A Journal of my Journey — An Entry on Brand Culture
By: M. Nash Suleiman
Tags: Teamwork, Corporate Culture, Brands, Journal, Growth

A Journal of my Journey — An Entry on Brand Culture

Logs Introduction

Log #1 A Journal of my Journey — An Entry on Interviews

Log #2 (you have arrived)

The Digest (if you have other stuff to catch on to)

A Band Culture is ultimately the organisational behaviour of all its management, employees, policies, communication, production, pricing…etc. It’s the brand journey of the customer, employee, and stakeholders.

Yes, how we price our service/product should be aligned with our lunch hour policy, as well as the paid maternity leave.

Statements don’t make cultures, on the contrary; daily decisions, engagements, and behaviour dictate cultures. It is rare you can change an existing culture, bur rather you try to shape what you have.

Google’s “make no evil” is also something the devil himself would say at the beginning of a meeting. It up to the practice of each individual to hold this is true or false.

Employees’ engagement and alignment to the brand culture is a key factor in the success of the culture.

When P&G expanded into new European territories in underdeveloped markets (relative to the US) Their sales and marketing teams established programs to help retailers and chains to benefit from P&G previous experience.

Grab a coffee, let us have a conversation if you have time

Let me prefix the whole piece with a couple of sentences: I am at peace knowing that everything I know might be proven wrong one day with better people along the way. Yet if someone, one day, comes and proves that the organisational/brand culture factor was overrated, I will be really, really pissed off.

In the last 15 years of my career, I experienced employment in 2 different businesses. Both companies are different in various aspects:

El Hacb, let us call it The Team A:

I spent around 5 years (2008–2012)

A medium-size company selling tech and IT products + service + solutions.

Traditional organisational and business model

I was involved in operation, sales, and marketing.

PenguinCube, let us call it Team B:

I spent close to 10 years before I’ve recently resigned (2012–2021)

A small size company that offers design services and consultations.

Flat structure with an agile model

I was involved in business, brand, sales

My experience with what organisational culture is, and what value it holds internally and externally was a gradual process. I have witnessed both types of engagements, the ones that bettered the culture overall, and the ones that harmed by committing them. Away from any personal pride or shame, I was on multiple occasions directly responsible for both.

Yeah although we are not billing for this item, it should be included.

This is probably among the earlier moments where I have witnessed what the brand culture is within my Team B. After my few rounds of negotiations in which we got commissioned a project, I was to brief the assigned internal team about the deliverables and details of the project. It was then when noted the Art Director adding certain items to the deliverables not included in the project initial brief, so that the project manager and the team can account for them. I vividly remember the conversation with the Art Director right after the meeting, in which she answered: “ what is agreed upon on the commercial side of the project is very clear. It is only some bits that might not be important to the person who was speaking to you (client), yet for the overall quality of the project, these are essential for a long term value. What stuck with me that day was two acts:

The Art Director’s intuitive decision to include the extra item(s), and quickly debating with the PM how they can be included within the timeline.

The unquestioning reaction from every team member on that table. The inclusion of the non-requeseted deliverables was as natural as the deliverables themselves.

Why was this valuable to note

When a team takes in the culture and makes it their own, it manifests itself in every decision, and every task we undertake. Policies and documentation are important as they set the guidelines, but the practice is never this rigid nor linear. A team that evaluates the decisions based on the their shared culture, value and promise, is a team you can trust to present the business truthfully, internally and externally.

I expect everyone to hold more value than they assume they deserve.

This was the feedback I received during my first year with Team A. It was a conversation with me inquiring about a policy I noticed in the company HR procedures, as I was putting together my sales team. The policy tied some pay raise and bonuses to knowledge advancements. In short, if one gets certified with a certain program or undertakes a technical course successfully, they are eligible for a pay raise or a bonus. This is not innovative, as it is a common practice in this industry. What set it apart for me was knowing who is included in this policy; Everyone, not just the sales and the engineers. When I first had the conversation with my CEO back then, his response was: “The delivery and the warehouse teams are moving boxes from point A to B, true, but these boxes hold value to a client. The people moving this box should also have more value than what they assumes their capabilities are.” A colleague of mine used to always remind new recruits; our least tech-savvy truck driver holds two Microsoft certificates.

Why was this valuable to note

First and foremost it carved the leadership approach to its employees. As important as the value proposition to the consumer, the value proposition to the employee is equally important. If anything, the value perceived in the market for any brand is delayed results of actions taken internally. Secondly, it is an extra layer of value to the consumer, they might not be recognised instantly, but once it does.

It was a gradual process. Tons of successful highlights here and there. Failures were part of it.

In retrospect, I know now we failed within Team A to extend that in our pricing policies. We prioritised profit-based decision over value-based decision. The culture didn’t creep into our sales team meetings, it kept a considerable distance so it doesn’t interfere with our profit-centric decisions. Our benchmark had two metrics; profit and margin. We valued winning answers and decisions based on the outcome of those metrics. This in turn created a web of new cultural fabrics for some units. The sales team for example had the monthly sales statement as their only value driver. As leadership units, we encouraged this mentality. I personally installed a whiteboard that had one metric next to each person’s name, how much is the $ equivalent of the boxes you sold this week. I single handedly broadcasted to everyone in the company, this is why we come to work in the morning.

In Team B, we once ventured an internal unit into a side an exciting gbusiness experiment. In retrospect, even with over a decade and a half of experiencing the value of our culture, improving it, and protecting it, we built a model where we valued outputs over results. In times of challenges and frustrations our culture and beliefs are put to the test, and we fail them, we fail ourselves. As leadership unit, we comprised when we pivoted our mentality to: It is not as important you believe on why we are doing this, as much as you agree on doing it. These moments are tipping points, tiny in impact at the moment, but they set a course for the future. I personally overlooked moments, in full conscious, during team meetings when the final feedback in a debate was: Fine, I don’t care, if this is what you want. I failed myself every time I said that, and I failed my team everytime I overlooked them saying it.

Let me pay for your coffee

Another bit I will always take with me anywhere I go, is how responsibilities and trusts are defined in good organisation cultures. They are interchangeable in most fascinating way. During my time with Team B, I witnessed the business founder, on more counts than I can remember, proving to everyone he is there to succeed with us, not off us. I experienced how a team member will pretend they have nothing to do on weekends, so they can help another with their deadline. We had no ladder to climb, or a status to claim within the team. If one wants to climb to the next plaftorm, it wasn’t because we wanted to be the first, it was purely because we knew once we are up we can reach down and give a helping hand to the rest. Good cultures are not easy to come by, but they do, give it more than it gives you.