A mission is not a strategy.

Times are tough.
People are hurting.
Your mission to help people is critically important.
So please don’t confuse “mission” with “strategy.”
Let’s say your mission is to feed the hungry.
How do you intend to achieve that mission?
What has to happen and who has to do it? 
My guess is that you’ll need financial support of some kind.
Or donations of food or time.  
So where will the money or resources come from?
Most likely from donors and volunteers.
And to inspire those people to support your mission, you’re going to focus on . . . ?
Communicating the problem and the need, right?
Wrong.
I used to think that way too.
Years ago I owned a healthcare company.
Our mission was to help improve the lives of people who suffered from respiratory disorders.
Primarily through the development of innovative medical devices.
To accomplish our mission, we had to influence the network of people who served those patients.
Physicians, nurses, hospital administrators, insurance companies, government agencies, home healthcare providers.
So we tried to appeal to them by tugging on their heartstrings.
Or, as some would say, through emotional branding.
We were mission-driven, in our marketing, advertising, sales, in everything.
And it was a huge waste of time and money.
It had nothing to do with the alignment of missions.
Theirs were the same as ours.
To improve patient care.
But their desired feelings—their expectations of a new product—were much different.
Those feelings included things like reducing costs, simplicity of set up and use, and ease of cleaning and disposal.
In addition, a complex web of relationships existed among the people in that network.
So long as we appealed to them with our mission instead of with their feelings, we struggled.
Being mission-driven is a sure way to inhibit your organization’s growth and impact.
Instead, be purpose-driven.
And that purpose should be to appeal to your audience’s feelings.
To understand and empathize with their unique beliefs, priorities and aspirations.
What they value, as well as their fears, anxieties, and pains.
And especially their desire to belong and to make meaning with the exchange of their time and money.
Don’t get me wrong.
I’m all for having a clear and compelling mission or cause.
One that inspires employees and volunteers and engages customers and donors.
But being driven by one’s mission is an inside-out strategy that is designed to fail in today’s excess economy.
Instead, transform your organization’s mindset and activities from inside-out and mission-driven, to outside-in and feelings-driven.
And make your mission come alive for the benefit of all of your constituents.

Kill the matrix.

The great management philosopher Peter Drucker was almost right.
He wrote, “What the business thinks it produces is not of first importance. What the consumer thinks he is buying, what he considers ‘value’ is decisive.”
It’s what the consumer feels she is getting in exchange for her time, attention, and money that is decisive.
Value is determined using an internal feelings calculator.
With simple functions like add and subtract, right and wrong.
And more complex ones like weighing the outcome of one’s decision on future achievement, affiliation, and contribution.
Value is a complex and puzzling notion.
Economists can’t agree on a definition because it’s not an objective concept.
Value is multifaceted.
Value is highly contextual.
Value is subjective.
Value is delivered and imagined contentment, happiness, and self-worth.
Value is about desire.
And whoever develops and delivers the best evolving composite of value, for their particular audience, wins.
We’re not rational creatures.
We don’t optimize our choices to survive in the most cost-effective and efficient manner possible.
We buy to blossom.
We select to show that we belong.
We purchase to get a sense of control and meaning.
We choose to avoid looking bad, as well as to draw attention.
We decide in order to feel good.
But conventional wisdom drives organizations to dispassionately deconstruct and compare their ideas to their competitors’ ideas.
Executives sit in endless meetings logically plotting features, benefits, pricing, and positioning on 2 x 2 matrices.
But value isn’t dispassionate.
Value is an enthusiastic and creative exchange between people.
Value isn’t something you bring to life on your own.
It’s not inert matter that you can extract from the marketplace, like drilling for oil.
Value is co-created.
It’s released through a mutually beneficial and stimulating relationship.
Kill the matrix.
Kill complicated, time-consuming, and costly processes and engage people in possibility.
Organize simple, powerful creative undertakings that produce a constant stream of ideas and meaningful activities.
As Herb Kelleher, founder and former chairman and CEO of Southwest Airlines once remarked, “We have a strategic plan, it’s called doing things.”
Do things!
Things that energize your brand and deliver that complex and evolving elixir called “value.” 

Does your brand impute?

Are you hypnotized by your own marketplace experiences?
Have you rationalized that your brand is a promise and engagement is the Holy Grail?
Are you convinced that all you have to do is engage people with captivating content and deliver on your promise?
If it makes you feel any better, you are not alone.
Most brands haven’t a clue about how people actually feel, think and act.
They assume that we’re all searching for “the answer.”
So they desperately focus on making sound arguments, on making sense.
But what we’re truly after is novelty and recognition.
A sense of control and identity enhancement.
In Walter Isaacson’s book, Steve Jobs, Isaacson wrote, “Early on, Mike Markkula had taught Jobs to ‘impute’ – to understand that people do judge a book by its cover – and therefore to make sure all the trappings and packaging of Apple signaled that there was a beautiful gem inside.”
Leadership brands, like Apple, don’t make promises.
They create and fulfill expectations through thoughtful and precisely crafted associations.
Associations which create expectations of receiving a particular feeling about one’s identity.
Leadership brands understand that brand success is not about winning a debate.
It’s about signaling meaning.
It’s not about convincing people with well-reasoned arguments. 
It’s about unearthing what people need to feel good, smart and special and then giving it to them.
Leadership brands don’t compute.
They impute.

Brands feed hungers.

Brands do not fulfill needs.
Brands feed hungers.
This distinction is critical.
Especially in today’s marketplace.
Where people are reluctant to spend money or change routines.
Everyone has needs.
And it’s often quite easy for us to recognize those needs.
It’s like the old joke.
A salesperson was sent to Africa to open up new shoe markets.
Two days after arriving, she excitedly called her office.
“The prospects in Africa are unlimited. Nobody here wears shoes!”
Don’t believe the “Just Do It” hype.
Today’s prospects are most certainly not unlimited.
You must work diligently to discover and uniquely feed people’s hungers in order to grow.
So before you release a new offering.
Or craft an informative piece of communication.
Or launch a new website or ad campaign.
Ask yourself (and your strategic partners).
“What does our audience hunger for?”
“How do we know it’s a motivating hunger?”
This may sound simple, but it’s not.
Yes, people need information. 
But they hunger for speed, relevance and meaning.
People need a cell phone.
But they hunger for uniqueness, feature richness and simplicity.
People need rental housing.
But they hunger for cleanliness, attention and respect.
Some may agree that, in fact, brands do not fulfill needs.
Instead they’ll insist that brands solve problems.
That’s certainly true.
But it’s also a limiting perspective.
What problem did people have with their phones before the iPhone?
What problem did Five Guys solve with their burgers and fries?
What problems did Pixar, Zappos and Pandora solve?
It’s easy for shoe wearers to conclude that shoeless people have a problem.
But one person’s problem is simply another’s status quo.
Don’t make that mistake.
Find and feed their hungers instead.
Great brands don’t fulfill needs or solve problems.
Great brands enhance lives. 

Your brand identity.

I remember a Monday night football game a few years back.
The commentator was asked about a particular team’s problem finding its “identity.” 
Here’s how he sagaciously replied.
“You find out what works after the first few games, and that’s your identity.”
It’s the same with brands.
Your identity isn’t something that you dig up from your past.
It’s something that you create in the here and now! 
I think we forget.
Starbucks started as a local coffee bean roaster and retailer.
In fact, the owners of the original business rejected Howard Shultz’s suggestion to sell beverages.
Google was a bunch of techies with a strong aversion towards advertising.
Nokia started as a wood pulp mill.
Apple was a struggling niche personal computer maker.
Twitter started out as a side-project at a startup called Odeo.
Ours is an era of action, not talk.
We’re living in a marketplace driven by creativity and innovation.
You can’t find yourself in this chaotic, dynamic environment.
You can only create yourself.

You see what you look for.

A few years ago, my aunt traveled from the south to visit my family. 
As we neared my home, her eyes became large.
She was amazed at the brilliant color of autumn in New England. 
Later that day, I decided to take a walk to find her some leaves.
Vibrant, pristine ones that she could press and take home.
So I headed down a well-worn path in the nearby woods.
One overflowing with recently fallen leaves.
As I walked along, I attentively searched for the perfect leaf.
But all I could see were decay and various shades of brown. 
I was dumbfounded.
In an area overflowing with foliage, I couldn’t find one worthy leaf.
But after about ten minutes of looking, something strange occurred. 
The forest floor started popping with Crayola color.
Burnt orange, brick red, lemon yellow. 
And the leaves seemed to be rising airily from the ground.
As if I were wearing 3-D glasses. 
It was an extraordinarily rousing and educational experience. 
My old eyes suddenly became new again.
As my brain adjusted to its new environment.
And to its child-like instructions. 
The English biologist John Lubbock wrote, “What we see depends mainly on what we look for.”
Where you are and what you attend to conditions what you see.
If you look for beauty, ideas and meaning, you’ll find it. 
If you look for data, statistics and shortcomings, you’ll find them.
If you want to see new, you have to experience new. 
Now it may take time for your old eyes to adjust to the new world.
So I’d revise Lubbock’s words slightly.
“We eventually see what we look for.”
Stay focused and be patient.
If you’re looking with the right intentions.
And you’re looking in the right places.
The answers will appear.

Does your lion bark?

I had a recent conversation with an independent professional.
We discussed her desire to create a “personal brand.”
Now you may dislike the word “brand.”
Especially when used to describe a human being.
But it is a marketplace distinction worth understanding.
Today, that passionate woman has a “name.”
Let’s call her Jane Doe.
Jane Doe would like to associate her name with a particular expectation of value.
That’s called “branding.”
Until that happens, Jane Doe remains simply a name.
A beautiful name, but a name nonetheless.
And one with little marketplace value.
Some day in the future the “name” Jane Doe and the “brand” Jane Doe will be functionally equivalent (it remains Jane after all).
But the effect will be dramatically different (hopefully).
People will pay attention to the brand Jane Doe.
And without the added expense of coercion.
People will pay money to the brand Jane Doe.
And typically multiples more than to the name Jane Doe.
People may even do some “little m” marketing for the brand Jane Doe.
Through word of mouth (and word of mouse).
See the difference?
A brand isn’t a carefully crafted image.
It’s a mental construct.
A proxy for expected value.
A zoo in China  learned this critical distinction through the pain of experience (and I’m not making this up).
It designed a dog to look like a caged lion.
Which was all well and good, until the “lion” started barking.
A branding faux pas that naturally enraged the zoo’s customers.
But not because of the image.
As far as they new, it was a fine looking lion.
In fact, it succeeded in attracting their eyeballs and their money.
Rather, it was the “brand” that failed.
Because it forgot that both image and expectations are important.
Awareness and value.
Cash flow and credibility.
I’m witnessing this error more and more in today’s marketplace.
But I’m not worried.
And you shouldn’t be either.
Because people will eventually sort it all out.
They’ll go to the platform.
Tune into the show.
Click on the link.
And then listen very carefully.
To hear if the lion barks.

Start cutting!

There’s an old carpenter’s saying.
“Measure twice, cut once.”
It basically means that you should double-check your measurements before cutting a piece of wood.
Because once it’s cut . . .  it’s cut.
That’s great advice if you’re dealing with a static plan.
But terrible advice for dealing with a dynamic marketplace.
Instead, find a problem that needs fixing.
Or an idea or cause that inspires you.
And then start cutting!
Passion will move you forward.
And circumstances will conspire to sustain you.
Like what happened to the protagonist in the film Kon-Tiki.
He set sail on a balsa wood raft.
From South America to the Pacific Islands.
To prove that Polynesia was populated with humans from Peru.
Once he set his idea in motion, all sorts of unexpected factors cooperated with him.
The balsa wood expanded in the water and bit into the hemp ropes.
Creating a tight seal, resistant to the stresses of the ocean waves.
Every morning edible flying fish would land on the raft.
Providing nourishment for the challenging day ahead.
Yes, he measured and made a raft.
But then he stopped measuring and made an act of faith.
One that took him 4,300 miles in 101 days.
And made his idea a reality.

Be the other.

I remember moving my daughter into her freshman dorm room.
Despite the fact that I’d “been there and done that,” I had a difficult time being one with her and her bundle of emotions.
Yes, my feelings of déjà vu helped.
But being one with her was damn near impossible.
The issue wasn’t one of interest or concern.
I cared about her and her experience more than my own.
It was something else.
My perspective, perhaps.
My role, my concerns, my angst. 
So try as I may, I simply could not be completely one with her.
It struck me that it’s the same with most organizations.
Sure, they’re concerned about their customers and employees.
But they are not one with them.
The few that are—the ones that are intimately involved in their everyday lives—have a huge advantage.
They can feel their customers’ and employees’ pain, because it’s their pain too.
They speak the same language, because it’s their language.
They easily prioritize what’s important, because what’s important to them is what’s important to their stakeholders.
They have a sense of total focus and urgency, because there is no conflicting distinction called “us and them.” 
Being one with the other is the most difficult thing for the mind to do.
So don’t even try.
Instead, step out of your hypnotic, self-concerned story.
And be the other.

Necessary but not sufficient.

Intelligence and effort.
Both are necessary for success.
But neither one is sufficient.
Intelligence without effort is wasted potential.
Like a ship sitting in port.
It looks good, but it’s not going anywhere.
Effort without intelligence is an unskilled fighter.
The beating becomes disheartening.
And ultimately wears him and his people down.
Intelligence plus effort is better.
But it’s still not enough.
Not today.
Today you need intelligence, effort and faith.
Faith fueled by a burning desire.
Faith that motivates fearless experimentation and conversations.
Faith that creates serendipitous connections and unexpected discoveries.
Salvador Dali said, “Intelligence without ambition is a bird without wings.”
Faith is what makes ideas soar.