About Purpose is about your purpose.
Aim: Identify and articulate your purpose.
Arm: Shape yourself around your purpose.
Act: Achieve your purpose.
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From Whence Did You Come? 
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Bob Ryan, About Purpose, Inc. ©2008
In this culture of “full speed ahead, never look back” business is losing one of its greatest tools – that of understanding the past. If you want a strong, well-founded business, learn to see and incorporate the past into your future.
We have reached our current situation because of, or in some cases, in spite of what has gone before. Every business, every entrepreneur, every non-profit, every government has a past that has made it what it is today. When we take a little time to reflect on the mile markers in our journey, we begin to see the gifts we have been given through experience, luck, others and the grace of God. We remember that more than just our skill went into building what we have. It is a humble reminder that many people, events and circumstances played a part. It reminds us that what we have is, indeed, a gift, contrary to the thought some have who think they “earned every penny.”
Celebrating the successes of the past help us weather the rocky times of the present. They remind us that we’ve been through worse and we made it. They help put our present problems in perspective. There is, indeed, a long-term view and it is important to keep it in mind. It builds our confidence in a future, knowing there has been a past. Similarly, knowing in some detail what has been successful is even more important than knowing what went wrong. It helps people build around strengths rather than dwell on failures.
Remembering our roots helps employees build a sense of belonging and a pride in the heritage of which they are a part. The founder may know the stories of starting in a garage or around a kitchen table with little more than an idea and a lot of grit, but the more time passes, the fewer there are to appreciate how special the history of the company is. The organization is no different in the minds of newer employees than any other company. What differentiates it is lost in the memories of the original few.
Preserving the past helps carry the passion and the foundational values into the present and the future. Talking about what ignited the vision and what kept the fire in the belly going lets employees, customers and vendors share something special. In its most elemental form, what is a company, anyway? It is an idea that meets a need, structured to do it effectively and efficiently. People don’t get excited about companies, they get excited about ideas, values, and outcomes.
From whence did you come? Can you recite the mile markers in your journey? Do you regularly lift up the past and celebrate it so that you and all with whom you work can carry it proudly into the future? What can you do to memorialize the past so that all will share in it? Make that a project this summer. Be sure that vacationing employees have something to come back to that makes them proud to be a part of your organization.