Leadership And Intent
What’s Your Company’s Narrative?
Howard Schultz, the CEO of Starbucks posted an open letter — which I discovered as a full-page ad in the New York Times. Whatever you think of gun issues in this country, you’ve got to admire a guy who sticks to his guns (pun intended), even when it may mean losing sales.
While companies attaching themselves to the topic du jour is nothing new, you can usually tell when it’s opportunistic vs. when it’s really part of who they are. I don’t think Schultz is being opportunistic here, because he is taking a stand and willing to invite criticism and potential loss of sales in order to retain and hold onto what the brand stands for. (Just check out the comments if you don’t believe me; the fact that they didn’t turn off comments also says something).
From the beginning, our vision at Starbucks has been to create a “third place” between home and work where people can come together to enjoy the peace and pleasure of coffee and community. Our values have always centered on building community rather than dividing people, and our stores exist to give every customer a safe and comfortable respite from the concerns of daily life.
He’s not taking a stand for or against the issue, he’s taking a stand against the brand and its employees becoming unwilling participants. That’s admirable.
Why do I bring this up?
Because actions like these aren’t meaningful when considered on their own — but they are when they are a part of a narrative. I’ve been thinking about the notion of narratives quite a bit, inspired by John Hagel. A narrative isn’t what you say, it’s what you do, and how you invite others to participate with you. — it’s not finite or prescriptive, he says.
… Narratives are open-ended. They don’t have resolution. There is something that is in the process of unfolding. The end is yet to be determined. And second, there’s an invitation to all of us to participate in that narrative, to help determine what the outcome is going to be.
A company’s narrative isn’t a shiny brochure carefully crafted by PR and marketing, it’s not responding to current events in order to stay relevant — rather, it’s helping people understand its position relative to those events, and helping them formulate their own. A company’s narrative is essentially an externalization a company’s culture — the culture that helps each and every employee know what to do when no one is looking. Because what you do when no one is looking is inspired by leaders like Howard Schultz who take a stand when everyone is looking. That’s leadership; leadership with intent. Intent is everything.
Does what you do add up to your narrative or do you chase every trend? What is your narrative?
