There are many truisms. Most are not remotely true.
What is true, is what is true for you. And what is true for you, is true for the brand you represent. The company you build.
Is it based on building connections, like a cellular company? Is it based on making mates feel at home, such as a coffee house? Are you about fulfilling the needs of shoppers, who need comfort in knowing what they’re looking for is always there?
A brand is representative of a person. It was some decades ago a court found a corporation to have the same rights as a human being. And why not? If you cut them, do they not bleed… stocks?
It’s easy to see what you do as a “day job”. You arrive on time, traffic allowing (we recommend Waze), you sit at your desk, make conversation at the water cooler, then when traffic is again dense, you shout out, ‘fare thee well’ to thy co-workers, and bound out.
Sure, it pays the bills. Yet it pays to remember, we’re part of a sum greater than ourselves. A being, if you will. And how the “being” does in the competition of ideas, of market value, of place in the world, depends on you.
Whether you’re an intern making coffee for your line-manager or the key account point-man, your potential is always that of a captain of industry.
We like having these conversations with our clients. We enjoy the philosophy of raison d’etre: our reason for being.
Going to work every day must be about changing the world. Such is the example we love most to quote: Starbucks. The CEO, Howard Schultz, never let the success of the company dilute its culture.
Did you know Schultz refers to those who work at Starbucks as “partners”?
No matter who they are, or what position they fill, they have a stake in the business – a small or big share. It’s both literal and metaphorical.
This is what they say on their own site:
“Being a Starbucks partner means having the opportunity to be something more than an employee (#tobeapartner). Gigantic possibilities lie ahead—to grow as a person, in your career and in your community. To live the Starbucks mission and to be a leader. It’s the opportunity to become your personal best. To be connected to something bigger. To be meaningful to the world. And to be recognized for all of it. It’s all here for you.”
It’s true, too. They’re renowned for helping their partners in various ways – such as subsidising their studies. Certainly, in the States, if you’re an employee who furthers yourself and passes a semester at college, you’re paid back your tuition fees.
We exist in a time and place where scepticism is looked upon a company’s intentions. Do we really believe the puff-piece adverts on TV?
It could be argued, we want to. Cynicism is growing up in the real world. We put on masks, pretend to be what we aren’t. Think it will endure us to the crowd – just as Brutus tried in Julius Caesar. But it was Marc Anthony who spoke with emotion truly felt that won them over… he came to bury a friend, and they saw the humanity in that. Cold, hard logic lost to heart.
So what does the Bard tell us?
Don’t cook the books is a good start, like Steinhoff, because it tends to end like Romeo & Juliet. Tragically. MacBeth sets another good example. Too much ambition, and it’s royally Scotched up. What we do, for you, is seek your truth. And help tell it across the social network. Share it. Build it. Encourage it to grow. We’re about conversation, with your audience.
If all the world’s a stage, you need a partner who will help you take the leading role. Encourage the crowd to enthusiastically applaud.
FGX Studios sets the lights, prepares the script, takes direction when the action gets out of synch. We help you to keep the show on track.
The audience, your patrons, shoppers, customers, clients, need to believe in you.
We help you find the voice to speak to them, on the web, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, wherever. And they believe in you, when you believe in you too.
As the Bard once said, To Thine Own Self, Be True.