Passion: A Modern Brand's Most Important Ingredient

A few weeks ago, I finished reading Onward by Howard Schultz. Rodale was kind enough to send me a copy for review and I'm glad they did. I highly recommend picking it up as a case study for insight into what it takes to build and then re-energize a modern brand.

In the book, Schultz openly shares several lessons about leadership, management and marketing in general that I believe are critical to building a successful brand in today's complex business environment. He also shares the stories behind some of their more recent innovations, which was fun to hear.

There are far too many things in the book that stand out to get it all down in one post. So, I'll just share a couple for now.

One of the things that I keep going back to being a key part of what makes Starbucks great is their mission statement (pictured above). This is a fantastic example of a purpose-based mission that aims to be about something bigger than profit.

A modern brand has to have something like this at its core if it is going to connect with people on a human level. That is true both inside and outside the company. If your only aim is money, it leaves everyone feeling pretty hollow eventually.

The biggest thing that struck me the most throughout the entire book though was Howard's clear and abundant passion for the brand. It is because of his passion that Starbucks is what it is. It's because of his passion that he's back at Starbucks. And it's because of his passion and his firm beliefs about what the company stands for that he's able to inspire others within the organization to deliver great experiences.

As I've continued to think about this, I believe this is truly what's behind any great brand and definitely what's behind great marketing and advertising. When you work with people who are passionate about the brand they work on or the work that they're doing, it's infectious and inspiring. Collaborating with them is fun and it usually ends up being work you're proud to be a part of.

Unfortunately, the opposite is also true. Nothing sucks the life out of you like working with people who are only in their job to get the paycheck. No matter how hard you try, it's often impossible to get them to try anything different or new because there's no reward in it for them. There is only risk.

Anyway, there may be more to come from this, but overall, I enjoyed the book and do recommend it if you're at all interested in what I've shared above.

Comments

[Bud Caddell]

Paul,

Kismet!

Thanks for this post. I was just writing this section of the book and needed more examples.

I've been looking at passion/vision/purpose as the manager's best tool in a modern organization. If we really do want more agile and decentralized working teams, what remains to unite them? Surely not long term planning, which is essentially moot in a complex world. It must be vision and purpose.

___

Also, WhatConsumesMe isn't on your favorite reads/feeds list? What can I do to change that?

[Connor Keating]

Someone said that if you don't put passion into what you do, you can never do anything right. And it seems that nowadays one of the most important aspects of every business is online reputation. It still is staggering to most people how much it can both positively and negatively influence everything but the naked truth is that if treated properly it's one of the best things for you and if treated improperly it's one of the worst things that can happen to you.