MBA1823 Guest Teacher – Lisa Gralnek – How to Integrate Values for Business Growth and Transformation

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Hey oh.

Welcome to the $100 MBA Show.

Because we all need some help from time to time. That's why we deliver daily 10 minute business lessons for the real world. I'm your host, your coach, your teacher Omar Zome. I'm also the co founder of Webinar Ninja, an independent software company I started with my co founder back in 2014.

And today's episode is a guest teacher episode.

On our Guest Teacher episodes we bring on a guest to teach their area of expertise.

Today we have Lisa Gralnick and she'll be teaching you how to integrate values.

For business growth and transformation. Values is one of those words that gets thrown around a lot in business speak.

But values aren't just things that you.

Talk about in an all hands meeting.

It's actually the actions you take in your business, within your team as well as externally, the stands you take, the statements you make. This will have an impact on the customers you serve as well as how your team sees you as a leader. Today's guest teacher, Lisa Gralnick is a seasoned business leader and has worked at.

Companies like Chobani, Walmart, Moo.com, adidas and more.

And she's here to share with you what she's learned working with these huge teams, huge brands, and how you can.

Leverage values to grow and scale your business.

So let's get into it.

Let's get down to business.

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Today's guest teacher, Lisa Gromak is here to help. She's helped big companies and started her own LVG and company. She's helped entrepreneurs like you be more strategic and more intentional when you're building.

A value LED brand.

What's that all about? Well, that's what she's here to teach you.

How to use your values, the company's values to attract the right customers, to grow the right team and just be a better business.

So I want to pass it on to Lisa, but I'll be back to wrap up today's episode and share some examples of what she's talking about, what she teaches from my own business. But for now, take it away Lisa hi everyone.

My name is Lisa Grelnik and I am the principal and founder of LVG Co, an independent business strategy consultancy dedicated to making businesses better through values led planning, brand positioning and go to market. Thank you for joining me. Today I'll be giving a lesson on how to integrate values for business growth and transformation. It is my fundamental belief, and now more than ever before, that we all, both individually and collectively have a responsibility to do better for the world we share. I hope through this lesson you'll be able to define what values are, when to invest in them, understand why they're important for all businesses, and perhaps most compellingly, how value can help drive business growth. So let's get down to business. Let's start at the beginning. What are values? Merriam Webster Dictionary defines them as the monetary worth of something or the relative worth, utility or importance of something. Jan Stassen, who founded the Museum of Values, which is yes, a real thing based in Berlin Said, says they are situation independent decision helpers. It is helpful to note that values as a term will of course mean different things to different people. This is even more true when it comes to what values led action looks like. In my own definition. I think of values as our personal morals and ethics stated in such a way so as to be readily accessible for our day to day use and reflection and where do they come from? Values are such a product of the world around us. For me, for example, my values come from a combination of the many places I've lived, the education I've received, my family and my friends. For all of us, values can be shared by our communities, or they can be gained through life experience, or both. What is common is that values have broad impact. They sit at the center of our behaviors, our awareness, our attitude, which is why they're so important for any business looking to grow. Quite simply, values should be explicitly defined to ensure everyone in your organization and the broader stakeholder community has visibility into them. And why? Because they are already at the heart of what you do and who you are. So bring people along so everyone can be working in towards the same direction. Given this moment in history, it is worth noting briefly that there is a lot of hype about values. Of course, this is overall a very, very good thing. But it's worth saying that in my opinion, values are not to be impacted by economic upturns or downturns. They are not a mere corporate initiative. Values are about making a positive impact, however and wherever we can. Ultimately, values are about how we walk the talk. So when starting a business, launching a new product, or simply trying to pivot and adjust to a new normal, it's important to spend time thinking about what your values are and how they connect to the larger mission and vision of your organization. After defining what values are and what they mean to you, it's important to know when to invest the time, capital and or human resources into them. Whether that's in terms of identifying them and or bringing them to life. The most obvious answer is it's always time. But of course, successful brands who connect everything back to their mission, vision and purpose know this because values link these foundational elements. Like GPS coordinates on a map, values provide a guiding light on the path from where you are to where you either want and or need to go. They're useful tools as you set a course to where you're heading and how you'll get there. Sometimes investment doesn't happen right at the beginning of a business. While mission driven companies, or so called manifesto brands, may de facto lead with their values, other companies are less obvious. And while I am certainly not here to say what you should have been doing, I am here to push you to those actions you can take today to help your business grow in the future. A future that more than ever demands corporate responsibility and consideration for more than profit on its own. Perhaps values were discussed at the start of your business and they they fell off in terms of priority or just as likely, something changed in the market that requires a rethinking of your values. Now this could be a slowing of growth, a change to the competitive landscape, new management, or maybe even an economic crisis as the one we're facing. There will always be moments throughout the life of a business where change is necessary, but whatever the catalyst, it is important not to let it pass without making real change. Values help guide these transformations. So for a minute, let's just talk about where the world is right now. On the one hand, consumers are savvier and more demanding than ever, especially Millennials and Gen Z. Consumers are increasingly mindful of where they spend their money and they're researching products and brand choices before considering a purchase more deeply and more readily than ever. They want healthy products, sustainable packaging, and companies who are good corporate stewards of both planet and people and think across their supply chains. In this regard, 2020 has only served to accelerate these trends, pushing broader swaths of the population to reconsider shopping behaviors in ways that will have lasting impact. All major consulting firms are looking at this trend and saying consumer behavior and shopping behavior is changed fundamentally, perhaps for forever. On the other hand, the world is also seeing more activist employees than ever before. Between MeToo, Black Lives Matter, ongoing LBGTQ rights issues, offices everywhere are reckoning with the past and the present, looking towards how to build a better, more diverse and inclusive future. And even large scale investors are wising up to the fact that businesses who look out for ESG issues, the so called environmental, social and governance in addition to profit and margin, outperform their more traditional counterparts. These are trends that are here to stay, values led. Business is our future, so we've covered what values are, when to invest in them and where trends are pointing us. Next, let's tackle how to define your goals as well as results, expectations and roi. First, you must define your end goal. This is about defining where you want to go. It's a very personal step and will vary both by organization and the time horizon you put on it. This could be an increase in annual sales or a brand revamp. It could be entry into a new geography or planned IPO or sale of the company. Start by considering where you are today, who you are, then define where you want to go. Maybe you already have systems and teams in place to do this evaluative work, or you might want to bring in outside counsel. But once you have clearly defined your goals and timelines, you need to start mapping what it takes to achieve them and how you'll measure results. So when we start talking about how to do something, what we're really talking about is taking action. When we define values, I said that they sit at the center of awareness, attitude and behavior. For action to happen, people must first become aware, then shift their attitude and finally change their behavior. It's a virtuous cycle and when values guide these actions, the impact has the opportunity of becoming transformation, growth and broad scale positive change. In this case, you measure ROI through a longer term lens that focuses on employee satisfaction, customer loyalty, access to capital, leadership, innovation, and of course, profitability. Now let's talk about why it's important to take on change leadership. It's easy whether you're just starting up, change is being forced upon you by either an internal or external pressure, or you're taking conscious action. Even if you're a business that's already doing well and growing. Being values led will drive effective operations, efficient organizations and business growth. Indeed for me personally, but moreover for the businesses with whom I consult, I always outline how values are both the filter and guardrails for action at both the organizational and operational level. I believe the same is true personally as well. When your values lead and everything is working in harmony, there's a powerful sense of ease, strong conviction, and usually a more robust feeling of community and purpose. If we rely on our values to support decision making and action, evidence shows that we can live more authentically, navigate change more easily, connect with others more fully, and grow more certainly from who, what and where we are today into our desired tomorrow. We can see proof of this by looking at examples of those kinds of companies and products that have really outperformed in terms of growth in the last few years, driven by what consumers increasingly care about or what they value. Environmentally friendly transportation options like Tesla and other electric car companies, animal based protein substitutes like Oatly Impossible Burger or Beyond Meat, as well as affordable fashions that are humanely made have all seen significant expansion. We we can also see how by implementing policies and taking action that respects employee values, companies can retain more talent, attract better talent, and even produce a better overall customer experience. All of which feeds directly into the bottom line. Today, examples of companies who have made shifts towards value led action abound. In just some of my own recent clients work, I've pushed for for profit art startup to commit a portion of their revenues starting out even as small as they did to set up a foundation dedicated to fueling the next generation of young street artists. And I helped an established PE backed SaaS company uncover its long held values that integrate them throughout a refreshed brand identity, sales and marketing approaches and innovation planning, all of which resulted in improved cross functional collaboration, more streamlined business operations and deeper relationships with their long standing as well as newest customers. So consider every step of your supply chain and business ecosystem. Think about innovation as systems level and how you can add value throughout the system in order to drive growth. We're getting close to the end, so let's recap today's lesson so far. We first looked at several definitions of what values are, which I of course hope will help when it comes time for you to define or redefine your own and your own organization's values. We then covered when it makes sense to invest in values, whether that's at the beginning of your business or at a pivotal point of change. We learned where the trends are pointing and how to define strong goals and actions to achieve those goals. And lastly, we've talked about why values led action is so important, why it is vital that you push against inertia, complacency, fear and even sometimes your own success to create change within your organization and how leading with values can deliver positive growth for your business. Okay, that's a wrap. This was Lisa Grelnik from LVG and Co. If you want to continue learning about how values led business growth and transformation is possible and right for you, please visit www.lvg-co. That's lvg-co.com or find me on Medium and LinkedIn. I look forward to connecting. I hope you've enjoyed and and thanks again for joining us today. Back to Omar.

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Thank you so much Lisa Gronnick for.

That great, great episode.

I really want to encourage you all.

To really think about what your values are as a business because really they're an extension of your values or the values of the leadership team of your business.

And you're going to be challenged on.

These values from time to time.

You're going to be asked about it. And we live in a day and age where businesses, brands, they just can't be vanilla anymore. They can't be silent. People want to know where you stand on certain issues because they want to.

Know if you align with them.

We've taken stands in our own business.

And sent out messages via email or on the podcast and have had backlash.

But that's okay. You have to take a stand. You have to stand for something. You have to have some values. Otherwise you're going to be ignored.

No one's going to resonate with you.

So you might as well stand for something that you believe. We did this several times last year.

With the issues surrounding Black Lives Matter, racial injustice, and reminding people that we believe in equality, that it's not okay to discriminate people based on the way they look, their socioeconomic background, their social status. I didn't build a business so that I can just deny the things I believe in. I grew up as a minority, so.

Those issues are real to me. Those issues are important to me.

And as the founder and the leader of the company, I'm going to take a stand.

But it's not always easy because you're.

Going to get people that don't agree with you. You're going to get people that are going to get irate, that are going to ask for refunds, that are going to cancel your products or services, that are going to unsubscribe, that are going to maybe even throw some shade or hate your way on social, on email, on other forms.

But hey, you don't want to serve.

These people because they don't align with their values anyway. I always say that not every dollar is created equal, meaning that, hey, I rather serve customers. I'm meant to serve people that respect my values.

That doesn't mean people have to agree.

With everything you believe in.

I'm a big believer that you can disagree with people respectfully and still do business with them. It's okay. But people need to know where you.

Stand in today's business world. By not taking a stand, it can hurt your business. And we've seen this over and over and over with so many startups, so many businesses that I can name companies on and on and on, on this episode, but I rather not where their imploded, where half their employees left because they didn't take a stand, because they didn't really express what their values are. And in those cases, silence is a death wish for that company, for that business. Thanks so much for listening to the $100 MBA show. If you love what you hear, hit subscribe so you never miss an episode. Before I go, I want to leave you with this Taking a stand and expressing what you believe in and your values as a company.

This is not easy.

It's never easy to anticipate backlash, anticipate disagreement, anticipate, maybe even hate.

It's like you're bracing yourself. But on the flip side, whenever I've done this, I've received so much wonderful.

Love from people via email, via Twitter, via even phone calls saying, hey Omar.

Thank you so much for taking a.

Stand on this issue. Thank you so much for expressing the way your company is trying to help the situation, or at least bringing light to the situation. You're a company with the soul and that's why I work with you. That's why I stick with you. And in my experience, the positive comments and feedback always outweigh the negative. Thanks so much for listening and I'll check you in tomorrow's episode. I'll see you then.

Take care.

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