Ten years ago, all anyone could talk about was building your ‘brand.’ I knew there was truth to it (hard to argue with the pull of Coke, Starbucks, BMW etc).
But today, there’s a sea-change going on, especially with millenials, and it’s around something much deeper than brand, and that something is culture.
Brand is to culture is what reputation is to character
Brand is like telling someone to dress for success and drive the right car.
Culture is like telling someone to know what they believe in that’s really important, and to live a life consistent with those beliefs.
I run into (younger) people so often who choose where to work and where to buy based on culture, not on beautiful marketing. Old guys sometimes don’t get it, but it’s really important.
How does your team actually behave? What’s truly important to you? What principles do you never compromise? That’s culture, and it’s huge and getting bigger by the day.