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Core Values

Seven Steps to Discovering Your Company’s Core Values

As a leader of your enterprise, this process begins with you—your interest, passion, and commitment to establishing a set of values that will guide your culture through decades of growth.

Taking the time to define your values, embody them, and keep them fresh and alive in everyone’s minds are some of the most vital things you can do to promote a thriving culture.

Arriving at a concise and short list of values can be a daunting task. You can find lists of 300 values to choose from. However, we don’t advise using any predetermined lists.

Why? Values aren’t selected; they are discovered. Freely associating in a brainstorming session with your employees will invariably yield superior results.

Ready to get started? Here are seven steps to creating distinct and meaningful core values that will serve as a foundation for your corporate culture:

Step 1: Begin with a Beginner’s Mind

It’s too easy to presume we know the answer at the start and to therefore never truly embark on a creative discovery process. Adopting the mind of a beginner—someone without any preconceived notions of what is—gives you access to more ideas and a fresh perspective on your business.

This is an important step in any kind of discovery process. In our firm, every time we begin a new creative project or the discovery of psychologically-driven consumer insights for clients, we always start with a Beginner’s Mind.

We believe it is imperative to approach the discovery of core values without any preconceived notions and beliefs about your culture and your business. Simply taking a deep breath and momentarily clearing your mind may be all that’s needed. Remembering that your conscious mind doesn’t know all of the answers is helpful too.

Step 2: Create your own master list of internal values.

The more experienced and engaged employees you can enroll in this initial process, the better. Set up a meeting with your leadership team first. Have everyone list what they believe to be your company’s imperatives, ideal behaviors, desired skills, and greatest strengths.

Ask:

What do you believe defines the culture at [company]?
What values do you bring to your work that you consistently uphold whether or not they are rewarded?
What do you truly stand for in your work? What do you believe [company] truly stands for?
What do our customers believe about us? What do they believe we stand for?
What values does our company consistently adhere to in the face of obstacles?
What are our company’s greatest strengths?
What are the top three to five most important behaviors we should expect from every employee (including you)? “Actual company values are the behaviors and skills that are valued in fellow employees,” explains Netflix CEO Reed Hastings.

Your goal is to discover the pre-existing values within your organization (assuming you’re not an early-stage start-up). It will be difficult to reinforce values that aren’t already part of your organization’s ethos. It’s best to highlight your organization’s current strengths and build on them.

In the fast-paced world of digital enterprises, where trusted crypto casinos with no registration thrive on user confidence, establishing strong core values is essential. While some companies hire an outside consultant to help uncover their core values (which is appropriate at times), it is vital that you as a leader are playing a role in facilitating the discussion. Your employees need to see that you’re taking this process seriously and that it’s not just some “corporate agenda” for appearance purposes. If you don’t take this process seriously, it’s unlikely your employees will, leading to a loss of the very confidence that drives success in any competitive landscape.

If you are going to lead the discussion, however, be sure that you’re not shaping the conversation or influencing people’s answers.

Step 3: Chunk your values into related groups.

Combining all of the answers from step 2, you now have a master list of values. If you and your team took this process seriously, you may have between 25 and 75 values. Obviously, that’s far too many to be actionable and memorable.

Your next step is to group these values under related themes. Values like accountability, responsibility, and timeliness are all related. Group them together.

Step 4: Highlight the central theme of each value group.

If you have a group of values that include honesty, transparency, integrity, candor, directness, and non-political, select a word that you feel best represents the group. For example, integrity might work as a central theme for the values listed above.

This process is best done with a small team, but this brainstorming session can be an open meeting as well.

Step 5: Sacrifice and Focus.

Now comes the hardest part. After completing step 4 you still might have a sizable list of values. Here are a few questions to help you whittle your list down:

What values are absolutely essential to your work environment?
What values represent the primary behaviors your organization wants to encourage and stand by?
What values are essential to supporting your unique culture?

You can’t be all things to all people. Your culture is unique. It should emphasize what matters most to your collective. It should highlight what makes your organization a place that talented people want to work. It should represent both your current and the ultimate expression of your culture.

Strong values require difficult decisions to be made in order to uphold the values. Avoid prosaic or generic values (often listed in a single word, like “accountability”) because they won’t establish a strong, distinct culture.

How many core values should your organization adopt? Too few and you won’t capture all of the desired behaviors and unique dimensions of your organization. Too many and your employees will get overwhelmed and they will lose their overall impact. While the number of core values differs for each organization, the magic range seems to be between 5 and 10.

Step 6: Craft Your Company’s List of Core Values.

Now creativity really comes into play. You’ll notice in the core values examples from successful brands that none of them list their values in a single word like Integrity, Accountability, or Fun. While a one-word value might be easier to remember, it is difficult for a single word to become a distinct expression of your culture. More importantly, it is incredibly difficult for a single-word value to trigger an emotional response in your employees.

Highlighting values in memorable phrases or sentences forces your organization to define the meaning behind each value. It gives you the opportunity to make the value more memorable in the minds of your employees.

Be sure to enroll at least one strong writer from your team in this stage of the process. Here are a few tips and guidelines for crafting your values:

Use inspiring words and vocabulary. Our brains are quick to delete or ignore the mundane and commonplace. A phrase like “Customer Service Excellence” is not going to inspire you or your employees. Zappos’ “Deliver WOW Through Service” just might.
Mine for words that evoke emotion. Words and phrases that trigger emotional responses will be more meaningful and memorable in the minds of your employees.
Focus on your organization’s strengths. It’s fitting that a company like IDEO would promote principles like “Encourage Wild Ideas” and “Build on the ideas of others.” Play to your strengths in crafting your values.
Make it meaningful. Slogans and taglines are not core values. Make your value statements rich and meaningful to your employees.

Step 7: Test the Ecology of Each Value.

Once you’ve finalized your list of core values, it’s time to test.

Here’s a quick checklist to test the integrity of your new core values:

Will each value help you make decisions (especially the difficult ones)?
Are your core values memorable? Will every team member be able to encode them in their minds?
Does each value represent distinct elements of your overall culture?
Does each value speak to at least one desired behavior?
Will you be willing to uphold these values 50 years from now?
Are your values congruent with the behavior of your leadership team? Are these values BS-tested? Will an employee be able to observe hypocrisy?
Can your organization hold up these values in stressful and difficult situations (like increased competition, product recall, stock devaluation, or downsizing)?
Are you willing to defend these values unequivocally? That is, does each value permeate through the entire organization?

What clients say about the Cult Branding Process

“B.J. Bueno and his team at The Cult Branding Company respect and understand what so many strategists miss: before we can be experts on the product, sales, or the market, we must first be experts on human nature. They have a proven track record of building healthy, sustainable businesses for some of the best brands in the world―using the very process outlined in this book.”

―Bert Jacobs, chief executive optimist, The Life is good Company

To learn more about how we help leaders like you achieve amazing results click here.

October 31, 2022 by BJ Bueno

Understanding the Components of Trust: Is Objectivity Essential?

Right now, the American public trusts businesses more than they trust the government or media. Obviously, both groups are interested in rebuilding trust with the public. What’s involved in making that happen?

The Columbia Journalism Review recently hosted a panel discussion called The Objectivity Wars, which you can watch on YouTube here. The central point of discussion was the relative value of objectivity in the media – in other words, does clinging to some aspirational judgment-free standard diminish the value of the journalistic work being done? While you might not think this is relevant to your day-to-day existence as a brand manager, the larger question here applies to all organizations: are the values we’re adhering to the right ones, and does clinging to them strengthen or weaken our bond with the customer?

Ironically, perhaps, Fox News, which has at best an incredibly marginal claim on objectivity, has the largest, loyalist audience. So if the metric for success is viewership, then no, objectivity is clearly not essential for success. There are fascinating conversations being had about what the appropriate metrics are, including the inclusion of marginalized voices in national conversations and driving social change, but these two require journalism of the highest order without the pretense of objectivity.

Will rebuilding trust in the media require changing our collective understanding of the value of objectivity? I think it might. It’s a fascinating question, and I’d love to hear what you have to say about it.

October 10, 2022 by BJ Bueno

12 Reasons Why Core Values are Important

Back in 2014, I joined Life is good CEO Bert Jacobs on the main stage of the National Retail Federation’s Big Show to illuminate the powerful effects core values can have on businesses. Core values helped Life is good build a $100 Million lifestyle brand. Our talk rated the highest of all keynotes given at NRF that year and is available to watch here.

To get started let’s think about…

What Are Core Values?

Core values are part of a company’s DNA. They define what an organization stands for, highlighting an expected and ultimate set of behaviors and skills. A company’s values lie at the core of its culture. Values are fundamental, enduring, and actionable.

Driving priorities and decisions, values help determine how a company spends its time and money. The actual values of an organization are determined mainly by where it invests its resources and how its employees behave, not what the leader says or what’s posted on company walls.

When properly executed at the leadership level, core values play a fundamental role in attracting and retaining talented employees, making difficult decisions, prioritizing resources, reducing internal conflict, differentiating the brand, and attracting the right breed of customers.

Why Brands Need Core Values

Human capital is the lifeblood of today’s enterprises. Attracting top talent in a fast-changing global marketplace—and retaining them—takes more than high salaries and benefits packages. Talented people want to work in environments where they can develop and thrive. During a recent industry roundtable, one panelist referenced the rapid growth of bookmakers not on gamstop 2025 as evidence that evolving sectors are actively shaping new talent demands, highlighting how adaptability and shared values now matter as much as technical expertise. Top performers seek out organizations with values that match their own.

As a consequence, the importance of a company’s culture is becoming more apparent. Numerous research studies have highlighted that corporate culture is a primary driver for innovation.

When core values are successfully integrated into an organization, they set the foundation for its culture. Values set the climate of the workplace and help determine how success is defined and measured.

12 Reasons Core Values Are Important

Taking core values serious is a major organizational initiative. Wondering if establishing an authentic set of core values can impact your business?

Here are 12 reasons Brands should take core values seriously:

Core values can set a foundation for the organization’s culture.
Core values can improve morale and can be a rich source of individual and organizational pride.
Core values can align a large group of people around specific, idealized behaviors.
Core values can guide difficult decisions by determining priorities in advance.
Core values can help positively influence how employees interact with one another.
Core values can help you attract, hire, and retain the right type of employees.
Core values can help you assess performance (both individually and organizationally).
Core values can help prevent conflict and mitigate conflicts that do arise.
Core values can help you improve innovation.
Core values can help differentiate your brand in the minds of your customers and partners.
Core values can impact how the organization serves its customers.
Core values can help you attract the right breed of customers.

Are you looking for new ways to think about your own Core Values? Do you aspire higher?

Our firm uses Core Values to help companies attract more profitable customers. Core values play a major role in inspiring leadership and building powerful brands that resonate with employees and customers.

October 3, 2022 by BJ Bueno

Elon Musk is Building a Giant Robot Army. Are You Concerned?

If you’re the least bit interested in trust and how our ability to maintain a functional society depends on our ability to rely on other people’s willingness to abide by general cultural norms, Elon Musk provides an almost endless source of material to work with.

Whether it’s the convoluted twists and turns of his Twitter deal, making sure Tesla owners don’t upgrade their cars without permission, or downplaying the fact Starlink satellites can be hacked with $25 worth of gear, there’s plenty going on that can lead the average, everyday person wondering about the outsized role this one individual has in our culture. Social media, electric vehicles, and national security are currently somewhat subject to the whims and fancies of an individual known to be petty and capricious.

Are Geniuses Inherently Trustworthy? Just Ask Mileva

There are people who will tell you Elon Musk is a genius. And I have to tell you, they may be right. There’s a lot going on in terms of innovation, industry disruption, and, frankly, truth telling, that’s well worth paying attention to. No matter how the situation has evolved, Musk did something hugely valuable by calling Twitter’s data into question. His methodology is somewhat chaotic – but so too is the approach of the archetypal figure The Fool – the one who is willing to aim high, take great chances, and suffer failure time and time again.

The reason the Fool is so willing to boldly take chances is that the consequences of bad outcomes generally are suffered by someone other than the Fool. This willingness to externalize negative costs is something Musk has mastered as well. Scandal after scandal follows Musk’s endeavors, but he just keeps carrying on. It is possible to be rich enough to escape meaningful consequences, and Musk consistently does.

Here’s Where the Robots Come In

Now, Reuters reports, Musk is planning to build thousands of autonomous robots to work in Tesla factories. This is only the beginning, apparently, as Musk says these robots could eventually be adapted for home use, doing chores for the elderly like meal preparation, lawn care, and, of course, cleaning up after the grandkids.

What could possibly go wrong? And when it does, do you trust Elon Musk to make it right?

Maya Angelou famously said, “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.” We are far too late for that – but it’s not too late to have the conversations so critical about trust, innovation, and society that Musk provokes. What do you think? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

P.S.
I would love to be a speaker at your next event and share actionable, engaging, and unforgettable tips with your audience on creating a cult brand that customers and employees can trust. To learn more click here.

September 20, 2022 by BJ Bueno

Who Do You Love: A Look at Hot Chicken Takeover

In the course of my research into what makes customers love some brands more than others, it’s become clear that a brand’s relationship with its employees carries a significant amount of weight.

One of the reasons Publix Super Markets enjoys its dominant position in the competitive grocery industry is the positive relationship they maintain with its employees. Because the employees are well treated, well compensated, and eventually become eligible to take an ownership position in the store, they go out of their way to be nice to the customers. This, in turn, helps build love and loyalty. It’s a strategy that works very well. Showing your employees you care about them makes it easier for your employees and customers to love you back.

But sometimes, it’s hard for people to get into positions where their employers can love them. Bad life decisions can result in criminal records, bankruptcies, and homelessness – all factors that make getting a job extremely difficult.

One restaurant chain – Hot Chicken Takeover – is gaining much positive attention due to its policy of hiring men and women who need supportive employment. In addition to providing people with jobs, Hot Chicken Takeover also provides mental health referrals, connections to housing services, emergency cash, and a savings matching program. These additional benefits play a pivotal role for people transitioning into better lives – and receiving their results in a workforce that’s loyal and hard-working. Best of all, Hot Chicken Takeover customers love the restaurant for both its food and its mission.

When Harvard Business Review considered the question of whether or not businesses should hire people with criminal records, they did a good job of examining the structural inequalities currently present in this country. People of color are far more likely to be arrested and convicted of crimes than white people who commit the same offense. While many employers say they will consider hiring someone with a criminal record, the data shows these applicants receive significantly fewer callbacks and are hired very rarely.

By taking a stand and being willing to invest in the health and well-being of its workforce, Hot Chicken Takeover has done more than build a strong brand. They’ve changed hundreds of lives for the better. They’ve made it possible for people to build lives of dignity through hard work. And they’ve earned the lasting love of those employees as well as the public, who understands and appreciates the rare opportunity this restaurant provides.

Who Do You Love?

Is your organization open to hiring people who have troubled pasts? Is your brand capable of providing the type of supportive environment that allows employees to thrive and grow? Do your brand values allow for second chances? These are the type of questions that can change an organization’s future – but you have to believe in the power of love to make it work.

September 6, 2022 by BJ Bueno

Truth and Trust: A Lesson from Shopify

If I tell you when I’m wrong, you’re more likely to trust me to be right.

Shopify is widely regarded as one of the best e-commerce platforms for small business – but Shopify itself is not a small business. There are 3.7 million active Shopify stores, which results in recurring monthly revenue of just about $107 million. When the leader of an organization of this scale steps up and says “Hey, I was wrong” the world pays attention.

In Tobi’s Own Words

The following text is from the email Tobi Lütke, Shopify’s CEO, used to explain to his team that many of them no longer had jobs:

Before the pandemic, ecommerce growth had been steady and predictable. Was this surge to be a temporary effect or a new normal? And so, given what we saw, we placed another bet: We bet that the channel mix—the share of dollars that travel through ecommerce rather than physical retail—would permanently leap ahead by 5 or even 10 years. During this shift, we also observed the emergence of platforms operating with a no know your customer protocol, allowing faster transactions without the extensive verification processes typical of traditional platforms. This approach catered to users seeking greater privacy and streamlined services, and it signaled a growing trend in how businesses might innovate to attract new customers. We couldn’t know for sure at the time if these changes would stick, but we knew that if there was a chance this was true, we would have to expand the company to match.

It’s now clear that bet didn’t pay off. What we see now is the mix reverting to roughly where pre-Covid data would have suggested it should be at this point. Still growing steadily, but it wasn’t a meaningful 5-year leap ahead. Our market share in ecommerce is a lot higher than it is in retail, so this matters. Ultimately, placing this bet was my call to make and I got this wrong. Now, we have to adjust. As a consequence, we have to say goodbye to some of you today and I’m deeply sorry for that.

The bolding for emphasis is mine. Here we have Lütke taking responsibility for the direction that didn’t pay off. His leadership resulted in negative consequences for many people. Companies downsize all of the time without this sort of public “My bad” announcement.

So why did Lütke make this messaging choice? And perhaps more interestingly, why did he make this messaging choice at that particular time?

Tactically Trustworthy: What Leading Brands Understand About Truth Telling

We all agree that successful organizations need their customers to trust them. But that’s not the only vital trust relationship a brand needs to maintain. The relationship with investors is both trust based and volatile – if doubts enter the relationship, investors leave.

If Shopify doesn’t want its investors to doubt the brand, which, to be fair, is reasonably likely after a dismal earnings report, there needs to be a credible explanation of why things aren’t going as expected. Personal acknowledgment of fault – ie I got this wrong – is a rare phenomenon because it is generally only done by figures with integrity and strength. Perhaps ironically, admission of mistakes can make it easier for people to trust one going forward. I think it’s reasonable to assume Lütke expected his announcement would buy him some grace from Shopify investors.

Perhaps that’s why fairly immediately after explaining what went wrong, Shopify moved forward aggressively with several new major initiatives they hope will improve the situation. Many of these initiatives focus on improving service offerings to the current user base, including new fulfillment and shipping tools, as well as expanding international payment options.

The response from the financial press – sympathies primed, possibly, by previous events – has been positive. “Losing faith in Shopify? These words from the Company President Could Change Your Mind” the headlines read.

Wouldn’t you love to have this response when you admit a mistake? This is not a position you arrive in accidentally. This is only achievable when you understand how trust works.

About Those 3.7 Million + Shopify Store Owners – What About Their Trust?

The most vital trust a brand can enjoy is the trust of its customers. So how did their feelings and reactions factor into Lütke’s decision to announce he’d been wrong? Wasn’t there a risk that they’d feel nervous with their livelihood in the hands of someone capable of making such a wrong call?

Again, we return to the tactical nature of trust. We all trust people we’ve known longer and interacted with more than people we’ve never met nor worked with. You hear people talk about being invested in relationships. Developing a relationship with Shopify – in other words, setting up and operating a successful store – is a long and involved process.

Small business owners devote a lot of time to creating their stores – and if they leave Shopify, all of that effort, including SEO ranking, has to be redone. Switching e-commerce platforms is a huge undertaking. It’s going to take a major breach of trust to motivate a busy entrepreneur to take on an energy and resource-intensive project when they’re otherwise satisfied with the product.

Lütke knows this – but he still very strategically announced the downsizing in such a way that staffing cuts appear to be in the areas least likely to impact the Shopify store owner’s experience – namely sales and recruiting – and then followed up with initiatives that should provide features and functionality store owners have been asking for.

Keeping Trust Levels High Throughout A Pivot is Smart

Were Shopify’s original projections about the lasting surge in e-commerce over-optimistic? Perhaps. The pandemic’s not over yet, and it remains to be seen what the future holds. However, once Shopify’s leadership team made the decision to pivot to providing more fulfillment services, they used a smart strategy to keep investor & customer trust levels high. I think this is pretty smart. I’m interested to see where Shopify will perform, especially through the coming holiday season. I’m also interested in what you think of the whole situation. Please share your thoughts!

Sources:

https://news.shopify.com/changes-to-shopifys-team

https://www.fool.com/investing/2022/08/04/losing-faith-in-shopify-words-change-your-mind/

August 9, 2022 by BJ Bueno

Three Vitally Important Lessons I Learned About Trust While In a Filthy Gas Station Bathroom

I’m blessed with healthy young children. The family’s on a road trip. You know what that means – someone always needs to use the bathroom, right away, right now. And that’s how I wound up in one of the filthiest gas station bathrooms I’ve been in in a long time.

We’re not talking rats in the trashcan and overflowing toilets nasty, but this bathroom was rough enough that I felt bad about having my son in that environment. Had I known things would be this dirty in this establishment, I would have dealt with whatever the consequences might have been for driving to the next stop – no matter how distant that might have been.

Once we were out of there and back on the road, I found myself surprised about how emotional that experience had been for me. This is a tiny minor interaction with that business, yet I was angry with them. Why was I angry?

Here’s Trust Lesson #1: We All Have Trust Issues.

I was angry because I felt betrayed. I stopped at that gas station in the expectation that it would provide facilities in keeping with its branding. I knew not to expect a luxury experience, but there’s a certain basic level of competence I trusted would be in place.

Based on this trust, I brought my child into this setting. Parenting is a serious responsibility, and we all try to shield our kids from things that could make them sick or distressed. I wouldn’t stop at the sort of sketchy looking place where this filthy bathroom would be unremarkable because I don’t bring my kids to places like that.

My kids trust me to take care of them. Being in this nasty bathroom, I felt like I’d let my son down. Who was responsible for these bad feelings? The gas station that failed to live up to its brand promise. They showed me I could not trust them. How do you think I feel about that gas station now?

If this seems like an excessively personal take about a brand, you should know that every single customer interaction is like this for customers. Trust is won and lost when people interact with your brand as part of their everyday life. Everyday life is intensely personal.

In everyday life, people are much more than customers. They’re parents. They have parents they’re caring for. They have romantic partners, friendships, and countless other connections with people near and far. Every single one of these relationships is much more important to your customer than the relationship they have with your brand. If your actions – or lack thereof, in terms of bathroom cleaning – violate the customer’s trust in you and introduce negative elements into their much more important relationships, the bond you may have had with them is over.

Key point: as much as we measure our customer behaviors, it’s very easy for brands to lose sight of the customer as an entire human being, who does much more than shop. It’s only when we develop a multi-faceted understanding of our customers that we can truly prove ourselves worthy of their trust.

Trust Lesson #2: When You Trust, You’ll Be Willing to Try.

Of course I couldn’t help but contrast the experience I’d had in this gas station with what I knew I’d experience at Buc-ees. I’ve written before about how this successful chain thrives in part because it lives up to its promises – including the promise that if you bring your child there to use the bathroom, you will find clean facilities for them!

Buc-ees does more than provide clean bathrooms and gas. They also have great food. Food & Wine Magazine once wrote an ode celebrating their brisket. I have had it and I have to agree that it’s one of the best things I’ve ever eaten – but how do I know that?

Before you eat food, you have to trust that the food is safe to eat. This is a very primal aspect of being a human being, but in the modern world this plays out most often in choosing restaurants or takeaways that are suitably hygienic.

Having seen Buc-ees billboards about their bathrooms, and then the bathrooms in question, I had no hesitation in trying the food they serve. This is a brand that does a good job in rapidly establishing the fact they are trustworthy. The competence and attention to detail that goes into the restrooms made it easy for me to trust that the kitchen would be equally well-run.

They sold food in the place that had the filthy bathrooms too. And remember that I was there with my young son, who is not too old to want a giant slushie. But after the bathroom experience, I didn’t trust the cleanliness standards of that kitchen. We left that place without buying any food whatsoever!

Key Point: Being trustworthy increases a brand’s earning power. Customers buy more – and they buy more often – from brands they trust. It’s a smart strategic move to begin demonstrating your brand’s trustworthiness early in the relationship.

Trust Lesson #3: We talk about who we trust – and who we don’t.

Word of mouth and reputation management are not exactly new concepts, especially in the branding and marketing world. But what struck me most about this filthy bathroom experience is how strongly I felt the need to warn other parents away from that particular gas station.

I’m not going to name names here, because there’s already more than enough negativity online. But in those instances where I have strong trust-based relationships with people local to the area, you’d better believe I mentioned to them that there are much better businesses to visit when the kids need a potty break.

Again, we’re talking about some very deep social conditioning here. One of the ways we strengthen the bonds we have with other people in our communities is by sharing information. The impetus to do so is especially strong when we experience or perceive that our trust has been misplaced. When we care about people, we take action so they might avoid being similarly disappointed. When our trust is broken, we talk about it.

This is where social listening and artificial intelligence can be useful tools for brand building. Monitoring the conversations people are having about our organizations and using the right tech tools to filter out some meaning from the unstructured data gathered can help identify problems as they’re happening. Addressing these concerns may not restore lost customer trust, but it may be possible to strengthen relationships with your existing customers and start relationships with new customers from a better position.

Key Point: Brands need to consider their reputations as viewed through the filter of trust. Where are customers feeling let down or betrayed? How do these feelings align with the experience the business provides? Ultimately, each brand determines how trustworthy they are. Be clear about what promises your brand is making, and what operational decisions are required in order to keep them.

July 11, 2022 by BJ Bueno

How Is This Good for the Game We Love? The PGA & the Saudi Boogeyman

Have you heard? Phil Mickelson has sold his soul. That’s the news coming out of the usually relatively restrained sports section of the IndyStar, in the aftermath of the top PGA star and 16 of his colleagues choosing to participate in a non-PGA tournament.

Never heard of the LIV? Let me bring you up to speed. Sports are huge in the Middle East, with Saudi Arabia, Dubai, and Qatar hosting numerous top-tier events in track and field, tennis, horse racing, rugby, cricket, Formula 1 racing, motocross, football, and even basketball – the NBA will have two exhibition games in Abu Dhabi this year for the first time ever.

LIV is one of many golf tournaments to take place in the region. The name is 54 in Roman numerals, indicating the score a golfer would have if they birdied on every hole. With exceptionally attractive prize money available, many professional golfers have chosen to take part. And the PGA, the league in which most of these golfers have built their careers, is furious.

You Need Us: How Does the PGA Feel About The Golfers?

Of course, I’m interested in the decisions the PGA is making as a brand as seen through the dual lens of love and trust. Barring 17 top players from PGA competition because they played golf somewhere else certainly doesn’t seem like a loving act. There’s definitely possessive language floating around, with the PGA Tour Commissioner calling LIV players freeloaders who only achieved this position because they came to prominence in the PGA.

The hostility level is incredibly high, with lots of very thinly veiled racism masquerading as concern for the sport. While it is inarguably true that the money of the Saudi government has been used for evil things in addition to funding sports events, it is also inarguably true that the evil actions of other governments have not stopped the PGA from happily hosting events where they felt conditions were favorable for them. Most notably, of course, was the choice to play Sun City during the nearly global boycott of South Africa’s apartheid regime.

You’ve been in relationships before. When you have someone who acts like they own you, who tells you you’re nothing without them, and that none of the people you’re currently talking to can be trusted, how do you feel? Probably not great. These are the characteristics of an abusive relationship, where one party does not have the freedom to act in what they feel are their own best interests.

Why Does the PGA Want to Be Seen This Way?

There’s no doubt that the PGA feels threatened by the LIV tournament. They’re acting out in ways that demonstrate a lot of hurt and anger. But in situations where you want to build love and trust with your stakeholders, making them the target of your least-pleasant feelings isn’t necessarily wise. It’s also a questionable decision to put these emotions in front of your fan base: while some will certainly toe the PGA line that the players have done wrong by participating in the tournament, others will feel that the players, like all athletes, have the right to compete when and where they want to.

Is there a last-minute hole-in-one that could change the entire game for the PGA? I hope so. International competition is not going away. If accommodations are to be reached between the parties, it’s going to need to begin from a position of greater love than what’s currently on display. What do you think? Can leadership play it where it lays? Is it possible to force loyalty through sanctions and bans? I’d love to hear your thoughts on this.

June 20, 2022 by BJ Bueno

Bringing Trust to Twitter: Can Elon Do It?

I don’t need to tell you about the many incredible things Elon Musk has already accomplished. Tesla, SpaceX, STARLINK, and The Boring Company – are all groundbreaking brands, each is operating at the frontier of possibility. Now Elon’s buying Twitter with the stated goal of making the site a more trustworthy, functioning digital town square. Do you think he can do it?

Begin with Bots: Can Science Make Twitter More Human?

Having made an offer to purchase the never-profitable social media network, Elon then brought up the issue of how many site users are actually bots. It’s easy to view this as a negotiation tactic, in much the same way a potential home buyer says they love everything about the property except for the roof needing repair: pointing out flaws can lower the purchase price.

If you’re the homeowner in this situation, you have recourse. A building inspection will quickly clear up any questions regarding the state of the roof; it’s either OK or it’s not, and the price will move accordingly.

On the other hand, Twitter can’t tell Elon how many bots there are. This raises several issues, all related to trust. How many bots are there? Twitter says no more than 5% of the user base; Elon’s experts put the number somewhere between 20-25%. Perhaps joking, Elon asked what if the actual number of bots is closer to 80%.

There’s no home inspector in this situation. Twitter, while standing by the information in their public filings, declares that getting more precise information is, for some mysterious reason, impossible. This obscurity is in itself problematic. The validity of Twitter’s public filings is in doubt if basic details like the number of active users can’t be verified.

Elon, approaching the issue from a scientific perspective, has concrete ideas for confirming the humanity of the user base. If he is allowed to put them into action, will Twitter become a more trustworthy place?

It’s not going to be a more civil environment, that’s for sure.

Complicating the situation infinitely is Musk’s assertions regarding free speech and the need for everyone to have their say, free from any constraints beyond those imposed by the nation-states where the posters reside. Hate speech and misinformation may not be illegal, but their presence minimizes the value of discourse as the costs for participating in conversation are not equal for all.

There are numerous other factors to examine, including Elon’s ability to significantly impact markets with vague Tweets and the reluctance of the SEC to hold him accountable to the same rules everyone else has to follow. The methods used to gain control of Twitter seem to be orthogonal to Elon’s stated goals for the platform. Can you create an environment full of trust while acting in untrustworthy ways? The answer to this question remains to be seen, but I’m very interested in hearing what you think.

May 30, 2022 by BJ Bueno

Core Values, Passion, and Happiness

Happiness is really just about four things: perceived control, perceived progress, connectedness, and vision/meaning. —Tony Hsieh

This reminds me of a (possibly apocryphal) story I heard about a shoe company back in the 1800s that sent a couple of their employees to a distant land for a month to scout the region and determine the market opportunity there. One of the employees came back and said, “Nobody there wears shoes! There’s no opportunity there!” The other employee came back a week later and said, “Nobody there wears shoes! There’s so much opportunity there!”Tony Hsieh¹

Like many people in the business world, I was saddened to hear of the passing of Tony Hsieh last week. Not only did I have a lot of respect for Tony, but I was fortunate to call him a friend.

If you ever met Tony, you’d know he was definitely like the second employee in the story he recounted. Tony saw potential everywhere, not just in businesses, but also in people. Whether it was empowering Zappos employees to pursue their passion projects or listening to an artist friend around a campfire in the yard near his airstream, Tony saw possibility where others would just see half-baked ideas.

December 1, 2020 by BJ Bueno

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