Behind the Scenes at Global-Roam

As you might have noticed, I have been adopting an iterative (and open) approach to the communication of my Vision for the company, starting with this post, and linked to several others that provide more details.

As this communication has been progressively clarified, I have become more aware of the need to also clearly communicate why our company exists, in the first place (it’s not primarily to make a profit, though of course it’s nice when it does).

Hence, this post has been added – it’s currently the 1st draft, and may be progressively refined (depending on what feedback I receive about how clear it is)

Summary

I had previously posted about the Mission of the company on the same page on which I posted about the Vision for the company.

To allow me to to provide further explanation, I have shifted this to a separate post:

WHY?     The purpose of our business is to help the broadest range of people make the most of the opportunities that the electricity market offers them.

HOW?      We do this by helping people understand the electricity market (so they can see the opportunities for themselves).

Why no explicitly stated Mission until now?

There’s always been one – just not explicitly stated.

Why is it that we’ve been in business for 10 years already, and I have only just now come to a realisation that I need to be explicit (and direct) in communicating why our business exists?

That’s a very good question!

In simple terms, there’s two reasons:

Reason 1 = Concern about the B.S. Factor

Like you, perhaps, I’d read frequently about Mission, Vision and Values and had heard the theory about why they were necessary.

However, when I turned around and looked at (my perception of) reality in corporate life, I saw very few examples of organisations that were fully integrated with what they publicly professed their Mission to be.

Hence, public display of Mission statements seemed (to me) to be more an exercise in ego than in anything practical.

---

Reason 2 = Assuming it would be Self-Evident

Coupled with this, I reasoned that it would be obvious for people to perceive what the Mission of our company was as a result of the products we had chosen to develop, and the approach we had taken in terms of pricing and distribution.

---

Hence, I chose to stay away from what I perceived as ultimately just weasel words – and preferred to build up our reputation organically, allowing clients (and others) to judge us by our actions, not our words.

.

Why the Change of Heart?

Those of you whom have been keeping informed of the machinations at work in our company over the past 6-12 months (through the Autopsy 1 day, and the Autopsy 2 process) will recognise that we’re disappointed.

We’ve achieved a number of good things over the past 10 years which gives us a sense of quiet pride, but we have also disappointed a number of people (clients, employees and shareholders) in other ways.

Through this introspection (assisted by questions such as these) I have come to a realisation that there is, indeed, some value in publicly (and clearly) stating our reason for existence.

So I have done this above, and expanded on “our reason Why?” below.

However, because of my concerns above, I am very serious in issuing the following invitation to hold us to account:

PLEASE LET US KNOW WHEN WE DISAPPOINT!

The focus above was forefront of my mind (much of the time) over the past 10 years as I strove to build and grow our business.  In the next 10 years I will be working to ensure it remains at the forefront of our collective conscious.

Hence, if you see (or experience) any examples of where we do not live up to the expectations we evoke in you, I would ask that you call me and let me know personally:
(a)  Tel +61 (0)7 3368 4064
(b)  Tel +1 416 628 1366
Of course, if you believe that what we do is aligned with what is stated above, it would be nice to hear from you as well!

This invitation is open to:
(a)  Those who already know us personally; and to
(b)  Those who come to know us better (over time) through interactions (whether they be online, or in person).

I look forward to hearing from you!

.

More about Our “Why?”

Yes, I realise that the Electricity Supply Industry does not have loads of general appeal:

I certainly don’t expect the latest style guide to be proclaiming “electrons are the new black!” any time soon.

Hence I recognise that an average reader might read the above declaration of Mission and respond with “So What?”.

Hence, the following is an attempt to provide some more context as to why we think what we do is important:

Electricity is integral to Modern Life

Don’t think there would be much argument with this one.

---

The ESI is complex and capital intensive

Any country’s electricity supply industry (ESI) would probably their largest integrated machine – with everything interconnected from a generator end down to the light-bulbs in everyone’s homes, and everything “spinning” (electrically or physically) at 3000rpm (50Hz) or 3600rpm (60Hz), depending on where in the world they sit.

Furthermore, I have heard it noted by others that the ESI in a country is the 3rd largest utiliser of capital funding (after governments and banks).

---

The Electricity Market highlights risk explicitly

RISK has always been there – for many different reasons, including:
(a)  Because (over the longer term) the development of the ESI requires large amounts of capital, and because demand for electricity is difficult to forecast.
(b)  Because (over the shorter term) the demand for electricity changes so much over each day, and over every season.

The introduction of the competitive electricity market has just made the risk much more apparent to a wider range of people (i.e. by creating an explicit wholesale price for electricity, which is subject to a large degree of volatility).

I have heard it noted that a competitive electricity market (especially an energy-only gross-pool design such as Australia’s National Electricity Market) is more volatile than any other type of commodity market.

---

The electricity market can open up choice

In theory, the electricity market can open up a range of choices to all stakeholders in the market (including generators, retailers and consumers {large and small}, equipment suppliers, fuel suppliers, etc…).

In my view, this is a worthwhile objective to strive for.

---

Understanding is a prerequisite of sustainability

For the electricity market to be sustainable (which will come if it delivers sustainable benefits to the stakeholders involved in the market), a fundamental prerequisite is that all stakeholders (not just the “usual suspects”) need to understand what’s happening in the market.

Hence – information needs to be broadly available AND really understandable.

---

.

More about “How?”

So your next question might be about how we are relevant to helping to deliver on the above?

Again, that would be another excellent question.

As noted at the top of this post, we deliver this understanding through the software we develop, which is:

1)  Designed to make complex concepts understandable to a broad range of people;

2)  Priced to ensure that the broadest possible range of stakeholders can access this understanding; and

3)  Distributed and promoted online (again, to facilitate ease of access). PLUS

4)  In future, we’ll be looking to expand our geographical focus, to ensure we can deliver benefits more broadly as well.

That’s why we have been highlighting the Clarity, Convenience and Cost-Effectiveness of our software for many years.  It’s what we strive for!

For more details about how we’re striving to deliver on our Mission, please see the associated posts about our Vision.

Tags: Clarity Convenience and Cost-Effectiveness, mission, Mission Statement, why does our company exist

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 24th, 2010 at 1:14 pm and is filed under Mission. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.