Successful Brand U organizations develop a shared vision that reflects stakeholder values. Every Brand U organization has a vision that’s distilled into a statement of where the organization, business unit, plant, department, team or even individual Brand U’s want to go. The vision statement presents a clear future with doable and probable outcomes. The vision energizes. It’s easy to understand and identify with. It should jump-start an organization to focus on what needs to be done and can be done.
‘If you don’t know where you’re going, no path will take you there,’ goes the saying. Brand U credos, principles, and values establish the guidelines for expected and accepted behavior. A company’s vision, mission, and principles are often distilled and communicated in a credo. A credo is the written distillation of a company’s culture and vision. However, a credo alone does not guarantee product or service quality, unless it has been internalized in an organization’s culture.
Quality, value, and customer service are often integrated into the vision, mission, values, and guiding principles. Some better-known Brand U guiding principles are:
- Nike: ‘Just do it’ and ‘I can’
- Lockheed Martin: ‘Mission success’
- Forbes Magazine: ‘Capitalist tool’
- Hertz: ‘Exactly’