‘Time for leaders to move from Intent to Action, CEOs from being Woke to Warrior ’

Founder and CEO of StrawberryFrog, the Movement firm – Scott Goodson is out with his new book, Activate Brand Purpose. Co-authoured with veteran strategic leader Chip Walker, the book introduces the idea of Movement Thinking, helping CEOs, CHROs, CMOs, CSOs and CFOs move from purpose strategy to action, which is especially relevant as companies look to the future beyond COVID. Goodson has worked with the leaders of companies such as Mahindra, Google, Emirates, PepsiCo, SunTrust Bank, Trust, and Walmart. Goodson is also the author of Uprising: How to Build a Brand and Change the World by Sparking Cultural Movements. 

(Edited excerpts)

What was the genesis of StrawberryFrog and Movement Thinking?

I'm originally from Canada, grew up in Sweden, and started working in the Swedish advertising marketing world. Sweden places extraordinary focus on sustainability, environmental issues, human rights, improved work conditions etc. In the early 1990s, Swedish consumers started demanding that corporations do more than sell products; they demanded social progress, more representation for women on boards, less pollution and less environmental damage. Swedish companies responded by developing purpose strategies. As Swedish corporations - such as Ericsson, H&M, IKEA - started to expand globally, people didn’t understand what we were talking about when we mentioned purpose. As purpose can be theoretical, I came up with the idea of activating purpose through a movement.  The first time we brought movement thinking as a concept was in the late 1990s, when we worked with the founder of Swatch, Nicolas Hayek. We also worked with the leaders of Mercedes-Benz to develop a new two-seater car called smart car. It was launched not as a segment vehicle, but as a movement to reinvent the urban environment. We looked at problems such as traffic and brought together all stakeholders with a common interest in solving this issue. The smart movement was launched as a way to change problem solving. That was the starting point at StrawberryFrog, and ever since we've been focused on devising a purpose and then activating it with a movement so that it resonates both emotionally and in ways that can be activated to both people inside the company, and also outside the company.

What prompted you to write to ‘Activate Brand Purpose’?

In the last five years, people have been talking about devising a purpose for companies. However, it's time for leaders to move from Intent to Action, for CEOs to move from being Woke CEOs to being Warrior CEOs and to drive positive change in the lives of their employees, in the communities, in society and for the planet.

How can business leaders just move beyond talk to action and galvanize people around the cause?

Once an organization finds its brand purpose, what do you do with it? The book, ‘Activate Brand Purpose’ delves into how you activate purpose at the core of your business. Purpose sits at the core of business strategy, encompassing everything from HR policies, innovation, culture, to how you engage with stakeholders. That's really the fundamental difference; it's not a marketing idea, it’s a business strategy. The book talks about ‘Movement Thinking’.  One of the world's first corporations to really embrace this idea was the Mahindra Group, where we worked with Anand Mahindra, Pawan Goenka and the leadership of Mahindra Group. We devised the purpose for Mahindra Group, then activated it with Movement Thinking. Mahindra Group was way ahead of other global companies and is a leader in this. A chapter in the book focuses on Mahindra, which, incidentally, has just been written about in the Harvard Business School case as one of the first companies in the world to activate purpose through movement thinking. The book is really focused on how to activate a purpose inside your organization and to the people who matter, inside the company, your customers and prospects.

Can you elaborate on how Mahindra Group activated purpose with Movement Thinking?

We started this work back in 2010, and it came to life in 2012. Movement Thinking is more than just a philosophy; it's a societal movement and Mahindra’s movement is very simple - it is to help people rise, both in India and around the world. Mahindra’s purpose is based on three fundamental pillars - to use your ingenuity to solve problems, the people who work in Mahindra are second to none, and thirdly, driving positive change in their employees’ lives in the community and in the world at large, and we activated this purpose by launching a movement. The first initiative was called ‘Spark the Rise’ where Mahindra reached out to millions of Indians, asking them for technological ideas to change the world. There have been a number of initiatives over the years that are helping people move in the direction of Rise. The basic idea of movement thinking is, it's a human-centric strategy that identifies what matters to people, what they care about, and aligning that with the purpose of the corporation. 

In India, movements have shaped the country as they have in every society. Movement thinking has changed behaviour in minds for generations. Now it's time for company leaders to apply this to the core of their business to drive tangible change. Our economy and our world needs it. and these leaders will be rewarded for it. The moot point is the world has many problems to be solved, and each one of those represents an immense opportunity for companies. Why focus on ideas the world does not need when there's good business in solving problems?

What are some of the key challenges that CEOs and organization faced that got accelerated during the pandemic?

We're seeing the highest rise in mental health-related issues among employees, and the general population at large. Emotional wellbeing is a significant issue. The second is physical well-being and the third is financial well-being. We're seeing a rise in anxiety and stress due to these three issues during the last year. Sustainability is also an important issue that needs to be addressed, but if you think about immediate concerns, it's the physical, emotional and financial well-being issues.

You mentioned that CEOs need to be less woke CEOs and more warrior CEOs, can you elaborate on this?

The definition of woke is being aware of the truth behind things. For example, a woke CEO would be someone who is aware that diversity and equality are important issues; women deserve equal pay as men and are represented equally in management positions in companies. However, talking about it and doing it are two different things.

A warrior CEO, on the other hand, is someone who actually makes it happen. That's how I describe it, stop talking and start doing. The book is about finding your purpose and working on it, not just talking about it.  So warrior is about change, woke is about understanding the issue. 

Mahindra is a great example where they're coming out and making a positive change in people's lives, not just selling tractors and electric vehicles. They're actually committed to driving positive change in peoples’ lives, and they do it every single day. 

Any interesting anecdote while writing the book that you can share with us?

The majority of the book was written during the Covid-19 pandemic. If you can imagine a metaphor, it would be like company leadership on a sailboat with huge waves crashing on the boat and the wind blowing in different directions. The companies that had a purpose were activating the purpose, and this provided a strong rudder, and the leaders felt empowered to gauge and act instantly.  To give you an example, a complete of months before the pandemic BB&T and SunTrust banks merged to become Truist. At the time of the merger, the first thing CEOs of both companies did was to write their purpose. This helped connect the two financial organisations and also prepare them for the pandemic. The company created Truist Cares – a program to help the communities they serve. Truist was the first financial institution in America to do this, and they were fast, meaningful and they acted quickly.

We are working with The Reputation Institute, now called RepTrak, and commissioned the world's first empirical study of purpose brands and launched it in 2019. It's called the purpose power index and it ranks the 100 most purpose-driven brands in America. For the first measure, we received 17,500 responses for the study. We’re about to launch the 2021 version, and this is the first scientific evidence that purpose actually does make a difference financially in terms of growth and transformation of companies.

How important is a brand purpose when it comes to consumers making a decision to buy a product?

More than 87% of consumers would purchase a product because a company advocated for an issue they cared about, and two-thirds would refuse to do so if the company supported an issue contrary to their beliefs. This is a significant majority, and not just millennials but across all ages. These are the pre-pandemic numbers, and I think coming out of the pandemic that number will only increase.

Catch Scott Goodson Live virtually at the Pitch CMO Summit – Delhi on Friday, May 28 speaking on ‘Movement Thinking’. The Summit commences from 2 p.m. 

Link to book Activate Brand Purpose: https://www.activatebrandpurpose.com/ 

Registration Link:

To register for the Pitch CMO Virtual Summit Delhi 2021, click and register on https://bit.ly/2QQupFm 

More information on the event can be found on the event microsite :

https://e4mevents.com/pitch-cmo-summit-delhi-2021/