What Has To Die?

Almost every company is doing something they shouldn’t be. Nothing akin to the deceptive practices of Enron, but something that in someway hurts or dilutes the value of the brand.

When Steve Jobs returned to Apple he encountered more products than Shiva could juggle. In Inside Steve’s Brain, Leander Kahney reports that during a 1998 World Wide Developers Conference, Jobs commented, “I started to ask people, now why would I recommend a 3400 over a 4400? When should somebody jump up to a 6500, but not a 7300? And after three weeks, I couldn’t figure this out. If I couldn’t figure this out…how could our customers figure this out?”

Frustrated, Jobs simplified their line into four products on a grid: consumer/professional and portable/desktop. It was so simple anyone could understand it. Not only did it lower the barrier to entry into the Apple family, it reinforced Jobs’ vision of simplicity, which is at the heart of the Apple brand.

Your impediment may be some product that doesn’t fit your brand, some advertisement that doesn’t speak to the heart of your customers, or customer service that doesn’t reflect your brand’s values. It’s anything that mars your brand’s ultimate vision and hinders you from clearly telling your story to the world. Simply, it dilutes your brand’s power.

As the theatre director and Pulitzer-prize-winning writer David Mamet would say: if a chair onstage doesn’t contribute to the story, (pause) get rid of the fucking chair.

Figuring out which chair doesn’t belong on your stage begins with defining your brand’s ultimate vision. And, your ultimate vision must take into account what your best customers—your Brand Lovers—love about your brand.

Once you’ve defined your ultimate vision, ask yourself, “What has to die for us to get there?”