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- Core Values Aren’t Just What You Are. They’re What You’re Becoming
- Brand Trust in Crisis: Tylenol’s 1982 Lesson for Small Business Owners
- A New Website
- A Reason For Hope
- Small Business Lessons From Fujifilm
- Shiny Object Syndrome
- You Need Courage To Build Your Brand
- A Mea Culpa: A Pledge To Connect More Genuinely
- How Can Audio & Visual Media Enhance Your Brand Marketing Strategy?
- 2024 Marketing Trends: AI’s Role in Nurturing Authentic Communities
- Do You Suffer From Toxic Productivity? (Part 2)
- Do You Suffer From Toxic Productivity? (Part 1)
- The Day Out Of Time
- Small Business Lessons Learned From A Family Vacation
- Creating a Customer Experience (CX) Movement, and Why Everyone Should Care
- 3 Reasons To Move Away From Conversion Websites
- 3 Ways To Use A Business Card In The Digital Age
- Stop Marketing, Start Branding
- Beyond Genius Marketing Campaigns
- How Can Automation And AI Can Help Your Marketing Efforts
- Please Stop Email Abuse
- Service Design As A Part Of Your Brand Strategy
- Social Media Ad Growth Is Slowing. What This Means For Small Business.
- Small Business Lessons From The iPod
- Marketing Lessons From Coffee Shops
- You Are What You E-A-T
- The Art Of War in Marketing
- Should You Re-Visit Your Marketing Strategy?
- Sales Funnels Don’t (Always) Work
- Why Content Marketing & 4 Itty Bitty Tips
- Chasing Productivity (Part 2)
- Chasing Productivity (Part 1)
- How to Start a Business with Limited Resources: Knowledge
- Koyoti Small Business Podcast is Live!
- What’s In A Name?
- Marketing Isn’t About Being Trendy
- Identity Crisis
- Welcome to Koyoti
- We Are Entitled To Nothing
- Glass Half – …….
- Check Your Ego At The Door
- Core Values Aren’t Just What You Are. They’re What You’re Becoming
- Brand Trust in Crisis: Tylenol’s 1982 Lesson for Small Business Owners
- A New Website
- A Reason For Hope
- Small Business Lessons From Fujifilm
- Shiny Object Syndrome
- You Need Courage To Build Your Brand
- A Mea Culpa: A Pledge To Connect More Genuinely
- How Can Audio & Visual Media Enhance Your Brand Marketing Strategy?
- 2024 Marketing Trends: AI’s Role in Nurturing Authentic Communities
- Do You Suffer From Toxic Productivity? (Part 2)
- Do You Suffer From Toxic Productivity? (Part 1)
- The Day Out Of Time
- Small Business Lessons Learned From A Family Vacation
- Creating a Customer Experience (CX) Movement, and Why Everyone Should Care
- 3 Reasons To Move Away From Conversion Websites
- 3 Ways To Use A Business Card In The Digital Age
- Stop Marketing, Start Branding
- Beyond Genius Marketing Campaigns
- How Can Automation And AI Can Help Your Marketing Efforts
- Please Stop Email Abuse
- Service Design As A Part Of Your Brand Strategy
- Social Media Ad Growth Is Slowing. What This Means For Small Business.
- Small Business Lessons From The iPod
- Marketing Lessons From Coffee Shops
- You Are What You E-A-T
- The Art Of War in Marketing
- Should You Re-Visit Your Marketing Strategy?
- Sales Funnels Don’t (Always) Work
- Why Content Marketing & 4 Itty Bitty Tips
- Chasing Productivity (Part 2)
- Chasing Productivity (Part 1)
- How to Start a Business with Limited Resources: Knowledge
- Koyoti Small Business Podcast is Live!
- What’s In A Name?
- Marketing Isn’t About Being Trendy
- Identity Crisis
- Welcome to Koyoti
- We Are Entitled To Nothing
- Glass Half – …….
- Check Your Ego At The Door
One thing we talk about a lot when going on a brand journey is thinking about your core values. I’ve talked about how Johnson & Johnson got through the 1982 Tylenol scandal by leaning into their core values. I’ve also talked about how Fujifilm leaned into its core values in its decision to help with the aftermath of the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake. And it’s something we talk to our clients about, sometimes ad nauseam.
We talk about what’s important to you, the business owner (or leadership team), that will guide your brand and shape its identity. We talk about how these core values ensure consistency and build trust. And we also talk about how, for small businesses, core values help new team members carry forward the founder’s legacy because these values should reflect those of the owner-operator.
Our approach to core values has been to view them as existing principles that we intend to maintain and develop further. While that’s definitely true, one thing we’ve missed is that core values can be aspirational too. They might represent something your small business hasn’t done before but wants to grow into. They serve as a guiding light, a north star, as you navigate your ship through uncharted territory (the future).
At the risk of sounding “woke”, one aspiration your company might aim for is sustainability and environmental responsibility. When you’re a small business, your primary objective is to stay afloat and provide for yourself and your family. During this period, sustainability and environmental issues might not be top of mind. But as your business grows and you begin planning for the future, it might become something your company aspires to. There’s a manufacturing company here in Toronto that really exemplifies this. When they grew enough to build a new office, they committed to ensuring that the building would meet LEED Gold standards.
Another example of an aspirational core value is leadership development. When your company consists of “me, myself, and I,” leadership development isn’t a priority. But as the company and team grow, it may become something you want to offer your team.
That said, there’s a risk when it comes to aspirational core values. Falling short of them can appear disingenuous. For example, H&M made several public commitments to sustainability in the early 2010s. One of their initiatives was launching the Conscious Collection; a clothing line that used more sustainable materials like organic cotton and recycled polyester. But when investigators found that many items in the line were not significantly more sustainable, or were misleading, H&M was accused of greenwashing: claiming to be eco-conscious and marketing products as such, when the impact was negligible at best.
So your core values isn’t just something that reflects something that’s been important to you and articulating so that prospective and clients know that this is what you stand for, but it can also be something that’s aspirational and something that you want the company to work and strive towards. What makes aspirational core values difficult, however, is that they often require change, especially if your business has been doing things a certain way for a long time. It’s also challenging when implementation impacts the bottom line or requires a high investment. Aspirational core values are only effective if there’s a commitment to making them a reality, a consistency in how they’re applied, and a plan for ongoing adherence.
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In 1985, a supergroup of singers got together and recorded the song, “We Are The World“. On the first night of recording, the musicians were greeted by a sign pinned to the door which read, “Please check your egos at the door”.
Ego is counter-productive. Forget ego. It gets in the way. We are all working together to try and make this thing better. Everyone’s got their ideas of what’s the BEST way of doing things. Quite often, there is no one right answer either. So regardless if you’re a business partner, or a temp worker making minimum wage, park your ego. Decision making shouldn’t be about whether or not it bruises someone’s ego. It should be about what makes the best sense for the situation and for the brand / company / organisation you’re trying to build. There’s no reason nor need to take offense to any business decisions made. This is something that even team leaders need to make note of too. No decision should ever be made, “because I said so”.
Yes, there are times when you’ll disagree and yes, you might have to concede to whomever is in charge, but at the very least, they should be able to tell you their reasoning and not because it’s how they feel.
Ego is counter-productive. Please check your egos at the door.