By: Kevin Wilkins, CEO
Several years ago, Simon Sinek did this very enlightening Ted Talk about how great leaders inspire action, and according to Mr. Sinek, it starts with the question: “Why?” Since we are a service based company, the core of what we do is serving others’ transportation needs. Tying our purpose to a little bit of Alpaca thinking (When kept with other livestock like sheep, they will actively chase, scream at, or stomp predators endangering the livestock), we want to serve others with unwavering love both to each other and the world around us. At Easley, we believe you can challenge the grit & grind nature of this industry with an alpaca-like love – a Tribal Love.
An organization purpose statement should be far more transformative than just explaining what an organization does. At Easley, we want to have a positive, substantial impact on our people, customers, vendors, and the communities that we serve. Our purpose is driven by the fact that we all have an impact, and that impact can create positive or negative results. We want to pursue and achieve those results that produce a multiplicative good. Our hope is that by defining an organization-wide purpose, we would then live it out more effectively. This is our Higher Purpose.
Today, if you were to look at our current cultural climate, the very idea of “service as purpose” seems to get a bad rap. Most of our western cultural messages have an overtly selfish tone to them, and the idea of putting others’ needs in front of your own – heaven forbid, at the sacrifice of your own – seems to have become antiquated. We see a problem with this common way of thinking. We believe that it is hurtful to our culture as a whole, and we would like to be a part of a counter-cultural shift of putting others first. At Easley, our challenge is to serve others’ transportation needs in a way that puts their needs in front of our own. We believe that we can find Higher Purpose in serving others first rather than ourselves.
As we serve others’ transportation needs, we feel called to do so with unwavering love. We understand that many people would not see how love fits into a transportation company. However, our goal is not to produce the highest economical benefits for ourselves, but rather to transform the world with the people around us. Profit is a necessary part of running a viable company, but we do not believe it is our ultimate purpose. At Easley, we want to exist for this Higher Purpose, so we will strive to serve others with what we like to call a Tribal Love.
So what is this Tribal Love? Tribal Love is ultimately about sacrificing self for the good of others; for the good of the tribe. Sometimes we refer to Easley as a tribe, and we want our highest honor to go toward those willing to truly sacrifice themselves for the good of others. We believe that this could transform our company by building a culture where we are constantly striving to put others ahead of ourselves. Our Higher Purpose is to serve the world’s transportation needs with Tribal Love.