Lead with purpose
The role of purpose has taken greater importance in recent years—and even more so in the wake of the pandemic. We’re all navigating uncertain times and looking for brands we trust, with values that connect to ours, to hold onto. 
To lead authentically, brands need to rally behind their “why” and their “how.” Why does your brand exist? What purpose unites the real people behind it? How do you uniquely do things? When this is clear, decision-making becomes more intentional, and inevitable challenges are easier to overcome—creating greater resilience and optimism.
Take the Oklahoma City Thunder, for example. As the pandemic completely upended the world of professional sports, from suspended seasons to virtual spectating, adapting to new rules and navigating unprecedented challenges became a regular routine. 
We’ve had the privilege of witnessing firsthand how a powerful vision has made this forward thinking NBA organization intrinsically ready for the future. Their entire team is committed to pursuing progress, relentlessly, in everything they do. With absolute clarity on their true character and reason for being, they rally together as they build their unique legacy—creating deep love and enduring engagement from their talent, community and fans.
When purpose is successful, it creates a force for change that emanates from within the organization. What change is your brand capable of creating? When your values become an intrinsic part of the experience, you become bigger than the sum of your parts. You may be surprised by what you can spark.
Put Digital at the Core, Always
Digital has been part of the brand ecosystem for quite some time. But it’s no longer just a medium: in the same way social media, apps, and content have become woven into the fabric of our lives, they’re now an omnipresent part of the brand experience.
Even retail giants like Walmart, who traditionally may have seen online shopping as a threat to their business, are reshaping the in-store shopping experience by putting digital at the forefront, as are brands in sectors like hospitality that rely heavily on the in-person experience. Airbnb shows us how to build an experience across platforms—from a wanderlust-inspiring YouTube channel to a community-driven onsite storytelling space.
It’s essential to embed digital thinking into your process from the beginning—not tack it on as an afterthought. In the days ahead, you’ll need internal members and external partners who truly integrate digital with strategy, innovation, storytelling...and who can connect creativity with data.
Be Responsive
Today’s brands need to be built with agility: there’s no set-it-and-forget-it in an unpredictable world. The brands with staying power aren’t the ones that think they have all the answers, but the ones who prepare themselves to respond. It’s up to leaders to put foundations in place that allow their organizations to make decisions deftly and iterate around the customer.
Being responsive means acknowledging there’s no such thing as perfection and committing to constant improvement. Brave brands will take the leap from a business-led approach to a consumer-led strategy, leaving a seat at the table for audiences to inform when and how to adapt.
Brands like Glossier have flung the door wide open for consumers by crowdsourcing product ideas right from their customers’ comments. It’s not an approach that every business can adopt, but we encourage all leaders to think like entrepreneurs, acknowledging the needs consumers have and the power they hold.
Being responsive to audiences means accepting change as an inevitability. If your brand looks different two years from now, that’s not failure—that’s evolution.
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