RETAILOBSERVER.COM APRIL 2019
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I
've been a life-long admirer of the Nobel Prize and many of its
honorees. Starting in elementary school when I first learned
about Albert Einstein, I've been curious about these
distinguished Nobel laureates and their impact on the world.
The Nobel Prize is given annually in several categories to
award winners who have created "the greatest benefit to
mankind." Through the decades that I've continued to learn
about each year's winners, one truism has stood out: all of the
Nobel Laureates are risk-takers and adventurers. These people
stand apart because they've believed in or theorized something
extraordinary that has brought clear benefits for mankind.
"Nothing ventured, nothing gained." Chaucer first said it 700
years ago, and it's every bit as true today for our brands and
businesses as it is in science, literature, economics and peace.
If you and your brand want to create and capture more value,
more attention, and more customers, you need to tread into
uncharted territory and take more risks.
Stand-alone beliefs — The world's risk-takers are believers
and theorists, not only because they base their actions on a
theory of risk-taking, but because they deeply understand the
nature of risk. Peter Drucker said:
"All human institutions since the dawn of prehistory or earlier
have always been designed to prevent change: family, government,
church, army. Change has always been a catastrophic threat to
human security. But in the business enterprise we have an
institution that is designed to create change. It means that every
business, to survive, must strive to innovate."
Drucker explains, "All profits are derived from risk." He makes
a case that it's only through profit that a company can cover its
potential losses – and this is done by innovating. This is why the
most groundbreaking brands are usually the most profitable –
because they profit from taking risks. And more profit permits
more risk-taking. Through this "virtuous cycle" the risk-to-profit
cycle accelerates. The more a company stands on its belief in
benefitting its customers through innovation, the more both the
brand and the customer will be rewarded. Thus, your brand's
beliefs ultimately predict its future path, including but not limited
to its odds of achieving exceptional profits.
Steven Morris On Brand
THE WORLD'S BEST BRANDS
ARE DRIVEN BY BELIEFS
