- FINDING PURPOSE - The Entourage · - FINDING PURPOSE 'Who you are speaks so loudly, I...

- FINDING PURPOSE'Who you are speaks so loudly, I can't hear a word you're saying.' Ralph Waldo Emerson

Jack DelosaGen Y Entrepreneur

& Investor

The extent to which you fulfil your vision is theextent to which you can mobilise other peopletowards it. Those who are able to achieve great

things are those who have developed an ability totouch the hearts and minds of people everywhere. Thisability is called leadership, and its essence is greatlymisunderstood.

Any meaningful endeavour in life is going to requireyou to be an exceptional leader. Whether you want tobe a great parent, a great partner, a great employee ora great entrepreneur, how successful you are in thatendeavour will come down to how well you are able tomove people.

The problem with a lot of the existing thinking aroundleadership is that it doesn't recognise the importance ofcharacter. It speaks of tactics rather than intention. Itspeaks of behavioural manoeuvres rather than person-al principles. Character cannot be faked and thereforeleadership cannot be artificially manufactured. If you areapproaching your people with the intention of 'maximis-ing human capital efficiency', then you have already lostthe game. Efficiency is, of course, important. However,it is achieved through creating an authentic culture thatis centred around a purpose, not through viewing peopleas resources to be exploited. Becoming a great leader isabout unlearning much of what we've been taught aboutwhat it means to lead.

Leadership is about resonance. To what degree areyou able to resonate with the people who look to youfor guidance? In this sense, leadership demands au-thenticity and is strongest when your leadership styleand your behaviour are a natural extension of who youare. It was Ralph Waldo Emerson who said, 'Who youare speaks so loudly, I can't hear a word you're saying.'Sustained leadership demands that you are the personyour people think you are.

I care for my people with all of my heart. Nothingbrings me more joy than seeing the right people stepinto the right environment and flourish. The mostrewarding part of my life to date has been enablingpeople to become somebody they hadn't imagined. Ilove to challenge people to do just once what they pre-viously considered impossible and see how their entirelife changes forever as a result. Their self-image,the way they view the world, their confidence, theircommunication, their relationships, their work - it alltransforms when somebody steps into the best version

of themselves. This is what leaders do - they helppeople completely reimagine who they are and whatis possible for them to achieve. It is the essence ofcontribution: to touch the lives of others in a way thatmakes them more, in a way that makes them shine.

The biggest advantage I have when it comes to busi-ness is that I was never taught the tactics. All of myprinciples around business, leadership and legacyhave been built from the ground up using first Aprinciple reasoning. This means starting from thefoundations of any particular subject and findingyour own way from there, rather than relyingon other people's models. I was never part ofanother business or a large corporation, so,when it comes to leadership and business, Inever learnt how things were 'meant to bedone'. As such, by default, my thinking hasalways begun with a blank canvas, and I haveonly painted on it that which has provenitself to work.

My principles on leadership have comefrom having built teams of over 100 peoplewhose self-actualisation I obsess over,and from directly studying the characterof those throughout history who havetouched the hearts and minds of peopleeverywhere and mobilised millions towardsone common vision. This kind of explo-ration has led me to a very human-basedleadership style that enables great people tocome together in a tribe and do the impos-sible. In 2015, The Entourage was namedAustralia's Fourth Best Place to Work by BRWmagazine, a testament to developing a heart-based culture that cares for the individual.

So, while leadership cannot be manufactured, it canbe developed. And the development begins with you.Consciously create yourself as the embodiment ofyour principles and as a model for others to follow.As leaders, we must live our lives as if everybody istaking their cue from us. In this way, whether youwant to build a great family, influence the teamin which you work, or lead an organisation withthousands of employees, you will be the examplethat people silently seek.

Contrary to conventional thinking, cultureis not about beanbags, bicycles and fireman's

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men^ ^ to

poles. These are gimmicks that often serve only to de-tract from the true essence of an organisation. Culturegoes far beyond the eye candy the media hold up as'great culture'. Don't be fooled. Go deeper.

Culture is about uniting around a purpose. It is abouta group of people collectively sharing and working

towards a vision. It is about creating an environ-ment that inspires and enables people

to do their life's best work. It isabout purposefully creating an

environment with teams ofpeople who understand the

importance of what's being doneand therefore demand of one anoth-

er that every single person performs andcontributes. It challenges, demands, invites

and enables every member of the team tocontinuously be growing out of and in to the

best version of themselves.Great leadership needs to be ingrained into the DNA

of the organisation. Often, the energy of the founderof the company or the leader of the team is enoughto spark a great culture in the early days, when thereare few people. However, as the team grows and theleader is no longer able to reach everybody directly,the leadership needs to be structural - it needs tobe infused throughout the company using guidingprinciples. It is critical for anybody who wants to be animpactful leader to understand that great leaders donot create followers; they create more leaders.

The three principles that underpin any great cultureare vision, mission and values. Vision relates to theultimate purpose being pursued by the organisation; itsreason for existence. This purpose is contribution centric,focusing on the contribution the organisation will maketo the lives of other people or the planet. For example,the vision for The Entourage is to push civilisation for-ward by enabling more people to live on purpose.

Mission is the measurable and company-orientatedtarget for what you want to become. While the visionfocuses on others, the mission is centred on you - theultimate goal for what you as a company or a team aretrying to grow into. It is through achieving the mea-surable goal of the mission that we fulfil the purposefound in the vision. For example, the mission for TheEntourage is to become the world's number one edu-cation institution for entrepreneurs.

Values are the set of standards that govern and guidewho we are and who we must be. These values articulatethe expectations, beliefs and behaviours that we wantto exist in our organisation. They ensure that when wearrive at the achievement of the vision and mission, wearrive gracefully, with our heart still intact. BFM

Jack Delosa is changing education for entrepreneurs. He is thefounder of Australia's largest and most disruptive educationinstitution for entrepreneurs, The Entourage. Prior to The En-tourage, Jack co-founded MBE Education which assisted SME'sto raise money from investors. MBE quickly became one ofAustralia's fastest growing companies. Along the way, Jack alsobecame a high-profile investor, investing in growth companiessuch as Q-Biotics, Martin Jet Pack (ASXMJP), and foundingThe Entourage Growth Fund. His last book Unprofessionalbecame a best-seller in just three weeks. He has been listed inthe BRWYoung Rich List since 2014.

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