Verne Harnish’s Scaling Up framework, it combines two things. Core values describe how you behave. Core purpose describes why you exist beyond making money. Products, prices, locations, and tools will change as you grow. The Core should not. It is the anchor that keeps a growing business from losing itself.
Every growing business needs this, from a single-location bakery to a regional home services company to a family business entering its third generation. Here is how to understand and find yours, in our own words.
This post draws on ideas from Verne Harnish’s Scaling Up framework. The explanations and examples here are WeKinnect’s own words.
Growth brings change. New people join who never met the founder. New services appear. New markets bring new pressure. Without a clear center, a business can drift. Decisions get made by whoever is loudest, and the culture slowly changes into something no one planned.
The Core gives everyone the same reference point. When someone asks, “Should we do this?” the Core helps answer, “Does it fit who we are and why we exist?”
Core values are the few beliefs that guide behavior. They are discovered from your best people, not copied from a list. Keep them short and usable. Our core value at WeKinnect is Service before Self. It tells our team how to act when no rule covers the situation: help the person in front of you first.
If you have read our post on making core values real (S4 in this series), you already have a head start.
Core purpose is the deeper reason your business matters. It is not a goal you finish. It is a direction you keep moving toward. A good purpose is short, simple, and true. It should make sense to a new employee and still matter decades from now.
One way to find it is the “five whys.” Start with what you do, then ask “Why does that matter?” again and again. A bakery might go from “We bake bread” to “We bring neighbors together around the table.” That deeper answer is closer to a purpose.
You can draft your Core in one focused meeting. Invite a few people who know the business well, including at least one long-time team member. Ask each person to share a moment when the business was at its best. Listen for repeated themes. Those themes hint at your values and purpose. Write a first draft, then let it sit for a week. Read it again and ask, “Would we still believe this in twenty years?” Keep only what passes that test. A draft that feels plain but true is better than one that sounds impressive but empty.
When your Core includes service, every part of the business leans toward others. Service before Self reminds us that a business is not just a way to earn. It is a way to give. A clear Core makes that giving steady, no matter how big you grow.
Core values, which guide how people behave, and core purpose, which explains why the business exists beyond profit.
No. Strategy, products, and goals should change. The Core is meant to stay steady and guide those changes.
Start with what you do and keep asking “Why does that matter?” until you reach a simple, lasting answer that inspires your team.
Written By
Darlene Gagnon is the founder of WeKinnect Global Branding Agency. Guided by the core value of Service before Self, she works with entrepreneurs and family-owned legacy businesses. She focuses especially on restaurants, arts, and travel and tourism. Darlene writes on Branding, Positioning, Marketing Strategy, Public Relations, Storytelling, and Entrepreneurship. WeKinnect serves entrepreneurs and family-owned legacy businesses across restaurants, arts, travel and tourism, banking, home services, nonprofits, and the pet industry, and Darlene brings that same spirit of service to every piece she writes.
