Find Your Values, Let Them Lead You To Action
Values have become a checklist item. Behind “Mission” and “Vision,” they’re the next thing to tackle before you startup, rebrand or launch a new culture handbook. But they really shouldn’t be. Real values are baked-in to your DNA. They’re like eye color—natural, striking and permanent. You can throw on contacts, but the truth remains behind the lens.
Your values demonstrate who you are and communicate why you’re relevant in this world, in a way that’s truly unique. That might sound a bit simple. “Surely we should have values that are keyword-optimized and sharable and sticky and client-centric and have that special sauce, right?” No. No, you do not need special sauce to figure out your values. You just need to identify your meaning.
Meaning is the emotional doorway people can use to access the “why” of your brand. It’s that moment of empathy people can have with your organization, where they see the overlap between themselves and you. That overlap is where the magic happens. It’s where strangers become friends, where the donuts are made, where jetpacks exist and unicorns roam wild. The overlap between you and your audience is where powerful things happen. And you can only get there if you figure out why you’re doing what you do in the first place and tell people about it.
When your values come through in your story, it’s powerful. It brings others into your tent and rallies them together around your common beliefs. But sharing your values isn’t just about shouting your feelings into the void—your values-based story is a way to harness your conviction to instill urgency around your mission and to drive real action. Here’s what you need to know to do just that.
Conviction is why you do what you do. It’s driven by your values. It’s what has you jumping out of bed and into action every morning. It’s the wind at your back, pushing with all its might from a place of belief. Let your conviction shine through and your story will have the juice it needs to power up others.
Brands with conviction rattle us. They make us proud to associate with them. I think about REI and their#OptOutsidecampaign on a weekly basis because their message resonated so deeply with me. Why are we spending so much time in a big box store the day after a holiday based on gratitude? Their buck to the system by literally putting their money(in lost Black Friday sales) where their values are is powerful.
If you get the conviction right, your audience should feel a sense of urgency. Urgency is your conviction on wheels, with its hair lit on fire, blasting toward your goal. It can be uncomfortable for the audience, but that tension is what keeps things moving forward.
Clarity is the lens through which your audience views the story. Take a look at your narrative—is it blurry? Smudged? Completely obstructed? You have to keep hacking away until things are crystal clear. It can still be emotional. It can still be smart. But it has to be simple and it has to be clear.
A brand with clarity is a brand with affinity. People like to get to the point. We want to know the score before we align with an organization. Take Jeep, for example. They’re rugged, they’re utilitarian and they’re totally sure of who they are. It’s no wonder they have such a fervent following.
Finally, it has to outline some sort of action for your audience to take. Many movements or beautiful ideas die here. They don’t outline what steps people need to take next. There needs to be layers of action built in to your story so that people can participate in a way that speaks to them.
This is seen quite a lot today and for good reason: People are getting off their couches and taking to the streets, community centers and town hall meetings to have their voice heard. That, to me, is truly American—fighting for your rights and the rights of others. Companies like Penzey’s Spices that support—not pander to, but truly support—movements are the ones making the biggest impact.
A lot of conventional wisdom tells us that we have to find values, to find an emotional doorway in order to compete. It’s true but it’s not the reason to develop these things. Your values ground you in reality and your story connects you to the allies that help you move your mission forward. And that last part? That’s how you make a real impact.