What are your personal ‘values’?
As Life Coaches define it:
‘A value is a way of being, or believing, that we hold
most important.’
Like an iceberg,
our behaviours lie above the water line.
In the cold, murky waters below,
the values and feelings driving those behaviours,
moulded by judgments, hopes, fears and dreams.
Mark Manson says that our values:
“…define what we are willing to struggle for.
Better values give us better problems to solve.”
Better values are:
Internal, unaffected by others’ actions;
Chosen, not based on fear or avoidance;
Socially constructive, not selfish.
Honesty, innovation, curiosity, caring,
What’s under your iceberg?
In any organisation,
values are useless unless ‘operationalised’.
Translated from ideals to actual behaviours.
Teachable and observable,
with a culture that holds people accountable.
Especially those who claim to lead it.
Otherwise you have what Brené Brown calls:
‘a cat poster. Total BS.’
Can a brand have values?
A way of being or believing that it holds to be important?
You know: “At brand X, we believe that…
… by changing our diet, we can save the planet.”
… women shouldn’t have to conform to beauty stereotypes.”
… you don’t need to cook, Just Eat.”
Two of these tackle existential challenges;
the other is a tech-enabled convenience.
All are valid.
If operationalised.
Let’s be clear.
A brand’s purpose is not to save the world.
Unless you’re Marvel Comics.
It’s to represent an ideal.
Something to aspire to,
like a very clean bathroom;
saving money on car insurance,
or yes, empowering the world’s women.
Then it needs to become famous.
For that thing; that ideal.
At OP we talk about ‘visualising brand value’.
But we’ve got to find it first.
According to Paul Feldwick’s new book:
A brand’s value is its fame.
A combination of reach, attraction, distinctiveness, and social diffusion.
Reach makes a brand unmissable.
Attraction is desire.
Distinctive is like no other.
These are, to borrow a famous phrase:
‘Words I can draw’.
We hope you enjoyed this ‘values’ edition of Unpredictable.
If you did, give it some social diffusion.