"Start with the central idea that you want your organization to stand for"

"1. Ask the deep questions about your organization.
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When you ponder these questions, remember that a higher cause is not about your organization and its products. A higher cause is about customers and potential customers: how their lives will be elevated, and how the world will be better off too.
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Many managers in many companies function automatically and reactively, without really knowing why they do what they do or what they need to be doing instead. If you ask these questions regularly and then have conversations about what the answers signify for your business right now, you’ll be amazed at how often there is initially no clue or no consensus about the answers among your team. But the more you ask them, the clearer the responses will become.
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2. Concentrate your attention on the horizon. Asked the secret behind his great insights about future trends, Peter Drucker responded, “I look out the window.” Start the conversations about what trends on the frontier of your industry might threaten your current business or offer it big opportunities. Dig into these analyses. Take the trends seriously. Map them out. Form groups to do quick studies on them and report back. Discuss the implications that intrigue you. Discuss the possibilities that excite you. You’ll feel the higher cause emerging.
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3. Rearrange the pieces to make a big difference. Push your people to talk about concrete possibilities that could be groundbreaking and that could make a big difference in the lives of your present (or potential) customers, and maybe even the world. Consider possibilities that might come from new technologies, new partners, new supply chains, new scientific advances, new sources of capital, and any new trends out in the marketplace.
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Start with the central idea that you want your organization to stand for. Don’t water down your aspirations; keep raising them, even if your goals violate accepted practices in your industry, even if your goals sound impossible at first."

Trechos retirados de "Break From the Pack" de Oren Harari.