Comments

NORDSTROM AND THE NIKE CAMPUS coach a shared belief to their associates - however "shared" is a foreign language at Walgreens, Allstate, the real estate business [ReMax maybe not], and other places, n'est pas?

Posted by John at March 7, 2005 7:47 AM

One of the many reasons mergers don't work ...

Posted by Steve Yastrow at March 7, 2005 8:19 AM

I agree with Steve Y about the concept of everyone "being the brand" - how do you put that into practice with short termism - i.e. employees viewing jobs as projects rather than careers?

I guess you can tell people what the brand means but in my experience it can take years before someone really "gets" what it means to work here and have that degree of emotional (rather than just professional) understanding and Love for a company.

How does Be the Brand fit with Brand You. One emphasises the individual the other the organisation.

I guess one way is to find people whose Brand You philosophy is already in tune with the ORG brand. In fact the more I think about it I don't believe you can align people to a brand - only recruit people who already think that way?

Isn't there also a danger that a culture that wants people to conform to a particular way of thinking is in danger of basically becoming a "yes man" culture. Don't you need people to buck things up a little?

Do we want people to leave their personalities at the door?

There is a lot of comment about Walmart on this board - the little I know of this company - the conformaty to the company part actually looks scary to me!

Posted by PaulH at March 7, 2005 8:38 AM

I think something else to think about is how to communicate the "Be the Brand" message in different cultures. I think there has to be much more cultural awareness of this stuff.

Individualism is more important in some cultures. Collective behaviour in others.

I have seen so many NA management messages fall flat in the UK. I suspect if you said "Be the Brand!" to the average UK employee their first instinct is to reach for the sick bag! - Message it differently "All we want to do is work towards a consistent approach to etc.." and people understand it.

Posted by PaulH at March 7, 2005 8:50 AM

The core assets of a company are its "IDeas" and they orginate from Genuine Employees. If a corporation can get the idea into the employees head that 'they are the brand' and empower them to live it up..then that corporation will make things happen !!

Posted by /pd at March 7, 2005 10:11 AM

In other words, you can't fake it. All the marketing in the world won't save you if you aren't real.

On the question of getting an entire organization to "be real"... I think there is something to the rule of 150. Above a certain size it becomes damn difficult to do. My best (most rewarding, most passionate, most effective) jobs have been at very small organizations in which everyone had a shared vision and passion... sometimes unstated.

My worst have been at big bureaucracies that had grandiose "values" and overblown "mission statements". Of course, both were completely ignored. In fact, it often seemed like the companies strove diligently to contradict these statements.

Posted by AJ Hoge at March 7, 2005 11:01 AM

Came across this article in today's FT issue and thought it would make an interesting spin on our old discussion about the value of MBA education (incl. Tom’s famous comments on the topic). Steve, would be curious to read Tom and your thoughts on bschools starting programs for former athletes. Wouldn’t you consider this to be an example of business education re-imagined?

FT link (not sure if it will work) - http://news.ft.com/cms/s/f4684c4a-8eac-11d9-8aae-00000e2511c8.html

NFL press release: http://www.nfl.com/news/story/8248895

Posted by Lisa at March 7, 2005 11:35 AM

Rules of business
#1 - Customer
#2 - Customer
#3 - Customer

So, if every person and every process in the org is focused on serving the customer, then the brand will flow from there. As long as every interaction is based upon providing value to the customer, then the customer could perceive the brand as bringing value to them.

It can be a picture or a slogan or just a logo, but if the customer equates any outward symbol with a company and positive perceptions are driven by interactions with the employee base, then the employees and the brand will be in harmony. In other words, if you don't have employees laser focused on the customer, then even the greatest branding process ever will fail miserably. No rocket science in that.

Posted by jbr at March 7, 2005 12:48 PM

AJHoge: I have to agree w/you on this. Yes, smaller companies tend to have better pride in themselves and who and what they stand for. Bigger companies may hve good mission and value statements, but that does not permuate to the grass root level folks, who are passinate about the company.. The essense of "value" in larger companies disolves as it either trickles up or trickles down... For it to be effective one needs to be a darn good leader and motivator.. No wonder Jack Welsh converted GE to what it is today.. no doubt there is still levels of bureaucracies ..but then the culture shift works into the paradigm of pride and strenght for the company !!

Posted by /pd at March 7, 2005 12:58 PM

I think you can be part of the corporate (or group) brand and still be brand you.

Example:

I polled our employees to find out why they worked for our little telephone company and what they liked about their jobs. The overwhelming response was that they know our company cares about the customer and they like to make a difference in the lives of our customers. So, I'm building our marketing around our passion for our customers (a major component of our brand).

My personal brand revolves around inspiration. I live to inspire others. I feel like I can run through a brick wall when I've accomplished this purpose. So, my brand fits perfectly in harmony with my company's brand. They aren't exactly the same, but I don't have to change who I am. I take this message of LOVING the customer and use it to inspire our prospects to buy, our customers to remain loyal, and our employees to be passionate in their jobs. And I feel incredibly fortunate to be able to do this for a living.

Posted by Dustin at March 8, 2005 11:13 AM

Thanks for your great post, Steve, on “what really counts”. I have been studying organizations (trying to help them as a consultant) for about 20 years. I like the thought about brand harmony and helping all employees be prepared to “be the brand” – I would say it as “own the company”.

You say the whole process is about employees with a “shared belief of what we intend to be”. Again I agree.

Next question – how do we get employees to have a shared belief of what we intend to be? Visionary leadership. Sorry if that sounds like old news.

I see little visionary leadership in American business today. I see a lot of Jack Welch look-a-likes manipulating the numbers for short term profit. How can you get employees excited about the shared belief of what we intend to do unless we help them awaken their genius. Which companies are doing that?

We need to wake up American business to how dead it is. How dead its ideas are about what companies can do. Customers, like me, are waiting for business to awaken its genius – through visionary leadership. Thanks for letting me say that.

Posted by jay howell at March 9, 2005 1:14 AM

Thanks for the great comments. I am in a very busy period, and it is refreshing and rewarding to come to tompeters.com for some thinking "refuge" and read the insightful things people are posting.

Posted by Steve Yastrow at March 11, 2005 2:35 AM