/leading through your brand culture_

Business leaders are now some of the most trusted leaders in the country which is quite frankly, astounding. I’m not quite sure what led to such distrust among public servants and even spiritual leaders but I have a feeling that it has to do with brand.

Brands have more responsibility today than they did yesterday

Brand is what people think of you before you walk in a room. As we’ve seen over the course of the last four years is that we all seem to be quick to assume who a person is based on their political leaning (which is a brand) or their religious background. Yet, somehow, brands seem to have gained ground as something that brings about positive associations. That means people are looking to them for hope — which is a new responsibility.

We love supporting the brands we love. We wear the swag. We make recommendations. We call ourselves by their names. I’m a Mac. I’m a PC. This isn’t new. But what is new is that brands seem to be the lone empathetic voices in a sea of anger and frustration with society. Brands remain hopeful.

We have to remain hopeful. We need people to hope for a better tomorrow because we need everyone to get out of bed in the morning and move society and commerce forward. It’s a survival imperative. Those that accept their responsibility to be empathetic and to lead are the brands that are holding our broader culture together by a shoestring.

Whether or not it’s responsible for a society to put this much responsibility on brands to take on societal leadership, I don’t think it’s a question of whether or not they should have the responsibility. It’s a question of now that the ball is in their court, what are they going to do with it?

As much as we want to focus on profit, today we must focus just on doing the most good.

All throughout history when societies become divisive people resort to their more tribal instincts. Who can I trust? Where do I belong? Where can I survive and eventually thrive? A company is a community all on its own. A company offers a place where people can survive and become their best.

Where companies fail to be inclusive, where they fail to build culture, they struggle on all fronts.

They struggle with employee engagement. They struggle with growth. They struggle with turn over. They struggle with customer service. They struggle with production. They struggle with morale. Work isn’t fun and their home life bears the weight of it.

Contrast this with a team that isn’t worried about taking care of their family. They aren’t worried about going to the doctor or putting away for the future. They can just focus on being productive and seeking fulfillment through mastery and purpose.

We have to take care of our people because society refuses to. It’s our responsibility now.

How to lead through your culture.

Invite people to your culture through story. When you watch an Apple keynote, one of the things you’ll notice is that they are great story tellers. Apple loves telling real stories about how their customers are using their products in their daily lives in a way that carries significant impact.

In a recent keynote, Apple CEO, Tim Cook told a story about a young lady that learned about a heart defect because her Apple Watch alerted her of a problem. She was able to go to the doctor and receive medical attention that saved her life.

What better way to prove their core value of “being here to make a positive difference in society” than to share a story where their products saved a human life.

Your core values and mission make up the starter material of your company culture.

The job of the CEO is to get the right people in the room together, to make the big speech pointing people toward the mission and your core values, make judgements about the future of the company based off of current reports and to build up each team member and show gratitude (usually through food)

CEO’s who understand that business is easy when you have the right people and business is hard when you have the wrong people, do everything possible to keep the right people around. That begins and ends with maintaining a strong team culture.

Three key aspects of team culture.

Identity traits

How you identify with others and how you identify with a brand has to first be in alignment. Identity is admittedly kind of tricky when it comes to people. How do you invite the level of diversity needed to be able to tackle problems from enough angles to really be able to solve the problem well versus ending up with people who look and think like you because it is comfortable?

Identity in this sense can’t be about looking and thinking the same. Identity has to be about those internal drivers that are united behind a common cause. When you focus on commonality and you trust that the goal is the same, that is the only way to have those crucial conversations that will put together a plan that is both different than what you were thinking and better than what you were thinking.

Core values are a really great place to begin with designing those cultural identity traits that define your brand culture. Things like creativity. Believing in your service. Caring about the customer. Being a life-long learner. These are things that people can unite behind that have nothing to do with race or gender yet, the angle that creativity comes from, the way that each individual shows care, the passion people bring to your offer is only enhanced by a diverse group of people who share those values.

Personal growth

People are mastery seeking. Not only do they want to be good at their jobs, they want to continuously improve in their jobs. They don’t want to stall out. They don’t want to reach a limit. They want to know their is still a hill to climb. And in fact, that is when people do their best work. It is in the pursuit of enlightenment where we find the most growth, not in the arrival of enlightenment.

You can lead through your culture by being a learning and training culture. Enlighten your people. Don’t be afraid to make the big speech. Don’t be afraid to be inspirational. Don’t be afraid to give people something to aspire to. But also figure out a plan for how they can achieve something.

Collaboration

In both building a team and building a client base collaboration is the lynchpin for conversion. We want people to buy into what we are doing and when we make it a collaboration and an act of creation everyone has a stake in the project. Everyone has a baby to take care of. When work is an act of collaboration the team wins. When a sale is an act of collaboration the company wins.

But how do you invite collaboration? If you are the CEO, it begins with having the humility to be quiet and ask questions. When leading a discussion, have the discipline to speak last after everyone else has said their piece. You have so much power as a CEO that literally silences creativity in your people. That is the last thing that you want.

Remember that your job is to get the right people in the room and make sure there are donuts. After that, you have to trust that you made the best decision and that you have good people. Let them work. Let them wrestle. Let them creative. Let them bring their unique perspective. Because they can see things from angles that you are incapable of seeing. Point the team back to the mission when necessary but over all, just facilitate.

Invite, enlighten, create is the model for building a vibrant brand culture that includes your team and your customers.

Businesses don’t always consider their customers as part of their brand culture. But you cannot forget to consider the customer as part of what defines your culture. They absolutely do!

Not only because they are wearing your swag but because their referral and recommendation matters more than any piece of marketing collateral that you can distribute. The customers you choose to target and the results of the work you perform for them IS the brand. Case studies matter. Word of mouth is brand, which is true of customers and team.

Getting this right.

If you get this right, you’ll actually build a team and customer base that expands itself. You’ll have people who love each other. You’ll have customers that are in it to win it. They’ll feel invested in your brand.

Don’t do it? And your people will be stressed. They will work alone and miss out on the key innovation that comes from creating together.

Now is our moment to lead

There may never be a time in history where so many self-aware business owners are actually taking the position of caring.

I’m not saying that all businesses are in a position to lead today. But by focusing on the steps I’ve outlined here you will cease this moment.