3 New Conversations You and Your Team Must Embrace in ‘22

New normal?? Not even close.

Every successful CEO I speak with has a new vision for their future – their personal, professional, and company future.? Entrepreneurs are largely comfortable speaking inside and outside their company on their brand, commitment to quality, customer service, and culture.

As we move in the hybrid work culture and welcome GenZ to the purchasing table, certain conversations previously found only in the marketing department are now being measured by employees and customers to determine whether they are willing to engage with us.? Here’s a high level conversation starter for the top 3 2022 game changers:???

1. Innovation Experience

Those in the startup world are nodding their heads right now.? Yes, of course, our new company wouldn’t get out of the gate without innovation and experience.? Think of those businesses that weathered the storm over the last few years.? They’ve focused on keeping the doors open – on / offline – and made it.? Phew.??

The next storm is the rethinking of everything you learned and got you this far.

Teams that are able to step away from the day-to-day to ask themselves ‘if we were going to start a competitive business to kick our butt – what would we do?’ Are the ones that will find innovative and experiential solutions with their products and their culture.? Culture “fit” defined pre-2020 is a slippery slope.? Reading a book and declaring a desired culture without the contribution of your employees – a low probability of success.? You must crowdsource the needs and desires of EACH team member – ongoing - and roll up to key collaborative vision.? If an individual’s values aren’t being served, they aren’t in the best role. ? The smart/ fresh/ innovative team members not only want or demand to contribute; your top line depends upon it.? You cannot manage the speed of change any longer, you must build and be part of teams that can surf your market wave.? Teams that love studying human dynamics, commenting on social, speaking at events, and sharing something new they discovered are priceless.? Whether your team member is in the check-out line or answering a customer service call or attending a event related to their personal life, the innovation experiences they love may point to a fresh idea you can roll out for your business.

2. ?Personalization

Personalization initially (10+ years ago) meant using a tag [first name] to fold in the email owner’s first name.? Then, the tech evolved, and it’s become a bit freaky for me to see the shoes I shopped for at a website show up in your YouTube Ad.? GenZ experienced LEGO ads next to their Barney videos from the start.? They RELY on personalization.

I stood up and clapped in my office when I received a note from an online marketplace? that said,

If you would like to opt-out of Mother’s Day promotions (as it’s not a happy moment for everyone) – let us know.*??

WOWEE – now that’s crowd-sourced personalization.? Are you tagging your customers to understand what matters to them?

Consider your constituents – employees, customers, partners.? There is a personalized conversation for each.? How many different types of employees, customers and partners do you have?? Are you marketing to the baby boomers the same way you’re marketing to GenZ?? Unlikely it’s successful.

3. Cause?

Being a business owner in 2022 is calling for you to share what YOU care about outside of the success of your business.

Cause doesn’t require joining a United Nations SDG** coalition or marching on your state capital.? Cause identifies something YOU care about beyond yourself.? It could be your family, your employees, your dog, your church, and yes, caring about climate change is a meaningful cause.??

Going to work daily to support your family may not seem comment-worthy.? When you share how grateful you are that you have a job that allows you to buy a special birthday gift your kid wished for – now that’s #GivingOutLoud.? You can share with your family (which solidifies your values to your family tribe), your friends, on or offline.? Sharing this moment with your team publicly humanizes you.

Personalizing your cause is imperative.? Posting or reposting something about poverty, for example, might be interesting to a few folks.? Sitting on the board of a nonprofit (@HerizonMusicFoundation) ensuring women in music get job opportunities, donating, and sharing videos and stories to support this cause demonstrates that I’m not only caring, I am also taking action and creating change.? This is the goal of @GivingOutLoud. Holistically, we adopt the cause ‘helping entrepreneurs Elevate Their Brand & Impact Their Cause in a very smart and relevant way.

We are all challenged by the new ‘it’ on a daily basis.? The trick is to understand which conversations to pay attention to and which to let flow by on the “new things” river.? My hope is that discussing these three topics with your team feels inspiring and becomes an ongoing conversation.

*etsy

**SDG = Sustainable Development Goals