Doing it your way

Two things never to forget. The value of who you are. And the value of putting in the work. No work, and the brand doesn’t mean much. No brand, and the work doesn’t mean much. If you have the time to sit and wonder, to check your email, sneak a peak at Facebook, or grab an afternoon coffee, then you have the time to deepen your brand. It’s easy to fall into a rut or leave tattered edges unattended. But if the devil is in the details, so too is salvation. A brand is a deep commitment that extends into every action you do, great and small. Not just how you take the pictures, but how you hand them over. Not just your email, but the signature in the email. Not just choosing your words, but owning them. It is truly a case of walking the walk. As my father used to say, there are no shortcuts.

And speaking of my father, I bought him a new Macbook Air for Christmas this season. I hadn’t played around with the latest Mac OS, Lion, yet, so it was the first time for me. But something was wrong. The scrolling was backwards. Normally, you put two fingers on the trackpad and pull down to scroll down. But now you push up to scroll down. It was distinctly disorienting.

Apple refers to it as natural scrolling, but I think of it as a paradigm shift. Before, it was about pulling down, because it was a metaphor for pulling the scrollbar down. With Lion, you push up, because the metaphor is no longer the scrollbar. The metaphor is direct interaction. We touch the content, like we do with our phones and tablets. I was impressed by their willingness to believe, to act on their beliefs, and to do what they felt was the best thing. To imbue their actions not just with business value, but to try to impart actual value. The need wasn’t there, but the effort was made to think different. It’s not just about moving your fingers up or down. It’s a statement about whether we interact with interfaces or content. It is a willingness to re-examine every part of what they do, and to risk change when it ain’t broke. Will it work? That I don’t know. I found it unsettling. Does the trackpad truly tie-in to the screen? Should it? Can it? Time will tell. But it’s not about the success or failure here. It’s about the depth of the effort.

We all know Kodak filed for Chapter 11. But that’s not the real story, here. The story is Fuji survived. They diversified, applying their technology in other areas, while embracing the digital sensors that Kodak pioneered. They committed to exploring new avenues and taking the lumps that go with it. They didn’t sit on their brand, fighting to preserve a dead way of life. They didn’t rely on size and presence, while ignorning the changing landscape of the photography market. And they didn’t just sit and wait, in fear of change. Instead, they dug deep, they took what they had, and the reinvented it for a new world. They supply films that coat monitors and reduce glare. Their chemicals are used in make-up. And, of course, they remain present in the competitive photography market.

And that’s what it is about brands. It’s easy to let things go. It’s easier yet never to get started. But if you ever feel that there isn’t that much of an opportunity to project your vision into the world – that you need the business first, and the values and brands will develop later – banish the thought. The two go hand-in-hand, and the opportunities abound. It’s in every little thing you do. Every habit you’ve acquired, every value you have, and every thing that appeals to you. It’s in every bit of time you use for every task you do. Inject your values into each part of your business, and they will add up to a sum total greater than the parts. They represent a belief. A faith. Values. A person. And these are things clients can get behind.