Alignment with core values and beliefs is the foundation, and a company’s mission and purpose are the façade. This is what customers and other stakeholders see as the emblems of underlying value. Though in our experience it’s rarely done, it is possible to differentiate yourself behaviorally while defining your business purpose or mission. Beyond including customer focus and centricity in your mission statement, you could involve customers in your business definition process. You might publish your evolving mission statement, for instance, and invite suggestions or questions from current and prospective customers in the marketplace. You could also form customer advisory boards or panels to review your statement of purpose, mission statement, and business scope. The point is to make your purpose and mission highly visible to prospective customers and to engage them in the process of determining what you do and what you aim to accomplish. You could also print your mission on your business cards (which many companies have done), print it on your product packaging or on other documents customers receive, or make it prominent in your ads. Then walk the talk. Under John Tarpey’s leadership, Centex Construction Company’s Mid-Atlantic Division posts a large, professionally printed sign stating its mission and core values, not just in its office lobby, but at the entrance to every job site. His people are reminded to walk the talk as they literally walk through the gate each day. These are behavioral differentiators because the vast majority of companies do little with their mission statements except post them on the walls in their foyers or elevators, and most customers have very little real connection with the mission statements of the providers who serve them.
FIGURE 5-1. Behavioral differentiation alignment. To sustain behavioral differentiation, your behaviors must be aligned with your practices, policies, and values. Misalignments can cause everything to topple.
Develop all your pieces in the opening; do not try to wage a chess war with half your forces sitting idly on their original squares. Seek effective, strong squares which allow your pieces the most scope, mobility, and aggressive prospects.—Ron Curry