The Indignation Spectrum

In today's society, with deeply polarized viewpoints and 24-hour news cycles, there is ALWAYS something to be indignant about. Donald Trump. Hillary Clinton. Illegal immigration. Xenophobia. The right to protect yourself. The rise of mass gun violence. Draymond Green. LeBron James.

You can argue whether the conversations about all these divisions amount to anything more than noise, but the fact is, the conversations are happening. They are what make up the Twitterverse. They are what fill up Facebook feeds.

Unless you are a sole proprietor, it is likely that you have employees who fall all across this indignation spectrum. And that's fine -- people are entitled to their individual opinions. What you need to worry about is your brand's opinion. Who is responsible for representing your brand's opinion to the broader world? If you look at your business, it's likely every employee is responsible in some way or another, from direct customer contact to vendor relations to managing social media and communications to answering the phone and greeting people when they visit you. If you are not actively managing the point of view your brand represents, you are leaving that point of view to the judgement of all of these disparate and sometimes directly conflicting personal opinions.

Having a clear and consistent voice in the marketplace eliminates confusion about who you are. It makes it easier to find and convert the people who will become your strongest advocates and help drive your business. It should be one your highest strategic priorities.

Articulating the larger story your brand tells is a key part of helping your employees develop that clear and consistent voice for your brand. Help them understand how your brand views the world, who the heroes and villains are in your brand's story, what the essential conflict is that your brand faces, and how your brand sees itself creating a better world. When they all know these essential components of your brand's story, it makes it much easier to begin to determine how your brand should interact with the broader world -- what it should and should not post about, how it should engage with vendors, how it should treat customers...and how it should treat employees.

By the way, this does not mean you are forcing your employees to adopt your brand's point of view as their own. There is a difference between having a personal opinion and representing the brand accurately. Which, as employees, they all have a responsibility to do, even if may require them to set aside their personal opinions when they are speaking for the brand.