Business Unusual

Values, Uncertainty and the Psychology of Brand Resilience

Nathalie Nahai

• Publisher: Kogan Page
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781398602229
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Commerce
• Subtopic: Leadership

It all feels pretty overwhelming right now. People are feeling uncertain and disillusioned. How do business leaders create resilient organizations that can reassure people, deliver and truly connect with a values-driven audience, often through digital-first channels? Explore how your customers and your people demand more than business as usual. This book reveals the psychology behind how we feel about businesses, their communications and their leaders in a digital world. From understanding the new dynamics shaping online behaviour, to the evolving expectations driving employees and consumers, Business Unusual will teach you how to build a resilient business - one that is built on trust, an engaged and fulfilled workforce, and the brand values that can empower you to craft resonant communications and relationships. Join the trailblazers that are transforming how we think of, and conduct, business. With insights from cutting-edge research and real-world case studies, learn how to apply psychological frameworks and practices that can help you develop a futureproof brand that people believe in, both inside and outside the organization.

CHAPTER ONE

Times they are a-changin’

And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.

ANAÏS NIN¹

A shift in priorities

I still remember where I was when I heard the news. It was late February 2020 and, paintbrush in hand, finishing an art sabbatical in Barcelona, the whispers arrived that within 24 hours all schools would be shut and government restrictions announced. With little time to react, I bundled all the materials I could carry into a taxi and headed home to stock up on food and water. Only a month before, as word from Italy was reaching Europe, I had travelled back to London to deliver a workshop and remember, even then, the strange sensation of walking through Heathrow airport for what I suspected would be my last flight in quite some time. Making a beeline to buy hand gel (already in short supply back in Spain), I had been struck by the eerie normality of fellow passengers milling around shops, unaware of the impending chaos, and the creeping sense of dread that would colour the weeks to come, as restrictions ricocheted from one nation to the next. Despite the warnings, few were prepared as we collectively braced for impact, watching on in stunned silence as the world slowly shuttered its doors.

So what do we do when we’re knocked off our feet by a blow we never saw coming? Maybe we nurse our injuries, take stock and pick ourselves up, setting out into the world again. But when all of us take a hit? How do we recover from that? This question, in its various forms, is one we have had to grapple with since the birth of our species. Although we may long to walk through life unscathed, the reality is, of course, that existence is shot through with challenge, and while some of us may be luckier than others in what we must endure, we will all experience hardship of some kind, at some point. What governs the outcome of these stories, however, is our capacity to conjure resilience when we need it most.

Rather than numb ourselves to what is happening or march on with a stiff upper lip, resilience is about developing the psychological skills to cope with adversity, so as to gather ourselves and move forward without suffering long-term negative consequences. There are many ways in which we can increase resilience – from cultivating optimism and learning to regulate our emotions more skilfully, to reframing failure as a form of helpful feedback. Yet when it comes to resilience that spans the personal and the societal, there is one strategy in particular that is known to help us cope with even the hardest situations: consciously living according to our values. From reducing our cortisol levels (a powerful stress hormone) and stabilizing our heart rate,² to decreasing the degree to which we ruminate after failure,³ actively affirming our values can be a powerful way of buffering against the psychological and biological effects of stress (especially if we already possess a solid self-esteem).⁴

In the face of adversity, it can be all too tempting to look for the quick fix or seek avenues of temporary respite, yet research suggests that to build real and lasting resilience, we must bring our whole selves to the task. Dr Edith H Grotberg, author and founder of the International Resilience Research Project, put it beautifully when she wrote that ‘a resilient response to adversity engages the whole person, not just aspects of the person in order to face, endure, overcome and possibly be transformed’.⁵ Whether we achieve this by focusing on the values we hold dear (such as our relationships, political ideals or love of beauty), or by reflecting on a cherished skill or expertise (that talent in ceramics you’ve been nurturing), self-affirmation can help to shore up our sense of integrity and wellbeing in very real and tangible ways.

Even amongst those who have survived truly life-shattering events, we know that there are some who will find ways to thrive despite unimaginable odds. In Viktor Frankl’s powerful book Man’s Search for Meaning, he writes of his observations while interred in a concentration camp – that those prisoners who held onto a sense of greater meaning in their lives were somehow able to ‘transform a personal tragedy into a triumph, to turn one’s predicament into a human achievement’.⁶ Amidst the trauma and brutality of the Holocaust, Frankl witnessed the extraordinary capacity people have for resilience even under the most horrific conditions. Indeed, in the years since the book’s first publication in 1946, research has come to identify what we now call post-traumatic growth: those positive changes we experience as a result of grappling with deeply challenging life crises. From an increased sense of personal strength and appreciation, to more meaningful relationships and a richer internal, existential life, surviving adversity can sometimes lead to greater development and deeper wisdom.⁷

So what does this have to do with business? Well, from the perspective of human resources, we know that people who develop resilience are more likely to bounce back from adversity with greater strength and resourcefulness,⁸ a capacity that will only increase in value as we build out of this crisis and into new ways of working. Viewed through an organizational lens, resilience includes coping with disruptions to one’s structure, supply chain and business strategy, and, for brands, how one reacts to (and recovers from) attacks against the outward-facing persona of the business. While there are many ways in which to build resilience, as we shall explore throughout this book, to play from a position of strength requires that we understand and adapt to oncoming issues before they become problematic.

For instance, in the light of the intractable challenges we face today, global studies investigating the evolution of consumer behaviours reveal that there are deep and fundamental shifts unfolding in our individual priorities, within society, in our economies and beyond.⁹ From observable changes in purchasing decisions, to the ways in which people seek out and consume content they can trust, the commercial landscape is changing. It is as if someone had tapped our collective moral compass and set the needle swinging in search of a new north. Whatever is causing this sea change to arise – and there are many theories – if an organization is to thrive it must first identify the dynamics underpinning these changes, so it is better prepared to meet them.

The first great shift, as you may have sensed, is in the realm of consumer values, with firms such as EY stating that, ‘Consumer-facing companies urgently need to anticipate what kind of consumer is emerging, so they can make it through the current crisis and build the capabilities that future relevance will require.’ In a survey they conducted with just under 5,000 consumers across the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany and France, one-quarter of respondents said that they now pay more attention to what they consume and the impact it has, with one-third reporting they would reappraise what they value most and not take certain things for granted.¹⁰ This shift echoes a wider trend towards conscious consumerism, which although criticized by some as a veil for greenwashing, does reflect a real and growing concern among consumers around the impact of their product and lifestyle choices, especially as it pertains to food. When it comes to diet for instance, in the United States alone, surging interest in plant-based products has seen the value of the vegan food industry boom to US $5 billion,¹¹ with similar shifts in the UK,¹² Australia,¹³ Germany and the rest of Europe,¹⁴ heralding a global decline in meat production and consumption.¹⁵ This trend does not stand alone. Attributable to a plethora of causes, this dramatic departure in dietary preferences also parallels another: how we source our products.

Whether for reasons of sustainability, anti-globalization or a sense of renewed patriotism, the provenance of what we buy is becoming an increasingly hot topic. In a study canvassing over 100,000 people across 60+ markets,¹⁶ a whopping 65 per cent of respondents expressed they were in favour of buying goods and services that were produced within their own country, with China, Italy, South Korea and Spain championing the ‘buy local’ mantra. A further 42 per cent reported that they now pay greater attention to a product’s origin, and one in four stated they would prefer that brands bring production back to their own country (no small feat). Not only does this reflect a growing realization of the fragility of our interconnected systems, but also an understanding that resilience (whether personal, social or economic) must be grounded in the local in order to yield greater stability and longer-term success.

At a more grassroots level, we have seen a boom in people wanting to learn about how to grow their own produce, whether in a pot on a balcony, or in a community allotment or garden. While (for most of us) it is unlikely that we would ever be able to grow enough food to claim real independence from the supermarket shop, this renewed interest in self-sufficiency does speak to a desire to reconnect more directly with our food. During the COVID-19 pandemic, urban farms and emergency gardens cropped up from the Philippines¹⁷ to the United States,¹⁸ with volunteers and community groups supplying fresh produce to local food banks and charities, supporting those who were hit hardest. Whether through reclaiming unused land or repurposing existing plots, these actions enabled people to meet the needs of those who were most vulnerable, ensuring greater local resilience and building social support systems that would previously have been inconceivable.

While such projects may seem innovative (especially in more capitalist and individualist societies), these approaches are not new – in response to the European food crisis that emerged during the First World War, the US government encouraged civilians to ‘Sow the seeds of victory’ to support agriculture across the country. In 1917 alone, 3 million new garden plots were established, with a further 5.2 million planted in 1918. By the time the Second World War was over, the cultivation of 20 million post-war Victory Gardens in the United States produced an estimated 8 million tons of food, roughly equivalent to 40 per cent of all the fresh fruits and vegetables consumed in the United States alone.¹⁹ Far from being a small-scale endeavour, this humble patchwork of emergency gardens grew to such an extent that it was able to support the needs of nearly half the population.

These days, the allotments that flourish across towns and cities not only serve to support elders and communities below the poverty line, they also paint a picture of what can be achieved if we balance business priorities with the need for local food resilience. Although the crises we now face may be different to those encountered by our grandparents, the urge to shorten the distance from field to fork still speaks to our desire for security and reconnection with what sustains us. Yet while this is one example of a move towards greater sustainability, the broader trend need not be confined to the realm of mud and wellies: another sector beginning to respond to the tremors, is transport.

As the spectre of contagion continues to haunt travel at the time of writing, and calls to reduce carbon emissions grow louder, some car manufacturers are struggling to meet competing consumer needs. Take SUVs, for example – since 2010, the sale of these massive cars has accounted for 60 per cent of the increase in the global car fleet,²⁰ despite their terrible track record as the second-largest contributors to increasing global emissions since that year.²¹ With reports warning about the devastating impact such trends could have on vital climate goals, it is clear that our worldwide appetite for bigger, more polluting vehicles needs to find a less damaging expression. So how are businesses responding?

Well, this is where green technology comes in. When Ford declared in 2019 that they would be developing a hybrid-SUV in preparation for the first of several fully electric vehicles, it was welcomed by many as a step in the right direction. The optimism, however, was short-lived. When, in 2020, Ford made the announcement that they would be reviving the Bronco (an off-road SUV discontinued in 1996) without so much as a hybrid version, public backlash among certain sectors was swift and fierce. Touted by Vice magazine as ‘An Obscene Monument to Climate Denialism’,²² their article captured the growing impatience felt by many, inflaming an already heated debate centering around the US $11 billion investment expected to be made by Ford in ‘green machines’ by 2022.²³ Such headlines reflect and reveal something of the zeitgeist in which we are living, and when heads of state start announcing grand plans to replace hundreds of thousands of government vehicles with electric fleets (the likes of which iconic, gas-guzzling brands can throw their weight behind), you know that an epic change of gear is under way.^2...