My husband and I are still intrigued by the Navy SEALs and our visit to The Navy SEALs Museum in Ft. Pierce, Florida. In the gift shop, I bought a tee-shirt and my husband bought a coin. I remembered thinking, that’s a nice souvenir.
Neither of us understood what the coin meant.
It wasn’t until we returned home and he did some research that he found that this type of coin was called a “challenge coin.”
Challenge coins are usually given to military members and also organization members. They are meant to build team spirit. Unit commanders also give them to their team members to recognize a special achievement. Organizations use them to recognize a visit or special occasion.
The tradition of challenge coins has a military history. It began as a way to identify a WWI aviator pilot when he had no other way to prove to the French that he was indeed with the good guys.
My husband wrote a post, Challenge Coins, which has a photo of the one he purchased from the museum and another he recently ordered. I have a feeling a tradition has begun.
What touches me is that these challenge coins call someone to a higher purpose. It is a reminder to dedicate oneself to a cause greater than one’s own needs. It is a reminder that there is a mission ahead and that at times, you need something tangible to keep you on track.
I’ve thought about how this relates to my own pursuit of serving my clients with copy that gets results. It’s important to think about how I can best serve them and requires a lot of observation and listening.
I like helping businesses shift the attention from themselves to their audience. Many companies want to sell themselves immediately to their audience. This is where you get a lot of “we” language: “We can do…,” “We’re the best…,” “We know this better than anyone,” etc.
But your prospect really doesn’t care about you. They only care about themselves and their own needs. This gives you the perfect opportunity to serve them.
Are you putting your audience’s interests above your own? This is an important question that I and anyone doing business must answer.
What is your mission?
A deeper response than “making a profit” will lead to more meaningful work and in the long run, will likely produce profit.
But it starts with recognizing the reason you do business in the first place. For entrepreneurs, they want to share their art with the world. Larger businesses have a tougher time because the machine has become so large that the “why” of a company can easily get lost.
My husband recently said this:
How nice it would be if we were to take the same discipline as our Navy SEALs with everything we do no matter how mundane. What a great country this would be! Imagine, uncompromising excellence in workmanship, dedication to service, justice, freedom, and the feeling of community, state, country. There would be a sincere appreciation for all the blessings in our lives and a totally new attitude at work as well as home.
The only people worthy of the title now are the Special Forces, the SEALs in particular. Imagine a whole populace with the same resolve, the same determination, the same dedication. What a great society we would become.
Perhaps having your own challenge coin will be a good touchstone to encourage you to pursue the right path. We all need that kind of encouragement and connection. Here’s to identifying and staying true to your own personal mission.
