I love Philz Coffee, a small chain in the San Francisco area.
I first found Philz when visiting San Francisco in early 2012. My wife and I were in town looking for our future home and went looking for a good cup of coffee.

We had been to a few of the fancier coffee joints in San Francisco, of which, there are many. I like them too, Ritual, Blue Bottle, Four Barrel.

Philz has great coffee, where they brew one cup at a time, in what I believe is some sort of turkish style coffee. They have like 20 plus flavors on the wall, all the locations are warm and cool. Very inviting.

Philz Coffee is absolutely killing it and continuing to expand in the Bay Area. They do have a great product, but more than that, they succeed at creating a great feel and a reliably unique experience.

What we can learn from Philz and other successful businesses is that great businesses understand who they are and why they exist, and they do a great job and fulfilling on the expression of that purpose.

Any sustainable business, has a purpose for it’s existence. If it didn’t, it wouldn’t exist.

The best companies have a strong connection to the reason for their existence. And the ones that last, continue to orient all of their decisions around that central purpose for their existence.

All of the most successful businesses you study in business school are successful because they are fiercely oriented around the purpose for their existence.

Apple, Southwest, Google (Alphabet), Amazon, Novo Nordisk, Four Seasons, Philz Coffee

These companies aren’t oriented around short term results. They don’t make decisions that aren’t aligned with the purpose for their existence.

For example, here’s the purpose statement for Southwest Airlines:

“Connect People to what’s important in their lives through friendly, reliable, and low-cost air travel.”

That’s why they make jokes and keep costs low and don’t charge baggage fees. It may not be expedient in the short term, but it is why Southwest is the most profitable airline in the industry.

For your business, don’t ever forget why you exist, what the purpose of your business is. If you want to be successful, thrive, you must orient all of your decisions around expressing the purpose of your business.