Corporate and Brand Purpose
Service Summary
The development, delivery and embedding of a clear and compelling corporate purpose that aligns with the primary activities of the firm.
Typical Benefits
Leadership everywhere is wrestling with a key requirement that crystallised when Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock, famously announced a couple of years ago that the world’s largest asset manager would, from here on, be looking to all investments to demonstrate – and manage their business through – a clear and meaningful purpose. This has since – along with digital transformation – been widely misinterpreted and misunderstood.
Since that time, I have guided the leadership of three major firms – RBS, Mundipharma, and lastminute.com – in their search for a corporate purpose. Particular and common confusions have been the mistaking of brand purpose for corporate purpose (the two are linked but not synonymous), and more concerningly, the assumption that such ostensibly beneficent programmes as, for example, CSR, corporate philanthropy, and cause-related marketing constitute valid purpose initiatives.
I have also, in 2020, researched and published a substantial and well received white paper, “Greater Expectations”, which explores and explains for leadership the do’s and don’ts of building, communicating and enacting a real corporate purpose.
Overview
The programme launches with a robust, ground-up, outside-in approach that speaks to the changing dynamics of the client’s sector, its unique current and planned responses, and how these elements combine to create a credible and defensible platform for the purpose. The balancing of the value that the firm creates for its stakeholders, and the costs to society and environment of the delivery of the associated products and/or services, is the core philosophy that drives the work.
Following a brief period of external fact-finding, the development work cycles across four to eight weeks, with regular briefing sessions with key members of the leadership team, interspersed with offsite strategic thought to work through the implications, returning with a series of breakthrough observations, insights and proposed directions.
Our Requirements of You
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* Ensuring an executive sponsor from your organisation is allocated to the engagement, communicates the rationale behind it and signs off any ‘Terms of Reference’.
* Assisting in all possible ways to ensure that a contract, (and confidentiality agreement where necessary) is in place, in advance of any work commencing.
* Ensuring all support is in place and access is granted for all and any required data, processes, policies, meeting rooms and nominated resources to enable successful delivery of the engagement.
* Ensuring sponsor availability within the agreed timeline, to resolve any significant issues that may impact the timely completion of the engagement, if not resolved in a timely manner.
Our Commitments to You
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* Provide support throughout service delivery using our World Class Professionals and Subject Matter Experts.
* Provide high quality deliverables in a timely manner and in line with agreements upon engagement with the client. (Any changes to this will be mutually agreed in writing, in advance, between all involved parties).
* Provide deep insights and genuine value-add in all possible areas throughout the engagement.
* Provide progress updates and feedback at regular intervals, agreed in advance or at the engagement ‘kick off session’.
* Respect all personal and professional development of client team members throughout the engagement.
Deliverables
Where traditional consultancies and agencies would require substantial investment of time and budget – and also management focus – in costly, extensive fact-finding and workshops, this more agile process progresses quickly and energetically to create early wins, consensus and impacts.
The currency of success is the creation of shared strategic breakthroughs. As these emerge, clarity and commitment increase, and the project owners and leadership team are engaged and satisfied.
The strategic platform is evolved to show the logic of the new purpose, as well as the narratives that carry it across the business and, eventually, out to all stakeholders. These rest on tangibly linking the impacts and implications of the firm’s structure and processes, with current and emerging trends in the sector.
This approach to purpose is hard-edged and rigorous, build entirely on what the business does and the corresponding impacts on all key stakeholders.
Available Service Engagement Models
*This service may be engaged via multiple engagement model options to provide maximum flexibility.
Project Based Engagement
Project based engagements operate on the basis of agreeing work and any outcomes or milestones for delivery in advance of commencement of any engagement in a ‘Statement of Work’. Prices are fixed for the agreed deliverables and should changes be required, these may incur changes to delivery costs. Payment for Project Based Engagements are agreed on a case-by-case basis, giving consideration to risk, contract value, client payment history, relationship longevity and duration.
Subscription Service
A HiveMind Subscription Service enables clients to flexibly engage with HiveMind Expert(s) in line with the subscription purchased. Subscriptions typically run for 12, 24 or 36 months or can also be arranged on a rolling 6 monthly basis. Subscriptions for 6 or 12 months are billed at the commencement of service, with billing for 24 or 36 month contracts taking place on the annual anniversary of subscription commencement.
