What Business Are You Really In?

The question that determines whether your company survives disruption, challenging economies, or disappears.

A story that started with uncertainty

In 1989, a talented graphic designer moved his young family of four across the state for a new job.

House sold. Boxes packed. Future clear.

And when they arrived, the job fell through.

Looking for work at an agency didn’t pan out. The Macintosh computer had entered the market, and the graphic design industry was shifting.

The skills that once made him valuable weren’t enough.

To provide for his family, he took a job in construction. With uncertainty and a growing realization that the design world was changing, his dreams for a career in graphic design began to fade.

That designer was our founder, Bill Kleist. (To be continued…)

And that season taught us something we still believe today: If you don’t understand what business you’re really in, change will always feel like a threat.

This idea really came into focus at CBRT

I recently shared this message at the 2026 CBRT Annual Summit: Business Success in Every Economy, hosted by the Christian Business Roundtable at the Royal Oak Golf Club.

And the question we explored together was simple:

What business are you really in?

Most businesses get this wrong

Here’s the pattern I’ve seen over 35 years:

Most companies define themselves by what they sell.
– “We build homes.”
– “We design websites.”
– “We manufacture parts.”

But that’s not what sustains you through change.

The companies that last define themselves by:
– “Who they serve.”
– “The problem they solve.”
– “The value they create.”
– “and Knowing why they do it.”

When companies get it WRONG – Two Examples

#1 Sears

Sears once dominated retail.

They built a national distribution system, sold over 70,000 home kits, and delivered anything you could imagine through their catalog.

Then they shut the catalog down in 1993.

Two years later, Amazon launched.

Sears didn’t lose because of competition.
They lost because they forgot what business they were in.

They were really in the “Make your dreams come true, at your door or in our store” business.

#2 Kodak

Kodak invented the digital camera in 1975.

Let that sink in.

But they chose not to pursue it, because it threatened their film business.

What business were they really in? They saw themselves as a film company first.

They weren’t a film company. They were an imaging company.

And that disconnection cost them everything.

When companies get it RIGHT – Three Examples

These three companies successfully transitioned through one of the most disruptive technological shifts in recent history: from the carriage to the automobile. They toughed it out and adapted through two world wars and economic upheaval.

#1 The McLaughlin Carriage Company

In the early 1900s, Robert McLaughlin was producing over 20,000 carriages a year.

Then the automobile arrived.

Robert’s response?

He dismissed it as a fad.

This kind of resistance has a name:
The “intransigence gene” is an emotional and intellectual refusal to adapt.

Fortunately, Robert’s son, Sam, didn’t have the same gene.

He started building automobiles in 1905, two years later, with Buick engines.

In 1918, he merged with General Motors and sold the carriage side of the business.

And they are still alive in business today.

#2 Studebaker

Studebaker started as a wagon company.

Enter the automobile. So in 1902, they adapted, protecting their brand and evolving with the market.

Studebaker gave it a 64-year-long run, with an independent production facility in partnership with Packard. Their final automobile came off the line in 1966.

Like Sam McLaughlin, Studebaker understood something deeper:
They weren’t in the coach-building business.

Studebaker was in the transportation business.

#3 Sherwin-Williams

Founded in 1866, they didn’t just sell paint.

They innovated with:
– Pre-mixed paint.
– The resealable paint can.
– The reusable paint roller.

They stayed focused on the overall value they created for their customers, not just on the products they sold.

And today, they’re still an industry leader.

The shift that changes everything

Here’s the truth:

Your brand is not your logo.
It’s the sum total of every experience people have with your business.

This includes:
– How you answer the phone.
– How your team shows up.
– How your process works.
– How consistently you communicate your identity.

Your brand is built by tangible and intangible assets.

A simple way to think about your brand.

We often describe a brand like a tree.

Roots → Vision, Mission, Values, Differentiators
Trunk → Purpose: Focus and clarity, why you do what you do
Branches → Marketing, operations, customer experience

If the roots aren’t clear, the rest won’t hold.

A real-world example

When we worked with KIRKS, a 75+ year-old company, they had a problem:

People still thought they were an automotive service company.

But that’s not what they were doing anymore.

So, after many weeks of deep-diving into who they were, we helped them clarify what business they were really in:

“We keep fleet and transit industries moving.”

That clarity changed everything.
– Their messaging aligned with their vision.
– Their team understood the mission.
– Their market positioning sharpened.

They reported a 30% increase in revenue in the first year after clarifying their brand.

Not because they changed what they did.