The Purpose of Enterprises

Enterprise just like an individual should find the purpose bigger than itself, not only for the pursuit of profit but also for exploring the mission and purpose to the society, that’s the yin/yang of the visionary enterprise.

Here are mission statements from a couple of industry leaders:

Google's mission is to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful.

Kimberly-Clark: To enhance the health, hygiene and well-being of people every day, everywhere.

Nike: To bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world. If you have a body, you are an athlete."

Microsoft: We work to help people and businesses throughout the world realize their full potential

The legacy industries such as airline were built on human’s pride and imagination, however, they were suffering economically for the last decade, as a loyal customer and warm advocate for many great airlines, I believe beyond pursuit of different revenue streams which is fair, how to explore the great customer experience catches the insight from this perspective: We are in the customer service business, and we happened to be in transportation industry. That’s why they are doing better)

What other BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) the airline could pursuit beyond profit, or even transform the industry from “surviving mode” into “thriving prosperity”:

1.Inspire the diversified culture and global wisdom: Since airline is the privileged industry to touch the world from the sky, how to understand the world deeper and better may help serve the world best.

2.Take the leadership on the new technology battleground: Bio fuel, energy efficiency, and the latest information technology have great potential to make the industry thriving, the airline should make a splash to become the leader.

3.Rekindle the passion and imagination for the sky: the airline could become the incubator for nurturing the colorful leadership, space science lover, and travel adventurers.

Now United airline and Continental airline merged as the biggest airline in the world. What’s the fresh mission statement for the new carrier to pursuit the purpose such as:
Unite the best, to build the smartest enterprise in the world, and inspire the human to reach beyond the sky

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Cultural Insight from The Moon Festival

Today, 10:00pm, September 22nd, just look out of the window, there’s bright full moon hanging right on the sky, shining in the solitude. The Moon festival (also called the Mooncake or Mid-Autumn festival) is right here..

Moon Festival vs. Thanksgiving
What is the Moon festival? Every year on the fifteenth day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar, when the moon is at its maximum brightness for the entire year, the Chinese celebrate "zhong qiu jie." It is the most important festival after the Chinese Lunar New Year. A full moon is a symbol of togetherness. As such, the Mid-Autumn Festival is a time for family reunion. It's also called "Reunion Festival", just like Thanksgiving in United States. Instead of eating turkey, mooncakes are inextricably linked with the Moon festival, mooncakes may be filled with everything from dates, nuts, and fruit to eggs, sausages. More exotic creations include green tea, Haagen-Daz has even gotten into the act by introducing a line of ice cream mooncakes in Asian markets.



The Philosophy of Life
There have been numerous poems about the Mid-Autumn Festival since ancient times, the most famous piece below comparing our life’s up & down to the four moon phases (new moon, first quarter moon, full moon, and second quarter moon):

"Men have sorrow and joy, they part or meet again;
the moon may be bright or dim, she may wax or wane.
So let us wish that man will live long as he can;
though miles apart,
we'll share the beauty she displays."

The philosophy of our life is not because it’s perfect, it’s more like a colorful journey to enjoy the nature such as sunshine & moonlight and pursue the purpose.

Ying and Yang of Change Management
The moon and sun reflect the notion yin and yang in Oriental philosophy, also means different ways of looking at a world that may be experienced in a variety of different ways. Yin, or 'the shady side' is contrasted with 'the sunny side' yang, and the idea is that everything has at least two aspects to it.

In today’s multi-polar world, the modern management need absorb energy from both sunshine and moonlight, digest the difference, to create the multi-cultural laser and explore the quintessence of ying and yang.

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