I have a favorite saying that I am probably butchering from the original but what I like to recant and remind myself is “those the gods would destroy they first make proud.” Meaning that too much pride in oneself will ultimately destroy you because you won’t allow others to help you or even worse, you don’t think others are worthy of helping you. Not cool.
And there is of course some truth to that but is pride or being proud have to lead to your downfall? We don’t think so. This is especially true when building brands. We just spent the week interviewing an executive leadership team that is launching a new brand. And by far the thing that rang true in every single leader we spoke to, was their pride in their company and especially their employees.
This is an interesting concept to explore with a leadership team when building a new brand. Who doesn’t want to work for a company that they are proud of? What agency doesn’t want to build a brand that their client isn’t proud of? No one! That is the answer.
We spend so much time working, we want to be proud of our company and what we do. We want to know what we are doing is making a difference for those we work with and for those we have an impact on.
So here are a few questions to ask yourself when thinking of what your brand should express in the market:
1) What would make you most proud in 5 years if my company could accomplish this?
2) What would be the most important thing an employee could say to you that would make you proud of your brands' work?
3) What was the proudest moment you experienced at your company? Why did this make you proud?
It’s surprising when exploring this feeling - it will open up a litany of thoughts on what makes the company exceptional for its employees and therefore its clients.
Happy exploring.