Context and content
Did you notice that the number of motorbikes is increasing every day?
I think motorbikes are the most practical way to travel in the “context” of our narrow roads and congested traffic situations but how I wish they would obey traffic rules just like everybody else.
Speaker and writer Michael Angier asks a question: “Is Context More Important than Content?” So what is the difference between a context and content? Let me give you an example:
A biker is riding a new motorcycle on the highway. While passing a car, he knocks on the window. The driver of the car opens the window, “Yes?”
“Ever driven a Harley Davidson?”
“No, I haven’t.”
The biker drives on until he sees the next car. While passing it, he knocks on the window. The driver of the car opens the window: “Yes?”
“Ever driven a Harley Davidson?”
“No, I haven’t.”
Then suddenly there is a curve, the biker sees it too late. He crashes off the road into a ditch. A car stops and a man runs to the poor biker. He was in an enormous mess, yet this biker asks, “Ever driven a Harley Davidson?”
“Yes, I have.” Said the man from the car. “I had a Harley for 20 years.”
This time the biker says, “Tell me, where are the brakes?”
So here we see the difference between the context and the content. Context is the circumstances or events that form the environment within which something exists or takes place.
This guy is so excited he has a brand-new motorbike. Content is the amount of something contained in something else. The guy has a new bike all right, but he doesn’t know where the brakes are.
Now let’s apply this to business.
Most of what we hear about today are the content of business—like how things are done, what things should be done, when and prioritizing the doingness of business. It’s also where most business owners spend most of their time.
We also need to be interested in the Context of business. It’s not that content isn’t necessary or interesting—it is. But I don’t think the context—the framework and parameters of a business—gets the attention it deserves.
Context shapes the content. If you have a bowl (the context), you can put almost anything in it (the content). You can pour water, corn flakes, bourbon, or diamonds into it, and it will take on the shape of the bowl.
But without the context, the contents have no shape. They have no place to be.
An organization is like that, too. The structure of the business—the boundaries, rules, values, vision and mission all help to form the context. They create integrity. Michael Angier gives us food for thought.
Business contents change and evolve. But the right framework can last for centuries. Principles don’t change, but management practices and even the kind of business conducted does change.
While ways of conducting business activities may change, the values and principles of doing business should not. The digital economy has challenged many businesses forcing them to change the way (content) they do business. Instinctively, every business organizations know that there should be an unchanging set of values and principles (context) of doing business that would ensure that everyone in the organization is traveling the same path and conducting ethical business practices. This is why they have “corporate values.”
Michael Angier says: “I’ve been studying successful people and successful companies for over many years. I was determined to learn the principles that shape and mold a world-class company. It doesn’t matter whether you’re manufacturing flat irons, running a restaurant, managing a municipality or operating a dry-cleaning business—the Ten Pillars of a World Class Business work in any business.
If all of your attention is directed at the busyness of business—which is what most people do—then the value of what you do and the longevity of your business can easily be lost.
Invest the time to create a better context for your business— one that will allow you to have an enterprise with staying power—one that can endure 100 years or more. Learn the principles that work. Put forth the energy to build the foundation and structure that will increase the value of the service and/or products you produce.
With the right context, you will more easily stay in business, accomplish your purpose, increase profit, and stand out in your industry.[1]
The “context” is so important, and many of my corporate clients are now actively conducting “Values Training” for their people. This is good news. The not-so-good news is that many organizations are still displaying their corporate values as ornaments in their websites, fancy decorative wall posters in their HR offices and have not taken the effort to articulate them and make their people understand the relevance of their “context” to the “content” of their business.
In order to stay successful, business organizations should articulate the values and train their people not only to memorize them but to live them. This provides the platform for your company’s competitive edge. And in today’s hyper competitive economy; you just cannot afford to ignore this.
(Attend two inspiring days of leadership training with Francis Kong. His highly acclaimed Level Up Leadership seminar-workshop will have its last run for the year this Sept. 10-11 at Makati Diamond Residences (near Greenbelt 1). For registration or inquiries contact April at +63928-559-1798 or register online at www.levelupleadership.ph)
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