Have you ever worked for a company where something was just… out of sync?

The goals of the sales department didn’t quite match the goals over in marketing. The hiring and firing process seemed to change a little every time. The values that the managers encouraged in their teams didn’t really align with the ones they held themselves. No matter the department, the team, or the process, everything seemed to operate apart from each other instead of in unison.

It wasn’t a sales problem. It wasn’t a product problem. It wasn’t a YOU problem… It was a mission problem.

“One piece of advice that someone shared with us early on that we really took to heart is if you’re going to build a company, have a mission… Humans, especially today, want to be part of something.”

That’s Michelle Zatlyn, co-founder and COO of Cloudflare. In just nine years, Michelle has helped build the company from user number one to user number 2 million. But it’s not something she or her two co-founders could have ever done without a mission to bind them, their customers, and their growing staff together.

Everybody wants to be part of something bigger – in life or in business. We all want to understand our role in the greater machine. And as an entrepreneur or business owner, you are in a unique position to provide that understanding for your team – not just so your business thrives, but so that your people can thrive with it.