Part 2 of 4: Building Business Identity and Purpose
Building Business Identity and Purpose
Imagine you’re McDonald’s. You notice many milkshakes are sold before 8 AM. Most fast-food executives would see this as an odd fact. Clayton Christensen saw a deeper meaning. His research team interviewed these early morning milkshake buyers, and they learned something important. These customers didn’t buy the shake to satisfy hunger. They were not looking for a quick breakfast, but buying the milkshake to make their boring commute more interesting.
This finding changed how we understand customers. People do not buy products – they hire them to do specific jobs in their lives. Understanding these jobs is a bridge which connects your business “Why” (which we discussed in Part 1) to serving people who share your beliefs.
Beyond Demographics: The Job and Analysis
Traditional market research asks who your customers are. The Jobs-to-be-Done theory, however, asks what they are trying to accomplish. This change from demographics to circumstances creates a new way to understand your market and your competition.
Think about the person who buys that morning milkshake. Their demographics might show a 35-year-old professional living in a suburb, and having a college degree. None of those facts explains why they chose a milkshake over a bagel or a banana. The job explains it. They need something that lasts through a long drive and keeps them full until lunch. It must be easy to consume with one hand and should give them energy. It should also make the boring drive more fun.
When you understand the concept of the job, you see that McDonald’s is not just competing with other fast-food places. It is competing with bananas. Bananas are healthy and portable. It is competing with bagels, which are filling. It is competing with energy bars, which are convenient. It is even competing with podcasts and coffee, which offer entertainment. The list of competitors becomes much wider when you see things through the lens of jobs.
Functional, Emotional, and Social Needs
Every job has multiple dimensions that work together and create the complete criteria for hiring a product. Knowing these dimensions helps you see why customers choose one solution over another.
Functional dimension: The functional dimension is the primary focus of most companies. This is the practical task. For example, the milkshake buyer’s functional job is to get nutrition, and the product must be portable and easily accessible. But functionality alone does not decide a hiring choice in most cases.
Emotional dimension: The emotional dimension addresses how customers want to feel. The milkshake buyer may want to feel like they are treating themselves on a stressful commute. They may want to feel like they made a smart choice by picking something that will sustain them. Someone who is health-conscious may feel guilty about the choice, and that guilt creates a chance for a competitor to offer a healthier option.
Social dimension: The social dimension looks at how customers want to be seen by others. Being seen with a McDonald’s milkshake might suggest bad health choices, and they may choose to drink it in their car, away from coworkers. In other situations, the milkshake choice might suggest you are practical and efficient. These social considerations can explain why a customer seems to act in a way that is not rational. They point to new opportunities.
Progress, Not Products
Christensen’s job theory changes how you think about what you sell. You are not selling products, you are selling progress. Customers hire you to help them move from their current state to a desired future state. This progress helps them overcome obstacles and addresses worries that go beyond the functional task.
Consider a person hiring a financial advisor. The functional job may be to manage their investments, but the deeper job is often to help them feel confident about their financial future. They want to sleep better at night and stop worrying about retirement. The progress includes better returns. It also includes reduced anxiety and peace of mind. We are tapping into the customer’s why.
The financial advisor who provides regular check-ins and clear explanations may get hired. This is true even if another advisor offers slightly better returns but has a poor understanding of the client’s needs.
Finding Your Customers’ Jobs
Finding the jobs your customers hire you to do takes work. Look past what they buy and understand why they buy it. Look at the alternatives they considered. Start by studying the circumstances that lead people to seek your solution. What is happening in their lives that makes the old way of doing things no longer acceptable? What is the event that sends them looking for help?
These moments of struggle are where jobs become clear. The current way of doing things is not working. Someone does not wake up one day and decide to hire a personal trainer. They have a moment when they realise their current fitness plan is failing. They may struggle to keep up with their kids. They may feel uncomfortable in their clothes. They may get a bad report from their doctor.
Study the entire experience your customers have. Don’t just look at the moment they use your product. Customer shadowing and surveys are great tools to use if you can. What were they doing before they hired you? What problems did they have finding a solution? What worried them about making the change? What did they hope would be different after hiring you? The answers will help you see where you might be falling short.
Pay close attention to how customers talk. They often reveal the job in their own words. They might say, “I needed something that would…” or “I was looking for a way to…” or “I wanted to stop…” These phrases point to the progress they seek. They point to the job they are trying to get done.
Competing Against Doing Nothing
One of the most important ideas from jobs theory is this: your biggest competitor is often the customer choosing to do nothing. This “non-consumption” happens when people have a job to do. But all the solutions they see are inadequate for their needs.
Consider someone who wants to learn a new language. They find classes too long and software programs too boring. Tutors are too expensive. They are not choosing between different language programs – they are choosing to remain monolingual. This is because no solutions fit their job needs. Duolingo succeeded by designing for this. It made language learning convenient, fun, and affordable. The program was engaging enough that people chose to make progress. They chose not to do nothing.
This way of thinking opens up many opportunities. You can create new markets. You can serve jobs that are not being done. These opportunities exist when a job is clear but the solutions are inadequate.
Jobs and Business Identity
Understanding your customers’ jobs gives you clarity about your business identity. Your Why (from Part 1) gives you the belief that drives your business. The jobs your customers hire you to do define how that belief gives value to people’s lives.
A company’s Why might be to empower small business owners to succeed. It might find that its customers hire them for jobs like this: “Help me understand my finances so I can make good decisions.” Or, “Take care of the tax details so I can focus on serving customers.” These jobs give a specific meaning to the broader purpose and help guide product development and marketing.
The combination of Why and jobs creates what we might call “purpose-market fit.” This is the place where your beliefs align with the progress you can help customers make. This is where businesses thrive. You are not just solving problems but advancing a cause that matters to you and your customers.
Creating Psychological Safety
Understanding jobs also shows why psychological safety is important. We will discuss this in Part 3. Many of the most important jobs people need done involve vulnerability. This means admitting they need help. It means taking risks to make progress.
If your customers do not feel safe being honest, you will never understand the full job they need done. If your employees do not feel safe talking about customer struggles, you will miss opportunities. You will not be able to serve the jobs that matter most.
The milkshake research worked because customers felt safe providing honest feedback about their real reasons for making the purchase. Creating this psychological safety is essential and helps you truly understand and serve the jobs that matter.
Note: This document was selectively edited using Grammarly.
Coming Next: Part 3 – Psychological Safety: Creating the Environment Where Authentic Purpose Can Thrive
References
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