The managing editor of Bloomberg Politics, Mark Halperin, suggested during a conversation the other day on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that Hillary Clinton lacked “a big strategic vision on how to deal with the world.”  Same for President Obama.  Both, he observed, tend to look on the world episodically rather than strategically:

“We’re still dealing with the fallout of the end of the Cold War. We’re still dealing with the fallout of a post-9/11 world. And I think a lot of people are able to question (Mrs. Clinton's) role in the president’s record on the question of where is the grand strategy? Where is the vision of how to take America into a situation where we’re not dealing episodically with lots of crises without an overall sense of how to bring things together?”

Where is the vision, indeed! 

How do we “position” ourselves in the world?   How do we want to be perceived – generally and in light of tectonic shifts in geo-politics?  Where are we going?  How will we get there?   And how does all this impact my world, my country and me? 

The political parties and their presidential aspirants could do well to figure that out.

“The vision thing,” as George H. W. Bush famously called it back in 1987, has tripped up many a politician – and business leader.  Vision is not something you brainstorm for a couple of hours during a weekend retreat, tack on the office wall and forget about (although I have seen that happen many a time).  A well-grounded vision should arise from the core of your business with the vigor of Jack’s beanstalk because it wraps competency, focus and future into a single commanding insight about who you are and what you bring to the world.  Vision fuses who you are with what you want to become.  It propels you into tomorrow and next year and the year after that -- whether company or country. Decisions no longer get made piecemeal but are considered within the context of a well understood, well accepted and forward-looking strategic framework.

My definition of vision is a dream with a goal.

Too simple?  Vision is simple.  Making vision complicated is make-work.  And a disservice to your organization and the people who will help imagine and fashion your future.

All too often, however, we give little more than lip service to vision.  As Halperin noted, we react episodically.  We may solve some immediate problem with clever footwork but, in the long run, not get much more than a rim shot in return.   

The Obama administration appears to lack vision.  The president and his frequently flying secretary of state seem to react to foreign policy situations while fostering the impression of acting deliberately.  It seems true in their Middle East decision-making and when dealing with the seemingly indomitable Mr. Putin -- unless, of course, the administration’s actions are being guided by a strategy that simply isn’t apparent to the rest of us.  Either way, the perceived result is the same: geo-political muddle.

Our leaders do the country a disservice by not connecting the dots, by refusing (or neglecting) to meld the people’s dreams and goals into a clear and compelling vision, whether they’re talking about “rebuilding the middle class” or how government plays out its foreign policy on their behalf.  Historian and diplomat George F. Kennan once stated that, as an agent of the people (but not a principal unto itself), the primary obligation of government is to the “interests of the national society it represents … military security, the integrity of its political life and the well-being of its people.”    

Considered in that light, is it clear that President Obama has a vision for America – for all Americans?  Is he serving the interests of the national society he represents?  Or is he working his own agenda?  And are we in for more of the same if the Democrats’ leading contender is elected president in 2016?

On CNN this weekend, geo-political commentator and author Fareed Zakaria asked Hillary Clinton about the upcoming presidential campaign, to which she responded, in part, with her view about visioning:  

“Every election is sui generis.  I think it starts with where we are in the country at this time, with what Americans are thinking, feeling and hoping, and it proceeds from there.  And it is always about the future.  …  The questions for somebody running for president are not, you know, will you run and can you win … you have an election, not about a candidate, but you have an election about an agenda.”

The comment suggests that one day Mrs. Clinton actually may come up with a vision that helps the American people discern whether her view of our country and its place in the world earns their vote.  Meanwhile, even NPR national political correspondent Mara Liasson says that Hillary lacks “a big idea.”  Clinton’s early-bet, very liberal opponent, Elizabeth Warren (who says she’s not running in the primary), already has posted a list of 11 Progressive Commandments that leaves no doubt about her vision for the country, at least regarding domestic issues.  I admire her specificity if not her politics.

What about your business?  Do you have a vision?  Does it reflect your present and illuminate your future?  

• Perhaps your business strategy is concerned with protecting what you’ve already built.   
• Maybe your company banks on its ability to respond with agility to present and emerging customer needs – faster and with greater innovation than its competitors.  
• Or you’re a groundbreaker, with that rare ability to see beyond the horizon, make new things happen and change the world. 

In each case, your business should be guided by a strategic vision that your people understand and buy into, a vision that reflects both its dream for the future and a concrete goal somewhere out there in time.  Proverbs 29:18 (KJV) says “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” They also are apt to react to situations episodically (interestingly, a more up-to-date translation of the Proverbs verse suggests that things tend to fall apart without having first acceded to God’s guidance). 

Content © by Brian E. Faulkner

Tags: vision, strategic vision, Bloomberg Politics, Mark Halperin, Hillary Clinton, Morning Joe, President Obama, Cold War, George H. W. Bush, George F. Kennan, Fareed Zakaria, Elizabeth Warren, 11 Progressive Commandments, Proverbs 29:18  

Brian Faulkner is a content writer and Key Message expert.  He helps clients come up with words to set their businesses, brands and products apart and attract the customers they want most.  His strategic insights, and the words that go with them, have made a significant, often immediate difference for client companies over many years.  His "sweet spot" is smaller to moderate sized consumer products, retail, service and manufacturing companies that may have struggled to find just the right words to position their business, brands or products to competitive advantage:

>  blogs to establish you as the thought leader / authority in your business category
>  case stories that communicate your sales successes and invite prospect inquiry
>  testimonials that showcase customer / client satisfaction in 1-2 short sentences
>  positioning statements to guide business development & marketing
>  landing page copy to set your business or brand apart in a compelling way
>  tagline development to attract the interest of your most qualified prospects

Brian also is a three-time Emmy award-winning Public Television writer / narrator and is principal writer and narrator of UNC-TV’s popular "Our State" magazine series, on the air since 2003.  His distinctive sound has been heard on many hundreds of radio spots and client videos since the 1970s.  People say he has a “Mercedes voice” and sounds a bit like Charles Kuralt, which Brian considers a welcome ... but happy ... illusion.

A Southwest Airlines gate agent apparently has transformed a customer service opportunity into a social-media fueled pie-in-the-face moment, according to a WCCO (Minneapolis) story.

The incident reportedly happened in Dallas when a passenger attempted to board his flight early (as was his privilege as an A-List Southwest flyer), only with his two young children in tow.  The gate agent wouldn’t allow the children to board with him, saying they’d have to wait and board later.

Step 1:  The gate agent could have instantly created a happy customer by allowing the trio to board early, thus upholding Southwest Airlines’ reputation for first class customer service.  I can’t imagine Southwest people being that rule bound.

Step 2:  The passenger threatened to Tweet about the “rude” agent, which he did after eventually boarding the plane with his two kids. 

Step 3:  The situation then went from bad to worse after the agent saw the Tweet: the Airline then threatened to remove the family from the plane.   

Step 4:  The person who asked them to get off the plane (presumably the gate agent) threatened to call the cops. 

Step 5:  The children began crying, and the family left the plane.

Step 6:  The Airline said they could get back on the plane if the passenger deleted his Tweet.

Step 7:  He did.  And they flew on to Minneapolis along with the other passengers, who must have wondered what bad stuff had come down around a dad and his two kids.

Step 8:   Back home, the passenger contacted WCCO, where an Emmy-winning reporter knew a good story when she heard one and ran with it.

Step 9:  Southwest apologized to the passenger via email and gave him three $50 vouchers for future flights, which likely never will be redeemed because he says he won’t fly Southwest again.

Step 10:  Some number of other would-be passengers also will decide not to fly Southwest because bad news always travels faster and farther than good news.

It may be that the gate agent was tired and hassled at the moment she made her choice to bar the children from boarding early.  But then she compounded her poor decision by making further unwise demands of the A-List passenger and his children.  So be it.   But, as those of us who fly with any regularity know, the moment airlines should be prepared to shine most is when the going gets tough. 

Because anybody can come up a smile on a blue-sky day.

TakeAway:  No matter how diligently a business works to create (and communicate) competitive advantage based on superior service, it all can come crashing down in a moment if your people don’t live that truth every day.

Tags:  Southwest Airlines, customer service, WCCO

Content © by Brian E. Faulkner

Brian Faulkner is a content writer and Key Message expert.  He helps clients come up with words to set their businesses, brands and products apart and attract the customers they want most.  His strategic insights, and the words that go with them, have made a significant, often immediate difference for client companies over many years.  His "sweet spot" is smaller to moderate sized consumer products, retail, service and manufacturing companies that may have struggled to find just the right words to position their business, brands or products to competitive advantage:

>  blogs to establish you as the knowledge source / authority in your business category
>  case stories that communicate your sales successes and invite prospect inquiry
>  testimonials that showcase customer / client satisfaction in 1-2 short sentences
>  positioning statements to guide business development & marketing
>  landing page copy to set your business or brand apart in a compelling way
>  tagline development to attract the interest of your most qualified prospects

Brian also is a three-time Emmy award-winning Public Television writer / narrator and is principal writer and narrator of UNC-TV’s popular "Our State" magazine series, on the air since 2003.  His distinctive sound has been heard on many hundreds of radio spots and client videos since the 1970s.  People say he has a “Mercedes voice” and sounds a bit like Charles Kuralt, which Brian considers a welcome ... but happy ... illusion.

Without its hole, a donut is an undifferentiated mass of dough (limiting discussion, of course, to the ring-shaped donut variety). Likewise, without meaningful values and clear purpose at its center, a company can be an undifferentiated mass of people working for no clear purpose.  It may even be undifferentiated from its competitors.

Values and purpose combine to create mission.  Values are the common beliefs that knit a culture together, whether country, church, non-profit, or business – the U.S. Marines are a fabulous example.  Purpose is the “product” people create together plus the difference it makes in the marketplace (or on the battlefield).  

People Make The Difference.

One of business leadership’s key challenges today is to increase the productivity of its human resources, to give people a new vision of themselves -- and their potential -- while maximizing their combined contribution.  Values are the qualities that meld people into a team.  They help make success happen.  It’s the cultural part of “work” that gets folks up in the morning and charges their batteries.

As Adam Smith suggested over 200 years ago, it is the participation of individuals working in their own and the collective self-interest that makes capitalism work so well.  At its best, capitalism creates personal freedom as well as profits and seems to work most effectively for both people and businesses when there is a comfortable convergence of personal and business goals.  What gives meaning to forging tools or making T-shirts?  Or to a non-profit cause?  Realization that the collective purpose is worthwhile.  Herbert Hoover called it a “lifting purpose.”  

Most people don’t want to just work.  They want to contribute; they want to be part of something.  It’s eye-opening to realize, even today, that work often has nothing to do with “real” life.  All too many of us live for the weekend and count the days ‘til vacation time rolls around.

If the unproductive and uninspired workers in our country -- never mind an unfortunate percentage of students in our schools -- could be given hope, could be empowered to contribute beyond the ordinary, beyond the constraints of their “jobs”, the productivity transformation within America could be incredible.

I have seen companies with strong, can-do manufacturing cultures and weak management but seldom the reverse.   I have seen retailers selling great brands who have created (or allowed) a depressing, discouraging atmosphere for their people to work in but also great cultures where people have worked together to transform a good brand into a great one.  

I also have seen retailers who sell essentially the same mix of products as their competitors but set themselves apart by hiring people who care, aren’t shy about showing it and who are given the freedom to make service decisions at the customer contact level.   Robin, the young woman who used to answer the phone for one of my clients years ago, always made a positive impression.  Her upbeat attitude and willingness to serve reflected the attitude of her company's management, their manufacturing excellence and their product superiority. In contrast, companies that choose to have a machine answer their phone communicate the opposite message:  “We don’t care enough to put our very best people on the business end of your inquiry, so your call is not really all that important to us.”

In conclusion, values and purpose are intimately connected in an organization’s mission.   Values is the why part, the reason people come to work charged up about their potential contribution.  Purpose is the product part, whether a manufactured item, a variety of essentially off-the-shelf components integrated into something new or selling things like smart phones or cars, groceries, medical supplies or personal services.  It includes everything that makes success happen, from strategy to marketing to customer /client contact to manufacturing and those all-important support functions that keep things running smoothly. 

People who are energized about coming to work every day create great products and provide great service, competitive qualities your present and future customers or clients won’t be able to find anywhere else.

TakeAway:  Take a look at your mission through the business donut hole.  Do you see a team looking back at you that cares deeply about your products and customers and has the freedom and energy to help you create a future charged with success?

Content © by Brian E. Faulkner

You’re sitting in a restaurant munching on a burrito -- dining alone.  You don’t have anything to read, so your thoughts wander. 

Maybe you think of something you have to do later that day – or think about the someone with whom you plan to do whatever you're going to do later.   You trace a letter on your drink cup’s condensation.  

Then a thought stirs to life …

That’s what happened to author Johanthan Safron Foer (Eating Animals) one day while enjoying a meal at Chipotle Mexican Grill.   

An idea was born – and he emailed Chipotle’s CEO about it:

“I bet (that some of the people who) go into your restaurants every day … have very similar experiences, and even if they didn’t have that negative experience, they could have a positive experience if they had access to some kind of interesting text,” Foer related to Vanity Fair’s VF Daily online column, quoting his email.  “So I said, ‘Wouldn’t it be cool to just put some interesting stuff on (your cups)?  Get really high-quality writers of different kinds, creating texts of different kinds that you just give to your customers as a service.’”

CEO Steve Ells bought the idea.  High quality writers were solicited (10 out of 50 said yes).  And Chipotle’s new Cultivating Thoughts cups now stimulate their guests with a variety of short essays, fiction and comedy by authors the like of Safran Foer, Malcom Gladwell, Toni Morrison and Sarah Silverman.

The idea was one of those intuitive flashes we all get from time to time, only Safran Foer did something with his.  And what pleases him most is “800,000 Americans of extremely diverse backgrounds having access to good writing,” many of whom don’t have access to libraries, or bookstores.

The project was launched in May and is said to reach a million people per day in the 40 states where Chipotle has restaurants.  But the jury’s still out on what impact it may have on the chain’s brand perception and business.  Some say the highbrow writing is a mismatch to Chipotle’s demographic (give people credit for having a brain, eh?), although the chain is known for producing content that "aims to change the way people think about and eat fast food,” according to Mark Crumpacker, Chipotle’s chief marketing and development officer.  There's also a fair amount of angst being expressed online because not one of the first ten writers selected was Mexican. 

All in all, Cultivating Thoughts seems a splendid idea that’s bound to be taken up elsewhere with different writers and ideas.   

Stories anyone?

TakeAway:  Don’t let those sudden inspirations slip away.  The idea you have today may be your marketing success tomorrow.

Tags:  Chipotle Mexican Grill

Brian Faulkner is a content writer and Key Message expert.  He helps clients come up with words to set their businesses, brands and products apart and attract the customers they want most.  His strategic insights, and the words that go with them, have made a significant, often immediate difference for client companies over many years.  His "sweet spot" is smaller to moderate sized consumer products, retail, service and manufacturing companies that may have struggled to find just the right words to position their business, brands or products to competitive advantage:

>  blogs to establish you as the knowledge source / authority in your business category
>  case stories that communicate your sales successes and invite prospect inquiry
>  testimonials that showcase customer / client satisfaction in 1-2 short sentences
>  positioning statements to guide business development & marketing
>  landing page copy to set your business or brand apart in a compelling way
>  tagline development to attract the interest of your most qualified prospects

Brian also is a three-time Emmy award winning Public Television writer and narrator of UNC-TV’s popular Our State magazine series, on the air since 2003.  

Pianos, especially grand pianos, have the misfortune to all look pretty much alike.  From ten feet away, it’s hard for most of us to tell the difference between one black grand and the next black grand.   The relatively uniform look from one instrument to another is what prompts makers like Steinway and Yamaha to emblazon their names on the sides of their concert pianos in very large letters, hoping that the audience’s eyes – not to mention TV cameras – will linger there a little longer.

Go to a piano store and lift the lid on a grand of any size. Unless you are a true piano aficionado, for whom even the slightest difference between instruments can be an endless source of amazement and delight, you will find a golden plate (or harp) crisscrossed by an array of bronze and silver colored strings contained within a hefty case that makes that instrument look a lot like the one next to it. However, pianos are anything but alike in tone and touch, the primary criteria pianists use to evaluate the world’s best instruments – mostly hand-crafted in Europe but also including two premier quality holdovers from piano’s so-called golden age in the U.S., Steinway & Sons and Mason & Hamlin.  

Even so, top-tier piano makers typically describe their products in technical rather than tactile terms. Surprisingly, hardly any differentiate their instruments by their tonal palette.   

“To most piano buyers and owners,” writes Larry Fine in his publication, The Acoustical and Digital Piano Buyer, “a piano's tone is probably its most important aspect, but also the most difficult to quantify or describe.”

“There’s only so much that words can say about piano sound,” agrees Eric Johnson, a Registered Piano Technician and piano industry veteran with an MBA from Cornell who has prepped and tuned pianos for “some really great pianist in some really great concert halls,” including Carnegie, Avery Fischer, Alice Tully, Detroit, Chicago, LA, and San Francisco.   (http://www.ericjohnsonpianos.com/ )

“Differentiating one piano from another is a tough thing,” he says, “which is why copywriters so often fall back on design and build processes and brand history.”

So how do piano makers communicate their performance difference?  Mostly they don’t, knowing that playing and listening to pianos is largely a subjective experience.  They’re confident enough in their products to leave praise about tone and touch to the players of their instruments, people who are not shy with their opinions and likely will have gone through an exhaustive audition process before selecting their piano.  The makers then reflect the experience of these brand advocates back to the marketplace, where future buyers will read or hear the accolades.

But words mean different things to different people.

“You can say one piano is bright and another is warm, one is powerful, another is lyrical,” notes Johnson.  “But that distinction is made in the mind of the player.  I see that every time somebody tries to describe some uniquely personal combination of tone and touch they want me to coax from their instrument.”

Of course, people purchase pianos for many reasons, including exotic veneers, intricate decorative work and prestige names.  But the deep difference between instruments truly becomes apparent when their 12-thousand or so parts begin to make music together. Until that happens, even the most lauded piano is just an expensive piece of furniture.  

The artists who make the music aren’t likely to mention how their piano’s hammers are made or point out whether the bridge cap grain runs vertically or horizontally.  But they can close their eyes and know what their piano sounds like.  They can hear it in their dreams … sometimes even before they find that “perfect piano.”

“It is uniqueness that I seek,” says acclaimed classical artist Valentina Lisitsa in praise of Vienna's famed Bösendorfer.  “Bösendorfer gives me a unique voice, unique palette of musical colors, unique tools to achieve my vision.”

Larry Fine describes Bösendorfer in more prosaic terms:  “Perhaps the world's most expensive piano inch for inch, Bösendorfer grands make an eloquent case for their prices. They are distinctive in both appearance and sound, and are considered to be among the finest pianos in the world.”

Emanuel Ax says this in praise of Steinway & Sons: "When one plays a Steinway, there is a warmth and nobility in the sound that is unequalled by any other instrument."

And here’s Fine’s take:  “Steinway pianos at their best have the quintessential American piano sound: a powerful bass, a resonant midrange, and a singing treble with plenty of tonal color. Although other brands have some of these characteristics, it is perhaps the particular combination of harmonics that comprise the Steinway's tonal coloration that, more than anything else, distinguishes it from other brands and gives it its richness, depth, and power.”

What is the marketplace saying about your business, brand, product or service?  

    > Do your customers or clients sing your praises?

    > Does what they have to say enhance or conflict with what you communicate in your tagline, marketing
       materials, advertising, positioning / capabilities videos and sales conversations?    

    > Do their words prompt others to want what you have, to experience your product’s performance for
       themselves? 

If you don’t know the answers to these questions, take a note from the world of high performance pianos -- and start listening.

TakeAway:  Customers can be your best brand advocates.  So can the people who write articles that your best prospects will read.  

Tags:  Steinway & Sons, Yamaha, Mason & Hamlin, Bosendorfer, Eric Johnson, Registered Piano Technician, Larry Fine, The Acoustical and Digital Piano Buyer, Valentina Lisitsa, Emanuel Ax

Content © by Brian E. Faulkner

Brian Faulkner is a content writer and Key Message expert.  He helps clients come up with words to set their businesses, brands and products apart and attract the customers they want most.  His strategic insights and the words that go with them have made a significant, often immediate difference for client companies over many years.  His "sweet spot" is smaller to moderate sized consumer products, retail, service and manufacturing companies that may have struggled to find just the right words to position their business, brands or products to competitive advantage:

>  blogs to establish you as the knowledge source / authority in your business category
>  case stories that communicate your sales successes and invite prospect inquiry
>  testimonials that showcase customer / client satisfaction in 1-2 short sentences
>  positioning statements to guide business development & marketing
>  landing page copy to set your business or brand apart in a compelling way
>  tagline development to attract the interest of your most qualified prospects

Brian also is a three-time Emmy award winning Public Television writer and narrator of UNC-TV’s popular "Our State" magazine series, on the air since 2003.  His distinctive sound has been heard on many hundreds of radio spots and client videos since the 1970s.  People say he has a "Mercedes voice" and sounds a bit like Charles Kuralt, which Brian considers a welcome ... but happy ... illusion.