The Vision that We Should all Share

For some reason, as companies, we tend to forget about the most important “thing” in the vision statement. We forget what we are and the reality behind everything that we do.

As this is our first post on Medium, we want to do it about the most important part in any company statement. The word “We”, or “Us”, which identifies the team behind the brand. Not just as a collection of job titles, but as humans.

What a word right? Human. You don’t hear it every day. And you may think sometimes we even lose it. All the injustices in this world, excess of privilege for some, a lack of rights for others, sometimes it makes you wonder if we have any humanity left. Maybe it could sound silly but it seems like we forget all too often that in the end, we are all humans.

When we forget what we are, and don’t let that guide every decision, that’s when we lose our most important values. The ones that let us grow as a society, that took us to outer space. The values that lead brands and individuals to create innovative technologies and items that we use daily… The values that make us rule the world.

So let’s think about “values”, because they’re not just a measure of worth, they’re a measure of character. It’s about what you are and what you represent. Having human values and a human-centered approach is a key to master anything in life. So let’s see the reality behind how this applies to brands…

So one day an average human — or maybe a genius for some — has a “eureka” moment and gets the next big business idea. Maybe the next unicorn or the new biggest telecom company. They all start with one single human. Long story short, this individual human starts building a dream, a story, an imaginary concept, and starts convincing other people of this. Eventually, the dream becomes reality.

The key there is that to achieve the dream, he or she will need more awesome people to join him. We actually can’t do most of the things that make us great as humans alone or without collaborating with other humans. So the initial individual crazy idea needs to start becoming a collective idea, if the purpose and values that the main human put into it make sense to other minds.

They start pitching and marketing the product. And here is where most companies fail. Because they sell and prospect for “possible clients”. Not to people with emotions and feelings. Not to humans. They think about the “other” like its an “it”, only existing in their capacity to become what they need it for, not as a “thou”, an entirely independent being, with a life of its own.

The problem with most brands and companies is that they don’t even try to build a movement or to actually change or improve peoples’ lives. Sometimes big brands can’t get this, but their product should at the very least make people feel better.

And we can achieve that by humanizing the brands and putting a human approach into what they do and how they communicate it. Obviously data is important, but think about how many successful projects or innovative projects fail because they have no purpose, no value, no human touch behind them.

Then, think about how other average projects or brands are successful. Some people look at these ones thinking something like “I could do that” or “it’ss not that hard” because they only think about the product. And yeah, maybe building it is not that hard. But most of these iconic brands are the first option because they sell something more than a product. Not all brands can do that, probably because they never had a real purpose to share or a vision other than making money.

Brands now compete in an overcrowded world and fight for the time of an increasingly cynical and inattentive audience, who do not like it when they feel they’re being advertised to. A human approach and a brand based on human values is a must if brands want to benchmark themselves.

We first need to understand what humans are. It’s crazy that we need to analyze ourselves, but we almost go on automatic pilot most of the time and don’t do actual reflections about this. We just go through the motions and take too many things for granted.

Therefore, we need to reflect about certain elements in order to find our path and hopefully find others to share it with.

All of us have changed dramatically at several points of our lifetimes .Not just physical growth but also personal growth. Your interests change, your lifestyle, your music taste… bottom line, you are not the same person nor do you have the same mindset that you had at 16, or at 20, 38. Your mindset, your opinion and the way you see the world change. Change and growth are in our DNA. We always want to be the best version of ourselves.

People have guts. Humans learn to walk by falling. Behind every success, there were a lot of attempts. From the day we are born to our last day we don’t have much clarity and sometimes we need to pivot our plans. All humans make mistakes, but some of them recognize them, ask for forgiveness, and fix them.

We tell our goals and we share our stories with the people that matter. We have friends, families, we look for that lifelong partner. We love honesty, we love stories, we love feeling special. We love to experience different feelings. We love to find new adventures and we love to get emotional.

Giving back is important. Somebody helped you one day and you probably helped others. We know that our world is not all sunshine and roses but nowadays we can affirm that more people out there take a stand against social injustices than ever before in history, and that makes us unique as a generation of humans living on Earth.

We all experience fear, we all fell in love sometimes. We have bad days and good days. But that shapes our values such as respect, compassion, honesty, empathy, etc. Human values serve as a guide to know how to conduct ourselves to live harmoniously and in community so we can evolve together and stay together.

Briefly, building a brand that truly connects with people isn’t an easy job. You know that 7 out of 10 people don’t know the purpose behind most of the world’s biggest brands. Even if you have a page about this on your website, most people are probably not reading it. Behind every purchase there is psychology. Sometimes it is around the price or the features but most of the time it’s all about emotion, values, and what the brand represents on a deeper level.

Best-in-class brands know how to create a promise, product, and experience that evokes an identity worth aspiring to, increasing the lifetime value of the relationship.

You have probably heard quotes that say something like: “no one will remember what you say but they will remember how you made them feel.” So if a brand truly shows this, that website with a manifesto wouldn’t be all that necessary. People don’t want to hear or read your aimings or your manifiesto. They want to confirm that they are real by experiencing them. They want emotions, they want to feel part of something.

That’s why our statement revolves around this, as we believe that all brands should have the same approach, what we call “The Human Touch”.

You expect your bank to be trustworthy or your doctor to be transparent, don’t you? For us, putting transparency, respect, trust, and quality as core values ​​… It is not worth it. Is what all people expect. And we always try to break the expectations.

That is why we focus on people and what makes us human. That’s simple and at the same time, it’s very complicated because we all know that people are weird, amazing, and overall extremely complex.

But we try to uncover their individual needs and dreams, struggles, fears, and goals. We believe that by making the effort to understand and listen to them. We will be getting into the “why” but also about the “but” when it comes to knowing them.

And thanks to having a human approach we create meaningful connections by simply getting at their inner desires and disrupting their mindset while making a positive impact that serves a higher purpose.

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