Survey published by Mckensey Quarterly shows that if a company gets the right skill set in the room, has a transparent criteria for decisions, and considers the whole picture the outcome often exceeds expectations for revenue, profitability and speed of completion. These are more stats that show why clients who go through our strategy process typically exceed their goals. This article is a great read.
So now, we come full circle. We, as a culture, have begun to awaken and realize that without a reason for being, we will end up in a lost, pointless existence. Now, everything has shifted. We want more—more than just “stuff” for the sake of having it. We want more than the emotional high of associating our personal worth with the brands we choose. We want less jargon and more for our money. We want to save the trees, save the planet, save the children, and educate the poor, and we want a product that does what it claims it will do. Or we’re out.
This is an exciting time for those who prefer telling the truth. It’s encouraging that we are all demanding more from the products and offerings we spend our money on. It restores a little faith in human nature. But it will also increase the demands on the business owners to pay attention to their customers.
As a culture we used to evaluate a product based largely on the brand. We would overlook functionality and satisfaction. What could fill that huge gap in logic?
Emotion.
Our affluent culture offered us, as consumers, far too many decisions to make in a typical day. We were grateful for anything that could speed up any of those decisions, especially one that is emotionally changed.
It’s impossible to know all the reasons why our culture, at least for a time, fell prey to the egotistical message of the Brand. But I’m pretty sure it has something to do with the fact that we evolved to a place where we had the affluence and leisure time to move higher up Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, without the discipline to do so.
Here’s what I mean by that statement: We, as a culture, had been working really hard—toiled through the infancy of the industrial revolution and a couple of world wars—and then the fabulous time-saving, pre-packaged goods rolled into our homes and made our lives a breeze.
That’s the point at which we became lost in the pleasure of our reprieve and quickly forgot why we had worked so hard. We wanted a well-deserved break, a little time to bathe in our newly won luxury. We lost touch with the bigger goals and meaning of life. Without a more noble pursuit that humans naturally long for, we were left with stuff, experiences, and purchases that we then used to make us feel alive and important. In that context, an exciting brand illusion appeared to be just the thing we needed. Good branding could offer us the timesaving, pre-packaged replacement to a meaningful life. Thankfully, this shallow solution was not going to last forever.
Unrivaled entrepreneurs have the humility to uncover an accurate set of strengths and weaknesses, the boldness to delegate, and a solid, transparent criteria for decisions.
My opinion is not a popular one in this industry, but the self-indulgent waste in the branding, advertising, and marketing was the thing that pushed me to the point of being philosophically opposed to the industry. I went on a quest to find a way to redeem “marketers,” and the result was a systematic, efficient approach that streamlines the evolution of a company, and subsequently, a new service offered by my company Pivot Lab. It’s the accumulation of years of soul searching, study, and practical application of the theories I collected along the way. These are the theories that succeeded in practical application in the real world of business. What use are ideas if they don’t produce the results we are looking for?
It’s the one thing (other than stable cash flow) that businesses long for—loyalty from buyers and from their staff. Some would say that it is nearly impossible for a business to hold a person’s attention and trust. What would cause this? Too much clutter and too many distractions? The unraveling of moral fiber in our culture? What?
Here is an interesting fact. Gallup says, “Many employees are highly motivated when joining a company but then become increasingly disillusioned.” That sounds quite similar to how a consumer looses interest in a product or service.
It seems clear that, in the beginning, the employee or buyer is pleased they have made the right choice for themselves, but some how there expectations are not met. The source is easy to find the solution simple in understand, but challenging to execute.
If a company truly understands themselves and their offerings and then has the discipline to represent it correctly, in both hiring and communicating with potential buyers, there will be little disappointment. The company will have accurately explained what the person is about to experience and the person will then have the exact experience they expected, hopefully an even better experience than they expected. It’s likely the decision maker will feel more committed to the business, and loyalty will be built, as it always has been, with one trustworthy action after another.
The difficulty really lies in defining the true values and principals that naturally propel a company forward and aligning the company according to those guidelines. But once you’ve done that, it all becomes straightforward, your business and marketing strategy as well as how you relate to your staff and buyers.
We may have all been better off without the invention of the “Brand”. It’s truly unfortunate that the term “Brand” became so fashionable. It’s caused a bit of confusion. The thing we call brand is understood in its simplest form as the outward expression of a business—the image its consumers, partners, and competitors come to identify with any given business. But in the last sixty years, it has become so much more. It’s become an entity that exists somewhat on it’s own and has subsequently become separated from the business itself.
An indicator of this phenomenon is that we’ve come to the place where there are typically different strategies developed, one for a business and another for its brand. And they may not overlap all that much. “Brand” has even become a unique economic asset in the valuation of a total business. It continues to entice the already emotional stock market to behave even more emotionally, and we’ve all seen how branding has unscrupulously influenced the uninformed consumer.
Here are a few more tips on developing a healthy honesty in business.
The previous entries addressed a study that shows people lie often and the most popular people lie the most often. Since every business wants to become more popular, how will this effect your business negatively?
Next it makes sense to address how can you minimize any negative impact. Here are additional ideas.
Learn how to investigate your personal and collective presuppositions. Writing them out in actual sentences or bullets is a great way to become aware of them. We make many assumptions in any decision process. Start with what you can unveil now and add to it whenever you become aware of another. It will become easer to recognize with practice. Eventually it will become a habit.
Make certain the problem is framed in reality before attempting to solve it. Develop the discipline to stop and ask the problem you are about to solve is really the one you need to be solving. Is there a problem that is deeper rooted? Is this problem based on un-investigated presuppositions? Why do we think this is the problem? Because it’s always been the one we’ve been trying to sole or do we really this is the real problem?
Demonstrate how the truth can be gracefully told. If you aren’t certain how to do this, seek out help. There must be someone you know who has this skill. Often a great sales person will be a natural at this; however beware they are typically comfortable with bending the truth. Begin to change your own speech patterns and launch a company-wide effort that acknowledges the current state of the organizational culture.
Just be honest? It’s not that easy.
The last entry addressed a study that shows people lie often and the most popular people lie the most often. Since every business wants to become more popular, how will this effect your business negatively?
Next it makes sense to address how can you minimize any negative impact. How do you become honest in a culture that tends to lie? First it makes sense to start with facing the reality that lies are a possible lubricant for the culture inside your business—they can advance or destroy it. You cannot irradiate all lies nor do you need to. Does your associate really need to know their hair didn’t turn out well today?
Investigate your own motives. Access how much you value the health of your company. If this requires uncovering the truth about the entrenched beliefs about your company, your market, your current and potential buyers and your own ideas as compared to feeding your self-perception as a smart person with the best ideas.
Demand the truth. Ask directly for it. Keep asking for more. Establish at the beginning of the conversation that the rules are changing and when you ask what they think you really don’t mean ” agree with me so I feel good about a decision I’ve already made.” Be clear that you are seeking insight based on the reality of the situation. Be persistent. Repeat this every time you request an opinion. It will take perseverance to break the established culture of lying. Teach your executive staff to demonstrate this behavior.
It has been said that we live in a culture of lies—white lies, exaggerations, misrepresentations and outright deceptions. In fact, Robert Fieldman has recently published a book that demonstrates that the most popular people are the ones who lie most often. Plus before people know each other they will tend to lie once every ten minutes. My question is: how will lying effect business success or failure?
I believe lying is one of the most destructive forces in business. One of the leading offenders is the way an organization engages in self-deception. As an organization we often collectively kid ourselves in the interest of moving forward. But what is the true cost?
Consider this senario: You are running a company. You are likely a strong personality or you wouldn’t have had a good deal of success already. You have a new idea, and because you are a good boss with a great staff, you ask for your employees input. They support the major thrust of whatever you describe, raising minor objections. You head back to your office to begin an implementation plan.
Now imagine the potential reality: Your employees have high mortgage payments, a kid or two and increasing credit card debt. They also have a belief that their next raise will be tied to being a popular “team player”; so, they withhold awkward but insightful criticism. Your business slowly fails because the truth will put your employees immediate future at risk.
Everyone in this story is trying to be the good guy. But in reality the good guy employee would risk their raise. The owner who’s a really good guy would demand truth and create a culture of honest—rewarding smart, respectful and comprehensive thinking.
On the other extreme, I’ve seen the opposite problem in a company who’s motto was “challenge the process”. It’s not bad as an idea, but in practice it created a culture of nay-sayers. If you were brave enough to agree with anything you risked not living up to the motto. It paralyzed the organization. Large projects could not get off the ground because company-wide support was impossible to achieve. They made a collective pact to sustain a different sort of self-deception.
Clearly, it takes humility, courage and, of course, honesty to find out how lying might be damaging your business.
