Before you can build a great service experience, you need to answer one question with complete clarity: why does your business exist? Not what you sell. Not how you make money. But what is the fundamental thing you are creating for the people you serve? This is called a common purpose, and it is the bedrock of every outstanding service organisation. It is a single, clear statement of the primary reason you do what you do — something that everyone in your organisation can understand, remember, and use to make decisions when they are not sure what to do next. One of the most well-known common purposes in business history belongs to a global entertainment company's theme parks: We create happiness. Three words. Not we run theme parks or we entertain families. We create happiness. Every member of the team knows that this is their job — whether they are serving food, cleaning a street, or managing a ride. The park cleaner is not there to clean. They are there to create happiness, which might mean stopping to answer a lost child's question or pointing a confused family in the right direction. A common purpose changes how people think about their work. When you know the fundamental reason you exist, you do not need a rule for every situation. You ask a different question: will this action serve the reason we are here? If yes, do it. If no, do not. For a business in Lagos, Abuja, or Port Harcourt, a common purpose might be something like: we make our customers feel valued. Or: we give people food that reminds them of home. Whatever it is, it should be true, brief, and powerful enough to guide real behaviour in difficult moments. What is the reason yours exists?