The question every brand leader faces at a crossroads is whether the change being demanded represents an evolution of how the purpose gets delivered or a betrayal of the purpose itself. Best Buy evolved when it implemented price matching and in-home advisors. Both changes were expressions of its mission to solve the unmet needs of customers in ways that felt authentic to the brand. Neither required Best Buy to become something fundamentally different. Blockbuster betrayed its purpose when it shut down Total Access under financial pressure. The service was the most authentic expression of the brand’s mission to provide convenient entertainment access that the company had ever built, and shutting it down to protect franchisee margins put short-term financial stability ahead of the customers Blockbuster had promised to serve. The test is straightforward: if the change helps the brand deliver more fully on what it has always promised to its best customers, it is an evolution worth making. If the change requires the brand to stop being what its best customers chose it for in the first place, it is a betrayal that will cost more in the long run than any short-term pressure it relieves.
Learn how a strategic narrative gives your organization a clear North Star for every major decision.
