With each new year comes an avalanche of predictions about what will change in the months ahead. But what about all of the things that will stay the same? Let’s take a moment to pause and reflect.
- Back when Amazon was a tiny startup, Jeff Bezos decided to put aside the trends of the moment and focus on things that don’t change.
- “I almost never get the question: ‘What’s not going to change in the next 10 years?’ You can build a business strategy around the things that are stable in time.”
- The premise is simple but very easy to lose sight of.
- We marketers love new things—the latest ideas, technologies and innovations. It’s easy for us to get caught up in new trends.
- But there are some elements to marketing—and leadership—that never change.
- Over the past year, we’ve encouraged you to pause and reflect on a few of them.
- First on the list is your brand. It stays the same year over year, transcending specific products, campaigns and trends.
- It creates alignment and “serves as a north star, providing direction and purpose.”
- It captures the essence of your organization and everything it stands for. And (ideally) it connects your team’s work to the overall business strategy.
- Keeping your brand at the heart of day-to-day operations takes commitment and real work, but the payoffs are many.
- Another evergreen truth: a strong culture makes a big difference.
- It improves the chances of success for any plan.
- While culture itself is organic and emerges on its own, there are things you can focus on to make yours stronger.
- Hubert Joly has a lot of great suggestions. Keywords include: meaning, human connections, autonomy and psychological safety.
- And Risha Grant reminds us to look for culture additions instead of culture fits.
- Third on the list: the vital importance of creativity. It remains the strongest driver of sales and profitability.
- One form of creativity that we marketers naturally understand is storytelling.
- It helps us build our organization’s internal and external brand, connect with customers on a deep level, and explain the impact of our work.
- Our favourite tip for better storytelling: choose a clear essential message.
- Our essential message: as you take in all of the trend reports and explore the frontiers of change in the weeks and months ahead, be sure to spend enough time on the flipside of change.
