The road to greatness is never easy. It’s full of twists, turns and obstacles. The journey though is worth it because it never involves violating your values or putting your team or customers at risk.
The ‘other’ road may look easier and even deliver short-term results. However, the easy road almost always ends in disaster to your brand and reputation.
But… you already know this.
So, how come it keeps happening over and over again? Look at Volkswagen. Lying and cheating 11 million customers out of value in order to what? Increase short term, bottom line performance? Now, they are faced with potentially $100 billion in damages, lawsuits, criminal investigations and long-term brand damage.
One thing I know for sure is this… There are never regrets, lawsuits and criminal investigations when you always do the right thing. As a leader, there will always be potential short cuts and opportunities to turn a ‘blind-eye’ – but you get to choose, do the right thing or the easy thing.
When it comes to having a great culture, doing the right thing means building a team aligned with values, a clear purpose and a compelling vision all the time.
When it comes to having satisfied customers, allowing your team to do the right thing and deliver more value than your customers expect, will beat your competition.
The results will be customer and brand loyalty, team engagement and long-term profit.
