Long live community!

Too much headline news is curated based on fear or tragedy. To be honest, I think it makes some people nervous to believe things are improving. Perhaps trouble has become a “safe place” for them and the idea of change for better makes them nervous? But the facts are that the world is indeed getting better, and people truly do care about each other. The sooner businesses wake up and realize it, the better chance they have for success.

As with any business exercise that can be undertaken it can be as simple or as complex as needed, but I must say that the more complex the strategy the more difficult it will be to maintain and less likely to be fully implemented.  The system I’ve found that works best for me is five simple steps.  One of the great things about this system is that once the first two steps are completed they will not need to be reworked for a few years.

Step 1: Know Your Brand

This step really has nothing to do with strategy execution, but has everything to do with strategic direction.  Knowing your brand will act as a guide.  It will be the foundation of all your strategy and messaging to your employees and your customers.  It is the essence of what defines the business.

Step 2: Make an Assessment

The situation assessment, as I like to call it, is the state of your industry, the economy and market in your city, region or even national and international.  This quick assessment should give you a good idea of how things fare. What and how your competition is doing and what their plans might be. This is also a great time to assess your own strengths and weaknesses.  I like to use the popular SWOT tool – strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats.

Step 3:  Define and Develop Objectives

Objectives are the meat of the strategy, but they are nothing more than goals with a number and date attached.  When thinking about objectives think both short and long term.  Short term could be 6 months to a year.  Long term goals might be 3 to 5 years out or longer.  Remember, the purpose of an objective is to move toward the overall vision of the business.  When selecting an objective make sure that it is measureable and select a specific metric to measure it against.  Also, select only 3 to 5 objectives, any more and it’s easy to loose focus.

Step 4: Strategic Activities

If vision is the destination, then strategy is the plan to get there.  The essence of strategy is making trade-offs.  We can’t do it all, nor should we.  Part of making trade-offs is understanding your target audience so you can maximize your product and marketing activities. Communicating the correct message at the correct time to the correct audience is critical to achieving success in your marketing efforts.  Knowing the target audiences behaviors, wants, and needs will help to speak the same language and in places that it will be heard.

Step 5: Measuring Performance

The first step to measuring marketing performance is to develop a scorecard.  Remember those objectives and metrics that were developed in Step 3? Write them down and track them on a monthly basis.  Use an Excel file or other means to keep track of the performance.  Assuming you got your strategy correct you can adjust your activities and metrics accordingly.

Do you have a simple formula for developing your own strategy?  I’d love to hear it.

For a more detailed guide download the Guide to Developing a Strategy Framework

Stories run our lives but most of us aren’t thinking about it. That kid that made fun of you in elementary school? What story about you or life in general did you create when that happened? That you aren’t as good others? Or perhaps that next time you’ll make sure no one can hurt you again? Twenty or more years later, are you still living in that story?

Some stories propel us forward (I am loved, I have valuable contributions) and other stories cripple us (I will probably fail, I’ll look stupid).  Those stories can make or break our relationships, work, recreation, health—everything that’s important to us.  I wonder how many good businesses fail because of the stories in people’s heads?

How do you know which stories are hurting your life? First of all, if there’s a strong negative emotional connection to an event in today’s life, quite likely it’s triggering the stories inside you. See! I knew that would happen. No one ever comes through for me.  Or why do I always get the short end of the stick? I’m the good guy!  Once you find the source of that story, you can leave it there and see today’s event for what it is. That person said/did whatever. That’s all. Once you have the story in perspective, you can move forward and continue to do the great work you’re here to do.

Sadly, the temptation in many organizations is not just to avoid change, but actually punish anyone or anything that hints at the need to change.  Leadership often looks at the cost of change in the short term rather than the long-term cost of being locked in a concrete (aka safe, proven) system.

Some organizations are trying to “transform”. They get that things have changed and they need to adapt. Unfortunately, the aspiration to change is much easier than actually doing it. Transformation requires continual learning and the ability to adapt, over and over again. Businesses struggle with this because they rely on choosing solutions to create their way of doing things, and those solutions are based off knowledge and ways of thinking.

Yet to be successful, positive change must be ongoing. The burden falls on leadership to:

1. 1) be committed to continual education and long-term change,
2. 2) provide an environment that allows for flexibility and adaptation and
3. 3) empower workers rather than inspect them.

Dr. W Edwards Deming is considered to be the father of modern quality control. He popularized the process of Plan/Do/Check/Act. Later in his career, he modified it to Plan/Do/Study/Act because he felt that the emphasis on “check” was interpreted as inspection. The difference between “check” and  “study” is enormous. “Checking” can be used to threaten workers and create fear in the workplace. “Studying” looks at the system and allows for understanding and growth. Far too often quality control is used to bludgeon the workers rather than modify a faulty system. As always, the root of the problem falls on leadership’s ability to allow ongoing transformation.

The Super Bowl is the biggest ad game in town, with mega-millions spent to get the most attention. We talk about the ads after the game, or maybe sneak peak and pick our favorites before the Super Bowl is played.  Yet many of the top spenders are losing market share, or at best still scrambling for a genuine place in the hearts of consumers.

That’s where the big companies, for all their millions, are missing the point.  A truly outstanding idea begins with an outstanding company willing to address the higher values and purposes of its customers. Being louder, funnier, cuter or more obnoxious than the other guy may grab 30 seconds of attention (because it stands out), but loyalty to a trusted brand that can prove it supports the values of its customers is what wins. Don’t seek to  merely stand out—be outstanding!

It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change.

While I would love to use that sentiment to talk about sustainable business practices, Darwin never said this nor is it consistent with his theories.

My friend Carol recently had an article published in a local print magazine. The inexperienced editor changed her word segue to Segway and made other erroneous editorial changes without her knowledge before publishing.  She shared her dismay with me that readers will think she made those errors.

Now someone is claiming the tragedy at Sandy Hook is a hoax in order to gain gun control. No doubt there will be some people who leech on his conspiracy invention. With the abundance of conspiracy aficionados, who knows how long this one will float around and whether it will eventually disappear or worse yet, pick up new believers.

Most people are aware that information on the internet and passed around through social media is not necessarily true or even close to accurate. Words get invented, massaged or distorted much like in the game of Telephone I played as a young child.

The problem existed long before internet or other broadcast technology, even before the printing press when people relied on scribes (many who were uneducated) or tribal storytellers for their most vital information.  So how is anyone supposed to know what is true?

1. Confirm, fact-check, do your own research. While we can confirm some facts through research, sadly much information gets filtered through personal or corporate agendas and belief systems.
2. Commit to personal and corporate integrity. Make sure what you put out to the world is as true as you know it to be. If you find out later you were wrong, own up to it.

It sounds simple but it’s amazing how many people find honesty so difficult.

One of the clearest shifts is the empowerment of the individual to choose what they want as well as when and how they want it. To say this has a radical impact on business is an understatement.  Before the Human Age, businesses and media outlets could dictate what you knew and how you’d receive that information. They were in control. Corporate interests were the primary focus and to be honest, they didn’t really need to care about the personal wants or needs of the customer. Now that the customer can edit out ads, eliminate information overload based on their personal preferences, easily find competitors and broadcast publicly their dissatisfaction with any aspect of their experience with you, the power shifts dramatically to the customer. Suddenly, the individual is king while corporate kingdoms are dissolving overnight.

One of the most amazing aspects of this new dynamic is the return of humanity. Since the customer has the power, the business world is now forced to care. The corporate and business world must prove they genuinely care about the customer, the community, the earth, human rights, etc, because the individual now has: 1) information, 2) options and 3) a very public voice.

Material needs represent only a part of basic life requirements. To be a fulfilled human, we must address our emotions, hopes, values and greater purposes. Businesses who are able to figure that out, adapt and communicate it in time will be the truly sustainable businesses of the future.

Just last night I learned that DeVry University is now offering degrees with a specialization in Sustainability Management.

Clearly, the concept of sustainability is now mainstream. It’s not just the treehuggers or environmental extremists that pound out the message. Finally, we’re all listening as we acknowledge that the earth and our local community is a resource that should be valued and cared for.

Thanks to people like Jim Stengel and his latest book, Grow, we also see proven statistics for how sustainability practices strengthen companies and increase revenue growth. Values matter.

Yet we still struggle to walk the talk. We’re in a generation of transition. I was young but still remember when throwing your car trash out the window was accepted as normal. That’s hard to comprehend now, but Woodsy the Owl hadn’t been born yet. Back then, conservation was for forest rangers. As we transition to a society where we each take personal responsibility for our environment and sustainability, we see the efforts on a corporate level move even slower.

Gradually businesses are waking up.  At this point, I don’t really care if they make sustainability changes due to intrinsic values, societal pressure or government regulation. At least change is occurring. My main question now: how can we make these changes faster?

We soften the concept of change by calling it innovation. Still, innovation seems to be interesting mostly if someone else is doing it. When it comes to your own doorstep, as in you have to learn or do something differently now, it loses it’s sparkle.

There are a few companies who recognize that business must systemically and fundamentally change in order to be relevant and sustainable going forward. These are the brave ones, the committed leaders who’ve embraced the understanding that all business is ultimately human business and as such, must appeal to the higher nature inherent in humanity.

The old days of simply looking at bottom lines and profit margins for maximizing revenue is over. People, at an increasing rate, are choosing to do business for nobler reasons and are voting for attention to human values with their dollars. They have figured out that lower prices for them may mean hardship for others or a manufacturing process that is unhealthy for workers and/or the environment. In other words, low cost may be more expensive than anyone wants to pay.

The companies that don’t want to change will ultimately be forced to accept their responsibility to society and the environment (either by loss of sales, government regulation, or public disgrace, etc) or they will cease to exist.

It’s time to reimagine business. Do good while doing business. Make it a part of your business model, your processes, your supply chain, your people, your services and products. Perhaps you need to chuck the status quo and even daydream a little bit. What should a company looked like that actually cared about the people it impacts?

The business leaders that ask that question and make the changes necessary today will be the true leaders of tomorrow.