The initial phase of an organization is like that of a seed. We keep on watering it until we see it coming out and growing into a plant. After which we check on it every now and then to make sure it is not affected by any weeds. This is more or less similar to having a founder’s mentality.
At the beginning of a business, the founding members go to any extent and never get tired of constantly coming up with new ideas to make their organization stand out.
Once an organization gets established, things gradually go on auto-pilot.
Everything begins to stagnate to the level that even employees feel discouraged and the front line is ignored to end up in shambles. This marks a time when the founder and founding members are distant from their core purpose.
It does not have to be this way, though. One of the things that can save an organization is to be in constant touch with one’s vision.
Recapturing the founder’s mentality might be difficult but not doing so can be fatal to an organization. Founders often box themselves in and resist coming out of their rigidity.
An organization’s health will only improve if we inject it with the right dosage of insurgency into its purpose. As with a lot of companies that find success early on, Jaipur Rugs too came to the point where endless demands of growth diluted the core mission over time.
Once we recognized this we quickly worked to return to the company’s original mission statement of serving the artisans.
Our artisans are pure gems who through their brightness showed us our way back to our core mission. They helped us reignite our insurgency mission and led us to connect and realign our purpose.
Every rug that is woven by our talented artisans contains a story – the story of a dying art, a dream and hope of a better tomorrow. While they work day and night to revive and replenish our goal is to bring those dreams into reality.
As a founder, I believe breaking the barriers within me helped me grow. Today as I part, I would like to add that an organization’s success is measured by its ability to repurpose its mission according to the current needs. A founder’s duty is not just to water it rather to prune it according to the situation.
Don’t remain in the confines of the shade when sunlight can help you grow.
