Our Perspective
What this means for leaders navigating growth, change or transformation in their organisation.
The Real Job
Brand personality isn’t a mood board; it’s a governing principle that shapes choices under pressure. When customers feel risk, they look for consistency between what you say and how you behave. That’s why personality belongs in the realm of strategy, not just expression. Edelman notes that roughly 80% of people place greater trust in the brands they actually use than in institutions, which tells us credibility is earned through lived experience, not claims.
Most organisations we work with discover the gap when a pricing change, a service outage, or a delayed response forces a decision that reveals what the brand really values.
Start From Risk
Design personality around the customer’s risk calculus. Ask: where do buyers hesitate, and what would lower the perceived cost of choosing us? From there, choose traits that remove friction at those moments and define trade-offs you’ll actually make.
Focus on the decision points that matter most:
- Selection: shorten comparisons with clear promises and predictable terms.
- Onboarding: reduce uncertainty with transparent timelines and first‑week value.
- Support: pre‑commit to response times and fair fixes for foreseeable issues.
Turn Traits Into Rules
Traits only align an organisation when they become rules people can use. Translate each trait into specific behaviours per function—sales, product, service, finance—so teams know what to do when priorities collide. “Clear” might mean plain‑English pricing without hidden fees; “decisive” might mean a same‑day go/no‑go on bespoke requests; “practical” might mean removing steps that don’t change outcomes.
Make these rules public where it helps trust: publish service standards, onboarding steps, and issue‑resolution practices—and then report performance against them. This builds a feedback loop between intention and evidence, and it disciplines internal decision‑making because deviations are visible.
Trust In Use
Trust compounds through repeated proof. Treat post‑purchase interactions as the main theatre where personality is tested and refined. Edelman indicates that about 79% of consumers carry on interacting with brands after buying, which means alignment doesn’t stop at acquisition; it’s sustained through how you respond when expectations are challenged.
Measure the moments that matter—time to first value, clarity of pricing changes, first‑contact resolution, and the share of referrals that cite reliability or ease. If you can’t show progress on these metrics, the personality is ornamental rather than operational.
Leadership Implications
- Anchor three traits to your top three decision moments; use them to make explicit trade‑offs.
- Assign ownership: one executive custodian for each trait with quarterly evidence reviews.
- Codify “non‑negotiables” per function and align incentives to adherence, not volume alone.
Treat personality as a system of choices visible to the customer; when it governs what you prioritise under stress, trust and growth become outcomes, not aspirations.
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