Culture

When you’re trying to build your company’s brand, one clear focal point is the marketplace and another is the target consumer.  An often overlooked (or under considered) leg of the stool is your work force, and subsequently, everyone those people know. Internal branding. Do your plans for steadily building a sustainable brand place enough weight on those internal audiences so crucial to your success? One of my favorite quotes related to branding is from Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com. ...

The people that buy your product in a downturn?  Those are your fans. The pennies saved by choosing a less expensive option  just aren't attractive to those guys.  It's a non-option.  In the scheme of things, the money isn't important.  In fact, your product may seem like a safety net of normalcy when all else is going haywire.  A trusted beacon when one's 401(k) statement looks like 3rd grade math homework.  They're sticking with what they know, thanks. The people that remain customers...

When you think about customer experience, brand position, and what it means to be a customer-centric organization, think about Lands End.  The company has built a legacy of  doing right by the customer, backed up with their 100% no-questions-asked guarantee.  While their roots are firmly planted in the values of yesterday, their branches are keeping pace to match customer's busy lifestyles. I'm a long-time Lands End customer. I think I made my first purchase 15 years ago when my family relocated...

There's intention and there's behavior.  And that has made all the difference. Some people like to talk, to lament and bemoan.  They have all the answers, if only everybody else were half as smart. Others are OK with talking but really itch to just go out and do.  Give things a whirl and see what happens. People often talk about doing one thing, but by circumstance or choice in fact do another.  It's been said that "talk is cheap," a phrase that implies the real payoff (proof) is in the action....

We all want to achieve high performance, whether on the stage, on the court, or in the office.  And yet we can find ourselves tripped up by the words of others or the memory of a failure.  "If only I knew more," you think, "or had more experience." "Why don't the right words come out when I talk with her?" "I'll never get the promotion.  There are too many good candidates." "I thought I could do this, but now I'm not so sure.  What if my timing is all wrong?" From time to time, we're...

Brand development is an important part of building a business, and often relegated to a few perfunctory tactics.  Have you stopped to consider the overall image your brand projects, and effect that image has on the aggregate long term? If you're with a start-up, chances are you've had your head down in financial projections and your back end seated in chairs at the bank and the accountant's.  Your ideas are gelling and long-laid plans are emerging into a reality.  Along the way, you may have...

Crickets.  Crickets.  Crickets.  Hear that?  That's the awkward silence that follows talking a topic to death. It can be emotionally wrenching and off-putting.  Sweaty palms, nervous patter.  And we've all been there.  Done that. It can happen when two minimally acquainted people are pushed into close proximity in a social setting.  The plasti-smile gets yanked on.  It can happen at work when someone stubbornly advances their antiquated, myopic point of view while others look on uncomfortably....

"A principle isn’t a principle unless it costs you something".—Bob Goldstein, former P&G Vice President of Advertising Today is the first day of the work week and as usual we ended the day with our company meeting.  There's only a small number of us, so we can be efficient with the 45 minutes we've allotted. As usual, each team member spent a few minutes touching on the more complex, urgent, or higher-profile tasks facing them this week. Sometimes they relate those tasks to specific...

Is your company transitioning or maturing? Evolving from 'start up' to 'growth stage' or beyond? Or just plain reconsidering its position, product lines, and value prop? That's great news--for some. I'd like to suggest that there are a handful of typical classifications into which some employees may fall. Mind you, certainly not all employees; but upon reaching a critical growth stage and deciding to make that next big leap in an effort to stake a position, raise awareness, persuade perceptions,...