Haris Ahmed, Chicago Consultant Asks Business Owners: What is Your Purpose?
Haris Ahmed (Chicago) established a management consulting firm, Pragmatium Consulting Inc. back in 2009 to help organizations enhance their performance, and ultimately, help companies increase their profitability. Throughout his years of working as a management consultant, one common factor that he always sees in underperforming organizations is poor leadership. What many fail to understand is that leadership is not merely acting as a company owner, a CEO, or an over-compensated executive installed at the top of the corporate ladder. In other words, leadership isn’t a title or position that you hold in the company. If anything, it shouldn’t be dependent or attached to any title at all.
When Haris Ahmed (Chicago) talks to his clients—comprised mostly of business owners—he asks them to go back to the time when the business was still a concept in their heads. He does so because he wants to find out why they established the business in the first place. They should remember why they chose the industry that they’re in now, why that specific product or service, why the audience that they serve now, and why run a business when they could be having a successful career working for a leading multi-million dollar company.
These questions will ultimately lead to the conclusion that Haris Ahmed (Chicago) and his consulting firm wish to zero in on: the business owner’s, as well as the company’s, purpose. If the business owner established the company primarily to turn it into a money-making machine, then will determine his leadership style. On the other hand, if the purpose is to enhance other people’s lives; to provide them with a product or service that will make their day-to-day responsibilities just a tad easier to handle, for example, then the leadership style will be more likely geared towards taking positive actions that will benefit everyone—from the customers to the employees.
Sometimes, the business was established with the concept of addressing a need or, as mentioned above, enhancing the lives of others, but along the way, this noble purpose got buried under the pressure to make a profit, keep the business afloat, or to become the leading company in their industry. And a leader who once was regarded in high esteem by the organization because of their effective and compassionate leadership style may suddenly become a completely different person because of these pressures. What could eventually ensue is organizational failure because of failure in leadership.
Haris Ahmed (Chicago) and his team always remind business owners, CEOs, and top executives to conduct trainings on a regular basis to remind leaders and organizations about their purpose to help and serve; to kind of re-instill the values that they upheld when they were still a fledgling company. Trainings can also serve as a ‘public’ venue for everyone in the company to re-evaluate and re-assess their roles and responsibilities in relation to their performance.
It’s always good to take a step back once in awhile to see where you’re headed and if your leadership style is still aligned with your purpose.