The Hard Truth About Truth

Companies that succeed over the long term have a strong brand, a strong story about their business and why it exists and what it’s for. And the hard truth about that brand is it’s not something you make up. It’s not something you create, it’s something that you uncover. So a couple things to keep in mind.

Not A Compromise
A strong brand, the truth about your company is not a popularity contest. It’s not a democratic process. It’s not getting a quorum from your company or even your leadership about what people think and finding an average. The truth is what is there. And the way you do that successfully as a CEO, is you take the time to unwrap it and make it clear what it is. What is that thing that caused this business to be created or causes, motivates people to come into work every day and work extra hours and find it together and understand why that is what it is, and have everybody come to, in alignment with that truth. Doesn’t mean there’s not a few adjustments around the edge as you learn about what it is, but at its core, it is what it is.

Not A Slogan
The other thing about a true story for your business is it’s not manipulative. It’s not designed from the outside in to get the right reaction from your clients. It’s not in response to a poll or what other people think would, would create the right impression with people. If you find that truth, that real value that you provide, the effort is in how you communicate that truth in a way, in an authentic and transparent way in the words that your clients use and in explaining it in terms that they care about so that the truth of the value comes out. If you do that right, there’s some words, you may even call it a slogan that come out of it that’s based on that truth. Rather than being created to create an impression that’s not true.

B2B Clarity
I encourage you to focus first on understanding why your business exists, exactly who it’s there to help. And then from that nugget of truth, build your value story that explains the good news to your target clients of how you can help them. All. The rest will flow easily for you and your team in a well aligned way.