Topics

Purpose

CEOs: Building Trust and Living Your Values

March 8, 2018 —

CEOs: Building Trust and Living Your Values

The Truth Is Always Trending Good relationships are built on trust. Whether it’s between romantic partners, brands, customers, or government agencies, trust is the currency rate by which messaging is valued against. So, how much is your word worth? In today’s hyper-polarized landscape, it really depends on who’s speaking. In fact, the world is moving apart in trust. According to the 2018 Edelman Trust Barometer, “In previous years, market-level trust has moved largely in lockstep, but for the first time ever there is now a distinct split between extreme trust gainers and losers.” No...
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How to Help Your Startup Thrive Internally

January 2, 2018 —

How to Help Your Startup Thrive Internally

Finding for the right strategies to help your startup thrive It’s an all too familiar startup sight. Your technical co-founder and engineering teams have their eyes glued to screens of scrolling code as their fingers fly across keyboards and music blasts through their earbuds. They are driving hard toward the launch date or new product release, losing themselves in their work and consuming Red Bull like there’s no tomorrow. Nikos Moraitakis, Founder & CEO of WorkableHR.com, sets the following as one of ten helpful tasks non-technical co-founders should undertake:...
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What Is Brand Generosity Anyway?

November 2, 2017 —

What Is Brand Generosity Anyway?

Why so generous? Brand generosity is in. As consumers become increasingly connected to social media and exposed to marketing ploys and tricks, suspicions rise about the authenticity of brands. Many consumers are looking for a genuine social commitment from the brands they engage with. As a result, building a bond with the people that matter to your business is more important now than ever before. People are looking for brands that give more than what’s expected. They want to feel good about the brands they are buying into, and how those brands are giving back to the world at large. What is...
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Reducing Stigma Through Branding: A Moral Dilemma

October 31, 2017 —

Reducing Stigma Through Branding: A Moral Dilemma

Anti-Stigma Campaigns Need Authenticity Inauthenticity is the Achilles heel of purposeful brands. More than ever, people gravitate toward companies that radiate transparency and accountability. We laud brands that shift our perception to break down stigmas. However, if these sensitive topics are clumsily handled, the backlash is harsh and swift. Failing to sell a luxury item is one thing. But misrepresenting a sensitive topic for financial gain? That’s another. Nowadays, it seems hardly a week goes by without a public apology in response to a tone-deaf branding effort. So, how does a...
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Why Have a Purpose Beyond Profit?

September 18, 2017 —

Why Have a Purpose Beyond Profit?

Why have a purpose beyond profit business strategy? Developing a purpose beyond profit business strategy has been gaining momentum in the business world, with both positive and negative attention. For decades, enterprises have had “mission statements”, “vision statements”, and  “values”. Check almost any corporate website and you’ll find these “drivers” of the business buried deep down and many clicks away from the surface. Despite having taken on these important steps to say what their business is all about, there’s often a big...
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How Great Leaders Accelerate Innovation Through Meaning

May 16, 2017 —

How Great Leaders Accelerate Innovation Through Meaning

Why the need to accelerate innovation? “No company in the future will be in a position to succeed if it squanders the imagination of its employees.” Professor Gary Hamel, co-founder of the Management Innovation eXchange (MIX) and the M-Prize: Innovating Innovation Challenge. Hamel says innovation is one of the most important and difficult challenges facing business around the world. At the same time, innovation is a vital capability for companies because it is the: > only insurance against irrelevance > only antidote to margin-crunching competition > only way you can...
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Why are Feelings and Purpose so Important in Business Today?

April 24, 2017 —

Why are Feelings and Purpose so Important in Business Today?

Feelings and Purpose-led brands Why are purpose and feelings so important now for brands? A meaningful brand is the persona-driven presence and experience of an organization that has proactively decided to orient itself around an authentic purpose. Such brands do so with the intent of emotionally connecting to people on a deep level, by addressing core human needs. Most significant, a meaningful brand strives to forge these attitude and behavior changing connections both inside and outside their organizations. To summarize, a meaningful brand is:  – Proactively meaningful across all...
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The New Measurements of a Successful Business

April 5, 2017 —

The New Measurements of a Successful Business

What does it mean to be a successful business? In the new age of meaningful business, it’s time for more inclusive forms of value. It’s no longer enough to measure financial impact. Companies, brands, investors, entrepreneurs, and consumers are asking: what’s the social impact of your business? What’s your environmental impact? Your emotional impact? In other words, people are asking: Why should I care? Why does it matter? And they are also wondering, can you communicate the value of these impacts to me quantitatively? In any successful business, there is value outside the actual venture....
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If You Want a Meaningful Brand, Make a Meaningful Impact

April 4, 2017 —

If You Want a Meaningful Brand, Make a Meaningful Impact

Being a Meaningful Brand The data is in, and to be a meaningful brand, you must make meaningful impact. It is inescapable. The most powerful and profitable brands – regardless of sector – are brands that enhance well-being and enrich peoples’ lives. The Center for Positive Marketing at Fordham University recently published “The V-Positive Report,” which ranks brands according to how they affect consumers along seven dimensions of human needs and wants. The dimensions of the study span from basic physical function to the capacity for building relationships. The most “V-positive” brand in 2015...
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Brand Purpose Drives Trust

February 2, 2017 —

Brand Purpose Drives Trust

Brand Purpose Drives Trust How does brand purpose play into building trust? As customers become more connected, more involved, and more engaged than ever before, it becomes more and more difficult for brands to earn their trust. And this trust is key to successful business today. High-trust companies “are more than 2 ½ times more likely to be high performing revenue organizations” than lower-trust companies. One of the strongest drivers of trust today is purpose. People want the brands they buy from and the businesses they support to work in line with their values, goals, and greater...
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