An event I attended this past weekend reminded me how easy it is to misunderstand what it means to be “customer-centric”. In general I hate jargon, and in particular, I dislike the way “centricity” is bandied about without a thought to what the term means. Not the dictionary definition, the ‘around...
How many times have you seen people make the promise “most trusted” or something similar? Trust assertions of one ilk or another litter organisational identities and positioning statements. Whether trust squats in the purpose statement, lurks in the list of values or makes an appearance on the website’s home page, I...
Once you’ve established the foundation of identity (purpose and values) you’re all good right? Wrong. Now the work begins. Every day something will come up to test how much you care about and believe your purpose and those values. There’s a daily battle for your brand going on inside your organisation. Even the...
When you have a question, don’t settle for the first answer, even if it feels like it’s the right one. When you accept the first answer in a rush to move something forward or get to the next step, a whole world of detail that can launch understanding and clarity...
Over the break, I plunged into Walter Isaacson’s expansive and illuminating look at Leonardo da Vinci’s life and work. While many gems are sure to find their way into my thinking over the coming months, the following passage felt like an excellent place to start 2018. Isaacson writes: “What prevents perpetual motion,...
If you’re like the person I was talking to last week, you spend many hours speculating things that can go wrong. Okay well, maybe not hours, but at least somewhere throughout the planning process, the thorny question of ‘what if X bad thing happens?’ will pop above the parapets. Lots of...
How often do you stop and say a simple “thanks for all your work” to the people around you? If you’re like most of us, the answer is not very often. Caught up in the daily grind, it can be hard enough to remember to go to the bathroom let...
Loyalty is coveted by organisations because loyal customers come back more often, spend more money and tell other people they like you. And loyal employees stick around longer, are more productive and care more about what they do. This all sounds hunky dory. And now the kicker, because there is always...
Describing what you care about without descending into hyperbole is hard because fear sits underneath the words people use. Fear that my thing is not good enough, sexy enough, bold enough, game-changing enough. And we’re good at using language to mask our fear. Hype is subtle at first. Just give the...
All the things on the list below, and the thousands of others I haven’t included, are things you need to work on if you want a robust, resilient brand. So let’s dive in. Brand is a result of … Building a viable strategy that everyone knows their part in. A plan for how...