Can you feel it? The cool, crisp air of fall (depending on where you live) and the first rumblings of 2012 business plans. I love a good business plan — the excitement of potential not yet realized, the clarity of vision we gain, the geeky Excel-iness of it all. We can get so caught up in planning the future that we forget the purpose for what we do that grounded our business in the first place.

Both Daniel Pink’s A Whole New Mind and my current read, Jim Loehr’s The Power of Story, talk about how integral purpose is to success. Alice Waters and Chez Panisse exemplify that passionate purpose can provide a business not only a solid foundation, but also an influential legacy, even in the notoriously fickle restaurant industry.

Remember to take that extra step in planning for your business to reconnect and realign it with purpose.