George H. W. Bush lacked vision — one of the reasons he was a one-term president. In fact, when pressed about it, he retorted, “Oh, that vision thing.”
Vision begets purpose and direction.
I make a huge point in Brand Is Destiny: The Ultimate Bottom Line about the link between brand and corporate direction.
In fact, I also draw the comparison in my articles, presentations, and via MarcRudov TV.
Moreover, I admonish CEOs who, like Bush the Elder, don’t give a damn about this link — and don’t grasp that, consequently, they’re hurting their companies, their employees, and their investors.
Alas, too many chief executives are thin-skinned know-it-alls who dismiss branding and don’t like criticism.
Newsflash: I blame boards of directors who ignore and enable such dysfunction.
So, imagine my delight when reading the latest finding from Comparably, a firm that studies corporate culture. Comparably corroborates my admonishment: 37 percent of 10,000 tech-firm employees say their CEOs lack vision and strategy, and need to improve themselves.
Note: 37 percent (almost four in ten) is a huge number. The percentage should not exceed one percent.
Can They Recite Your Brand?
Employees may not be branding experts, but they know when their companies lack purpose and direction — vision — and they know that their CEOs are responsible for this deficiency.
This lack of vision exists, especially in tech precincts, in companies that revolve around products and technologies. That’s right; I said it. And, I’ve done so repeatedly.
Enterprises, regardless of age, size, industry, customer category, or geography, should revolve around their brands — never their products and technologies.
Every employee, in every department, at every level, should be able to recite his company’s brand — its customer-validated value proposition. So should every board member, investor, channel partner, and customer.
That means your company must have a strong, unique brand. Does it?
Test your employees. That’s how you’ll know you’ve succeeded or failed.
Parting Advice to CEOs
Comparably isn’t the first consultancy to discover employee dissatisfaction about dearth of vision, purpose, and direction. I cite other sources in my book.
The questions become, What will you learn from this criticism? What will you do about it?
If you don’t make branding your #1 priority, you’ll become the next Yahoo, the next Sears.
© 2017 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