Branding expert Ron Johnson outlines three 'brand anchors' to maintain employee engagement as companies grow. Gallup data shows purpose boosts engagement 5.6x. Southwest Airlines cited as example.
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Companies that grow quickly often find their workplace culture fraying. New hires dilute the original ethos. Layers of management separate frontline workers from founders. In an Aug. 24 column for Fast Company, branding expert Ron Johnson laid out three principles he calls "brand anchors" to counter that drift: purpose, vision, and core values.
Purpose explains why a company exists beyond profit. Johnson cited Gallup research showing employees with a strong sense of purpose are 5.6 times as likely to be engaged in their jobs as those with a low sense of purpose. Vision, he wrote, sets a clear direction. He pointed to President John F. Kennedy's 1961 challenge to land an American on the moon before the decade ended as a goal that aligned an entire organization. Research cited in the column also links clarity of vision to job satisfaction and commitment.
Core values set the rules for how employees work. Johnson highlighted Southwest Airlines, whose stated purpose, vision, and employee promise reinforce its culture. Southwest has ranked first in J.D. Power customer satisfaction among economy-class passengers for five consecutive years, according to the airline.
Johnson's argument is that expansion demands more structure, but leaders must still communicate why the company exists, where it is going, and what it expects. Without those anchors, growth can erode the culture that made the company successful.
New employees may have less interaction with company founders, while additional managers and departments complicate communication between executives and frontline workers, Johnson wrote. The challenge is not unique to startups; any business adding headcount and hierarchy faces the same tension between efficiency and identity. The three brand anchors, he argued, give employees a consistent reference point regardless of how large the organization becomes.
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