Branding

By Jackie Dryden and Bethany Andell

Get Your Head Out of Your Bottom Line and Build Your Brand on Purpose, by Jackie Dryden and Bethany Andell ’01, was published by Oh Deer Publishing 2016.

After four decades of working with executives, we began to see a shift in the focus of corporate America—a shift away from long-term strategies to a preoccupation with short-term results.

We weren’t the only ones to notice. Across the country, people were beginning to talk about Purpose in the business—the non-monetary value a company creates in the world. The premise of leading with Purpose (or your why) was inspired by the likes of Simon Sinek, Raj Sisodia, and John Mackey—all innovators and authorities on the subject. They proved that though growth and profits are necessary for any business, the country’s most envied and influential brands don’t lead with profit first. They recognize that profit is an outcome and that true Purpose provides a reason for people to want a company to succeed.

But it’s one thing to believe what they say, and another thing to put these ideas into practice.

Great Brands Are Built on Purpose

As branding experts, we know from experience that great brands are built from the inside out. They are much bigger than logos and slogans. Everything a company says and does contributes to the building of its brand. Because of this, the actions and attitudes of employees are central to the brand experience. For many companies, especially service companies, you could argue that your people are your brand. When your people come together around one meaningful Purpose, you can’t be stopped.

Everyone likes to think they have a great culture and respected “brand.” However, when we talk with industry leaders about what keeps them up at night, they continually mention people, recruiting, retention, and reputation. Further, Patrick Lencioni (The Advantage) and Dave Logan (Tribal Leadership) confirmed what we suspected to be true—that most mission and vision statements find their way into employee handbooks or reside on company websites, but rarely generate cultural alignment or guide an organization’s day-to-day behaviors.

We argue that brand, Purpose, and culture are, and should be, interdependent. That they build upon one another to shape the greatest of companies.

We Call It Savage Thinking^®

There is a wide gap between knowing something and doing something. So we developed Savage Thinking—an ideology and methodology to help companies shift from their bottom-line focus to a Purpose-led business philosophy.

Savage Thinking is not about defining a new direction for a company or changing the character of its brand—though guiding with true Purpose can certainly do that. Many great companies have led with Purpose from their inception. They just seem to live and breathe it, to the point where it becomes effortless and informal. But with the majority of companies, Purpose has not been articulated from the beginning, has changed along the way, or has gotten lost when companies are merged, acquired, or have a change in leadership. Whatever the situation, Savage Thinking can help uncover Purpose and provide a guide for transforming your business into a Purpose-led company. We know this because we first put ourselves to the test, and then began collaborating with other companies to help them discover the numerous benefits of uncovering and aligning with their Purpose.

We Are Revolutionizing Corporate America

Savage Brands has learned that living and sharing Purpose is a powerful catalyst for impacting the lives of people and improving long-term business success, and we are passionate about helping companies wake up to their true Purpose, realize their vision, and practice the values they may have neglected while being fixated on the bottom line.

In short, we are writing this book because we are focused on unleashing the inherent good in all companies and revolutionizing corporate America—one brand at a time.

Order your copy of Get Your Head Out of Your Bottom Line and Build Your Brand on Purpose.