The Formula

Human beings love rules, lists and formulas.
The Seven Habits, the Pareto Principle, the 10,000-Hour Rule.
The simpler, the better.
Believe it or not, there is such a formula for brand success.
And I discovered it, of all places, in an airport restaurant.
While waiting for a connecting flight, I watched as a manager consoled a grieving traveler.
And then, without missing a beat, he turned to appease a frazzled diva.
He took his time when his time was needed.
And rushed like hell when the situation demanded.
His entire team had the formula down pat.
They responded to the changing circumstances with quality food and impeccable service.
Here’s the formula (write it down).

E+A=S

E stands for empathy.
It’s the capacity to understand another person’s experience from their perspective.
A unique ability to identify with their feelings, thoughts and attitudes.

A is for anality.
It’s an extreme attention to detail.
Meticulousness, compulsiveness, and rigidity when it comes to delivering against that empathic aptitude.
Knowing precisely what matters most to the people you serve.
And working smart and extremely hard to deliver it.
Over and over and over again.
Empathy and anality.
Soft heart and hard-nosed.
Rapidly changing to keep up with people’s changing expectations.
And keeping it all under control.
Making them feel good.
And making the numbers.

It’s a simple brand formula.
One that creates belief.
And one, like freedom, which strengthens itself through principled and consistent action.
Success in life is much simpler.
I agree with Bob Dylan’s definition.
“A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and goes to bed at night and in between does what he wants to do.”
Brand success is a much more challenging endeavor.
We can’t always do what we want to do.
Instead, we must do what strategically needs to be done.

Empathy plus anality equals success.
A rare combination of traits.
One that produces happy customers and engaged employees.
And the company culture and financial results known as brand success.