Everything you do—and not do—in your business is implicitly a form of this tenet. Know more about it here! [Tuesday: Return Driven Strategy]

From the desk of Miles Everson: Welcome to today’s edition of “Return Driven Strategy (RDS)!” I’m excited to share with you another insightful business topic. For those of you who are not familiar with this, RDS is a pyramid-shaped framework with 11 tenets and 3 foundations. When applied properly, these principles help businesses achieve their organizational objectives. Today, let’s focus on the 11th tenet of RDS (Communicate Holistically). Continue reading below to learn the importance of a great communications strategy in achieving business success.

Everything you do—and not do—in your business is implicitly a form of this tenet. Know more about it here! On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate the importance of communication in the whole of life? 5? 7? 10? Communication is EXTREMELY important in effectively developing and maintaining relationships, moving forward in your career, and solving problems. When there’s miscommunication, relationships—whether personal or professional—can be negatively affected. That’s why if you want to avoid encountering such problems in the future, you have to learn how to communicate holistically. Entrepreneur A Look Into Return Driven Strategy’s (RDS) 5th “Supporting Tenet” Communicate Holistically is the 11th tenet and the 5th “Supporting Tenet” of RDS. Its position as no. 11 does not suggest unimportance to a business. In fact, communicating holistically is of utmost importance in a business’s ability to succeed. According to Professor Joel Litman and Dr. Mark L. Frigo in the book, “Driven,” no verbal or nonverbal communication can be made in one part of a business without potentially impacting other parts or aspects. In their words: “High-return firms create communication strategies that take all of the tenets into consideration. Holistic communications are made with the whole of the business in mind.” After all, a communications program becomes incredibly valuable when it balances all of the objectives of a firm based on the other tenets of RDS. Since every action—and non-action—of a firm is implicitly a form of communication, Professor Litman and Dr. Frigo say the far-ranging implications of communicating holistically becomes apparent. Impacting People and Impacting Thoughts Are you familiar with the saying, “think before you speak”? According to Professor Litman and Dr. Frigo, this adage can be applied to RDS’ 11th tenet. How a firm communicates, what it communicates, as well as when and why, should be determined by plans to ethically maximize wealth (RDS’ Tenet 1) as it has been defined. Besides, communications impact thoughts. The thoughts of the customers, employees, vendors, partners, and the public at large will determine the success or failure of a business. It’s like the way you communicate with your constituents will determine the way you brand your business (RDS’ Tenet 6) in their minds. So, it’s good to regularly ask yourself: Are the constituents’ thoughts about your business good ones or bad ones? We hope you’ll be able to confidently answer that it’s the first one. Thought-Smithing John Sviokla is one of the heads of strategy and innovation at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC). Previously, he was a professor at Harvard Business School, where he coined the term “marketspace.” He created that term to describe the fall of physical boundaries when targeting customers in the digital age—it’s no longer “marketplace” but “marketspace.” Sviokla has personally worked with different companies in redefining and recrafting their business strategies. In one instance, he was working with a management team in a final iteration of the executive summary before meeting with investors. To help the team focus, Sviokla said this on the importance of such iterations: “People will rewrite their messages and often call it word-smithing, but we need to realize that we’re doing much more than that. It’s really ‘thought-smithing.’ The exact words we choose to use can dramatically change how people think about the message.” This leads us to the concept of “arguing semantics”… The phrase is sometimes used to discount the importance of specific word choices during debates. However, the exact words used can change the meaning of or stir the discussion to a different direction. For instance: Let’s use the word “privilege” in the context of “arguing semantics”… By definition, privilege means a special right, advantage, or immunity granted or available only to a particular person or group. Nowadays, this word is commonly used in arguments about social class, especially in terms of race, gender, or sexuality. A: We focus too much on race in the media, all people are equal and should be treated so! B: You only say that because you are privileged. A: I am not privileged, I grew up poor and my parents have a chronic illness. B: That’s not what I mean by privilege. A: What do you mean by privilege then? B: The color of your skin gives you advantages others don’t have. A: But I grew up poor and my parents have a chronic illness. I am not privileged B: You are privileged. A: No I’m not. B: Yes you are. See? A conversation that should have been about racial inequality and how social norms affect people, has been stopped in its tracks by an unwillingness to move past one word. The side using the word “privilege” will often try to explain what it means while the other side has already dug his or her heels in at the accusation that he or she has privilege. These arguers are working from different understandings of the word and it was doomed from the start. Clearly, semantics deserve an argument… and Sviokla provides a strong message about the role and application of communications in business planning. Simply said, changing environments require NEW terms to communicate what one is thinking or would like others to consider. — To sum it all up, RDS’ Tenet 11—Communicate Holistically—is as important as the other higher tenets of RDS. For this reason, business owners, leaders, managers, and marketers must understand the critical role of communications throughout the entire business. By doing so, firms will not only utilize a wide range of communications creatively but also design communications with the specific purpose of achieving the higher tenets of RDS. If you’re looking to gain a better understanding of Return Driven Strategy and Career Driven Strategy, we highly recommend checking out “Driven” by Professor Litman and Dr. Frigo. Click here to get your copy and learn how this framework can help you in your business strategies and ultimately, in ethically maximizing wealth for your firm. Hope you found this week’s insights interesting and helpful. EXCITING NEWS AHEAD The world of work has shifted, and there’s no going back. The barriers to entry have never been lower for talented professionals to work independently, and today’s massive external workforce is hardly a pandemic-produced fad. Business owners can only survive in the new work landscape by partnering with this deep talent pool. With decades of experience in both small-business entrepreneurship and executive management at PwC, I truly believe that the future of work is independent. With that, I’m happy to share with you that my book, co-authored with Walter Scott Lamb, is now available for pre-order on Amazon! Free Birds Revolution: The Future of Work & The Independent Mind This is an essential read for both independent professionals and corporate executives. Here, we provide educational and practical guides to unpack the ever-growing workforce and offer you crucial ways to become a client of choice. Click on the link above to pre-order your copy. Let this book help you future-proof your career and organization in the new world of work. Stay tuned for next Tuesday’s Return Driven Strategy! In the world of tech, the ability to innovate and push the limits of technology is one of the most valued qualities a business has to have. From being a market leader in the graphics computing space, this company is now leading the pack in artificial intelligence (AI). Learn more about this market leader in next week’s article!