What keeps musicians in sync, harmoniously playing musical notes — with instruments from the strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion sections — to the audience’s delight?
Hint: they must want to delight the audience!
First, musicians need a well-crafted score, one they believe in. Second, they require a conductor who knows and enforces this score. Third, they must be skilled in faithfully reading, following, and reproducing said score.
Otherwise, the audience will experience chaos and cacophony, vow never to return, and dissuade their friends from buying tickets.
Think of your enterprise as an orchestra. You, the CEO, are the conductor. Your employees, from different departments (sections), are the musicians. Critically, the musical score is your brand, which every employee must faithfully read, follow, and reproduce.
Disclaimer: If you don’t care about maximizing revenues, profits, and customer satisfaction, dismiss branding and disregard the previous paragraph.
In “End Your Entroprise,” I warned you about the pitfalls of running a chaotic enterprise. To customers, investors, and reporters, the entroprise is transparently not on the same page or following the same score. It has the sound of a terrible orchestra. You can’t hide it.
Not one day passes when I don’t deal with a vendor — large or small — whose employees literally have no clue and no concern about what they’re doing or why their company exists.
Newsflash: this is an entroprise, bereft of faithfully followed score, strong conductor, and skilled musicians. It is, unfortunately, the new normal.
Ear-Plugging Experience
Given the current cultural climate, which bashes exceptionalism and excellence, apathy and incompetence reign. Worse, the inimical emphasis on detachment-oriented “social” media, instead of on direct, personal contact with customers, breeds callousness and disdain.
Everyone of us has heard a terrible school orchestra or band. It’s a chilling, ear-plugging experience. Through the video below, you can appreciate what outsiders perceive when dealing with an entroprise — perhaps your entroprise.
Note: Discord doesn’t sell. If you want to increase your company’s costs of sales, capital, and media, emulate this terrible orchestra — as most of your competitors do.
Parting Advice to CEOs
If you believe in exceptionalism and excellence, make branding your #1 priority — and do not relegate it to amateurs.
Know the score, face the music, and force your “musicians” to do likewise. Otherwise, your company will sound — or continue to sound — like that awful school orchestra.
Ignore my advice, and watch your audience plug their ears and buy tickets elsewhere.
© 2016 Marc H. Rudov. All Rights Reserved.
About the Author
Marc Rudov is a branding advisor to CEOs,
producer of MarcRudovTV, and author of four books