Now is not the time to wait and see what’s going to shake out in 2025.
Now is the window of opportunity to review, test and prototype ideas, knowing that what is coming ahead is entirely unpredictable.
In the military we’d call this time a period for Variable Scenario Assessments- playing out continual What If’s and preparing playbooks for the most and least likely.
For those of you feeling a sense of compromise between your personal principles and your business goals. For those who perhaps can’t help feel some sense of excitement for the business opportunities ahead of you, but a nagging concern about how the future will impact the quality of life for you, your families, and perhaps your employees and the communities within which you operate and serve. For those of you who look at the stated vision, mission, and values of the businesses you lead, and feeling personally challenged over the authenticity and application of those stated words in the weeks and months to come, we are here for you.
As much as Wall Street may welcome the next administration’s relaxation of environmental and social welfare legislation, most of us know, both in our hearts and minds, that we are now accelerating into a climate crisis, with income, nutrition, health, racial and gender inequality all about to enter a phase of accelerated collapse.
Underpinning this growing sense of unsettlement are three common excuses for leadership inertia:
Greater business purpose does not directly contribute to commercial growth.
The B-Corp community consistently dispel this myth, but still it is the Bud Light, Target, and Starbucks social media disasters which dominate mainstream media attention.
Standing for social and environmental issues risks uninvited public scrutiny.
The safest corporate brand space is the mediocrity of the middle ground. Neutrality is a safe haven for business boardrooms.
Business and personal values can co-exist in a church and state existence.
Keeping your values and principles to yourself in the office. Volunteering and donating in your personal life help temper that sense of corporate soul-selling.
But here’s the thing. In our hearts, we know these to be poor excuses. And any source of mental health trending data supports what we already know. Whatever your belief in the scale of disruption about to unleash in our country, the worst thing you can do right now is wait.
Now is the critical time to take the initiative to explore scenarios and options before they come to you.
Here are 4 steps to keep ahead of what is coming our way:
1.) Brand Audit.
Simple review of your stated vision, mission, values and behaviors to establish authenticity and relevance.
2.) Sector Values Comparison.
Analysis of your sector competitors to understand the authenticity and commitment of your competition, including opportunity spaces with mutual commercial and brand growth potential.
3.) Values Prototypes.
Explore community and environmental themes which strengthen and support brand and commercial advantage.
4.) Closed-Community Prototype Testing.
Test prototype programs with a pre-selected representative community for valuable real world commercial and community feedback.
Take the time for interrogate your vision, mission, values and behaviors now, knowing that this is time and expense saved in preparation for what we know will be more conflicted business and personal times ahead.
We are here to lead with you. With creative solutions. With optimism, And with a healthy dose of realism.
The legacy of great leaders is determined by how we lead through the most challenging of times. Now is the time to step up.
We are here to lock arms.