Hi Reader,
Every organization begins with belief. Before there is a mission statement or a strategic plan, there is a conviction, something that feels too important to ignore. It is the “why behind the why.” The deep conviction that made someone say, “This matters enough to build something around it.”
But over time, as organizations grow and new people join, those founding convictions can fade into the background. What was once intuitive to the founders becomes harder to see, harder to teach, and harder to scale.
When beliefs go undocumented, culture and direction runs the risk of feeling less aligned. Meaning can become localized to a few people instead of shared across the organization. And strategy drifts because people are no longer anchored to what the organization truly stands for.
“I Cure Cancer”
In her book Strong Ground, Brené Brown shares a story from her visit to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. As she walked down a hallway, she passed a woman pushing a dessert cart and asked what she did there. The woman smiled and said, “I cure cancer.”
That sentence captures the power of shared belief.
At St. Jude, meaning is not confined to a mission statement. Everyone in every single role feels a deep connection to it in their day to day work. It flows from two foundational beliefs that guide everything they do:
- No child should die in the early dawn of life.
- No family should be denied treatment based on their race, religion, or ability to pay.
Those beliefs gave rise to their mission: to advance cures and means of prevention for pediatric catastrophic diseases through research and treatment.
But it is the beliefs, not the mission alone, that make the work matter. They infuse purpose into every role, from surgeons to scientists to the woman pushing the dessert cart.
At St. Jude, belief connects everyone to something bigger than their individual task. Meaning becomes collective.
The Story of Rick Steves: The Belief that Seeded a Travel Icon
When Rick Steves was a young traveler, he attended a seminar by a man who had just completed an incredible journey from Istanbul to Kathmandu. Rick came eager to learn where the man went, what he saw, and what he learned. But the speaker, in his words, was “too cool for school”, acting as if his experience was too exclusive to share.
Rick left that room with a quiet conviction: “When I learn something about travel, I’m going to share it openly.”
That belief became the foundation for everything he built. It grew into a company rooted in curiosity, generosity, and cultural connection. Today, his business thrives on three core beliefs:
- Globetrotting destroys ethnocentricity.
- Travel helps us understand and appreciate different cultures.
- Travel changes people. It broadens perspectives and teaches new ways to measure quality of life.
Those beliefs gave rise to his mission: to inspire, inform, and equip Americans to have European trips that are fun, affordable, and culturally broadening.
But it is his beliefs that make the mission compelling. They add color and vibrancy. They remind every traveler that the goal is not just a great trip, it is a more connected world.
Beliefs as a Beacon Signal
When clearly articulated, beliefs do more than define who you are. They act as a beacon, sending a signal that attracts others who share the same convictions.
More than any other part of your organizational identity, beliefs have the power to draw people in, not through marketing or messaging, but through genuine resonance. They invite employees, partners, and customers who say, “I want to be part of that.”
The most powerful beliefs are specific and clear. They take a stand on something meaningful, which makes them memorable and magnetic. Consider Rick Steves’s conviction: “Globetrotting destroys ethnocentricity.” It is more than a statement about travel. It is a worldview. You can immediately imagine the kind of people who would be drawn to work with him, and the kind of travelers who would choose his company.
When beliefs are that clear, they become an open invitation to alignment. People who share your convictions will naturally gravitate toward you, while those who do not will self-select out. This creates cultural clarity that no brand campaign or hiring initiative can replicate.
Attracting alignment starts with articulation. When people understand what you believe and why, they can locate themselves in your story. They can see how their personal purpose intersects with your organizational purpose.
Beliefs act as both magnet and filter. They are the signal you send into the world, quietly but consistently saying, “This is who we are. This is what we care about. If you do too, come build with us.”
Documenting Your Foundational Beliefs
Documenting your beliefs does more than capture your history. It becomes one of the most strategic acts a leadership team can take.
Clear beliefs:
- Scale meaning. They give everyone a shared language for why the work matters.
- Shape culture. They set the tone for what is valued and how people show up.
- Inform strategy. They become a filter for making aligned, values-driven decisions.
But writing them down does not make them real. Beliefs shape culture only when leaders consistently reinforce them through decisions, recognition, storytelling, and systems.
The document is a starting point, a shared foundation for meaning, but it is what you do with it every day that turns belief into culture.
When we help leadership teams identify their organizational beliefs, we often begin by asking them to reflect on their founding story and finish a few simple prompts:
- We exist because we believe ___________.
- We believe our work matters because ___________.
- We believe the world is better when ___________.
These beliefs often surface quickly, because they have been there all along, woven into the organization’s origin story, decisions, and language.
Once documented, beliefs become a compass. They remind people why their work matters, guide leaders when decisions get complex, and help new employees connect to the deeper meaning behind the mission.
From Articulation to Activation
Writing down your core beliefs is not the finish line. It is the beginning of the real work. Beliefs do not live in documents; they live in the decisions leaders make, the stories they tell, and the way people experience work every day.
When consistently lived out, those beliefs become contagious. They spread meaning throughout the organization, not by mandate, but through alignment. When people who share a belief find each other, the result is more than alignment.
When clearly named, documented, and lived, they turn routine work into a shared act of conviction. They remind people that they are not just performing tasks, they are participating in something they believe in.
Reflection Questions:
- What deep convictions gave rise to your mission?
- Are those beliefs documented and visible across your organization?
How might you more intentionally weave those beliefs into your culture and strategy?
-Shaun & Joe
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