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Dan’s Biz Bookshelf: ‘Notorious: Leadership Lessons from History’s Most Notorious Leaders’Book Review: Do Good—Embracing Brand Citizenship to Fuel Both Purpose and Profit
June 27, 2018 | Dan BeaulieuEstimated reading time: 2 minutes
Do Good: Embracing Brand Citizenship to Fuel Both Purpose and Profit
Author: Anne Bahr Thompson
Amacon, 2018
Price $ 27.95
The best way to get your people engaged to is give them a mission that is bigger than the company. Now more than ever, people want to believe in things and causes that matter. They want to be proud of the company they work for.
A company with values and brand identity, known for caring about customers and people in general, is a company that is going to last. This is what this book is all about. Here are some examples:
- “Businesses that engrain social responsibility and corporate citizenship across their operations will create greater financial and social value over the long term.”
Nothing has ever been truer and unfortunately rarer. Most of our companies are in business for themselves and don’t adhere to the values of social responsibility.
- “Ethical customs follow changing values and an evolving ethos. To remain relevant, businesses need to follow these changes closely and ensure they adapt to shifting needs and expectations of customers, employees, shareholders, and other stakeholders.”
Like Ikea, all brands need to be restless and consistent in how they present themselves; staying true to their purpose and personality while continuously evolving and raising their standards to reflect changing social values and expectations.
I know what some of you are thinking: I can barely eke out a profit now. I can barely keep my employees engaged and with their focus on the job they are doing. How do you expect me to get involved in all this "greater good" stuff? This is all fine for big companies, but I’m running a little $5 million job shop; how can I possibly do the kinds of things recommended in this book?
I hear you, and as a consultant to many $5 million and $10 million companies, I sympathize. But I also know that getting your company and your team involved in doing good will create a better company, with better performance. And that’s because the attributes and values required to create a do-good company are the same attributes and values required to have a well-run, profitable company filled with engaged, committed and passionate employees.
From the book, here are examples of how brand citizenship directly enhances a company:
- Trust (don’t let me down) improves: customer service, product development, marketing and branding, and finance
- Enrichment (enhance daily life) improves: customer service, customer relationship management, communications, product development, and digital technology
- Responsibility (behave fairly) improves: human resources, corporate responsibility, sustainability, supply chain management, corporate communications/reputation management, finance, legal compliance
- Community (connect me) improves: human resources, corporate social responsibility, digital technology, market and brand
- Contribution (make me bigger than I am) improves: corporate social responsibility, sustainability, supply chain management, product development, reputation management, marketing and brand communications
In short, do all you can to drive your company to do good and you will have a great company in the end. Don’t just read this book; study it, believe it, and practice it. You will help create a better company, and a better world.
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