Innovate with your brand purpose in mind

Lately, I've been going back and forth with the idea of sticking to your brand and not deviating, versus innovating and seeking any and all opportunities. I don't believe either point of view is the way to go. If the organization is too focused on not deviating from its brand, it may miss out on opportunities that could help satisfy its brand purpose. And if the organization is too busy chasing any and all opportunities with no framework, the organization won't make meaning, as it will be too distracted by the next 'cool' thing. Rather, it's a combination of the two that you want to achieve.

Use the brand purpose as the guiding beacon, but always remember growth is an iterative process, which requires the organization to try many things - only keeping the initiatives that are successful AND uphold the organization's core ideology. In Built to Last, it mentioned that Jack Welch believed in setting only a few clear, overarching goals. Then on an ad hoc basis, his people were free to seize any opportunities they saw furthered those goals. In the book, Jim Collins refers to this as planful opportunism. I love this term as it describes the middle ground perfectly - achieving innovative opportunities while driving towards the brand purpose!!

In essence, the brand purpose is why the organization is in business (to make meaning), and, based on that purpose, the organization sets grand audacious goals, which ensures everyone in the organization is striving towards the brand purpose! But the details in how to accomplish those goals are determined along the way. If the path to accomplish these goals were mapped out, it would inevitably change due to market variations, new opportunities, etc. setting the employees up for a complete let down. Additionally, they would miss out on exciting possibilities  because the organization would be so focused on the details that it would forget about the grand audacious goal.

3M has done an amazing job at maintaining its brand purpose while continually innovating new and exciting products. 3M's brand purpose is to Solve Problems. It satisfies its purpose through innovation - focused innovation. 3M has two criteria when selecting and assessing new innovations it plans to invest in:

1. the innovation has to be new to the market
2. it needs to solve a real human problem that presently exists

If the idea meets these criteria, employees are free to experiment, and 3M makes that possible with various programs, awards, etc. which encourages innovation. Like Google, 3M has the '15% Rule' to allow employees to explore their interests & curiosity. It was with this '15% Rule' where Spence Silver was able to accidentally invent the special adhesive for the Post-it, when all the literature at the time said it was not possible! If it was not for 3M's dedication to solving problems and having the infrastructure to allow employees the freedom to innovate, the wildly successful Post-it would not have come about, nor would have Scotch Tape and various other 3M products!

So, it's important to have both a brand purpose and a desire for innovation - just ensure they support each other!