The Business Model Puzzle How brands thrive beyond crisis
what do plastic bricks and yoga pants
have in common
as a business strategist i’ve been
sitting with this question for some time
more broadly speaking trying to unlock
what makes brands
sink or swim during and beyond a
pandemic
recent times have opened up a pandora’s
box
from the global pandemic to the racially
spurred riots and protests
to the fires that devastated communities
from australia to the u.s
what these events punctuate for me is
the overdue need
for reform and to answer the question
what’s next i’d like to flip the script
and ask what’s your role as a consumer
in that reform
and what’s the role of business
the reality is we’ve entered a new era
of consumerism
with the pandemic we’ve also been asked
to sit in collective stillness
to press pause from our nine to five
lives to cocoon
to slow down this has gifted us both
space and time to reflect
to play to express
to reform and in that to transform
if you look closely it’s the brands that
arm us with the tools to transform
that are thriving in this climate and
will continue to resonate with the
post-pandemic consumer
since i was a child i believed in
pushing outside my comfort zone
in working to be the best version of me
a philosophy model by my dad growing up
as a teenager i channeled this through
sport and entrepreneurship
i bootstrapped my first startup at age
14
helped along by a business-minded mom
lindsay’s microwave mitts
protect your delicate fingers from hot
dishes
a must-have in every 90s household
from there i went on to compete as an
ncaa athlete at drexel and george
mason university then on to growing the
biggest yoga wear company in the world
lululemon i resigned from the 9 to 5
corporate world six years later
to once again pursue my entrepreneurial
dreams of founding my
own consulting practice i live and
breathe the pursuit of personal growth
but having studied the consumer
landscape and crafted the playbook for a
variety of brands
what i’ve discovered is that striving to
be one’s best self
is not only a personal pursuit it’s a
business model
as a growth strategist i help companies
figure out where they’re going and how
they’re going to get there
a critical part of that requires peering
into the future
identifying key trends in the consumer
arena and the why behind them
and what we’re seeing is that not only
are we playing and practicing
mindfulness more
we’re creating more we’re expressing
more
we’re mastering our skills more we’re
hobbying more
how many of you have discovered a new
pastime the last few months
biking maybe some of you are also
scootering
and then there’s pokemon never have i
known more about the pokemon revolution
purely through observing my niece and
nephew taking their art form to a whole
other level
covert 19 hit and boom toy sales soared
building sets and crafts up 75 games and
puzzles up 228
and what about that great bread making
retrend
who would have thought sourdough starter
kits would go viral
who says millennials are undomesticated
so what binds all of these trends
together
a paradigm shift known as the
self-actualization economy
a movement of people looking to be their
best selves and investing their time
energy
and dollars there something that was
prevalent long before the pandemic
and even more so now what’s driving this
trend
the primal needs we all share as humans
to unpack that let’s time travel back to
psychology 101
and abraham maslow’s hierarchy of needs
a model many of you will recognize
a model intended to describe how human
needs evolve
if we look back to the beginning of
humankind we’ll note that most of our
energy has been spent in the bottom of
this pyramid
on our basic needs water shelter
food then we graduated to the middle
where we began prioritizing our social
and psychological needs
love belonging esteem enter online
dating apps enter facebook twitter
the world of social media
the past five years has brought a slow
graduation towards the top rung
self-actualization the search for growth
and purpose
enter the mindfulness movement the age
of personal growth immersions
the gig economy understanding how human
behavior drives consumerism fascinates
me
when i first began this body of research
that same fascination
led me down a rabbit hole keen to see
what updates had been made to maslow’s
pyramid since the original
in that discovery i came across a number
of creative iterations
such as the tween’s version of maslow’s
hierarchy
the vegans version but perhaps most
interesting
is this edition what i like to call
maslow’s best kept secret
it turns out years later maslow added a
rung to the pyramid
self-transcendence the realization that
you’re a small part
of a much greater whole this makes sense
when you think about the movement
towards
corporate social responsibility giving
back
sustainability the growth in
spirituality
this is more relevant than ever right
now
in fact across 14 countries around the
globe survey says climate change
outpaced or tied the pandemic as the
most frequently
mentioned major threat
so i think of this whole upper section
of the pyramid including transcendence
as the self-actualization economy both
are about growth
but it’s important to note that the
journey up this pyramid is
non-linear it’s not like a video game
where you unlock one level to move to
the next
it’s fluid and reactive to our state of
mind and what’s happening around us
now what the pandemic has done in some
ways is
slingshot us back down the pyramid
we’re no longer as concerned with that
trip to hawaii
rather we’re worried about keeping our
jobs and putting food on the table
i.e our fundamental safety
however i’d argue that we have to move
back
down in order to move back up
for any liz gilbert fans in the house
ruin is the road
to transformation
so while we may feel like we’re
teetering on the edge of chaos right now
and in many ways we are
we’ve also been gifted the space to
transform and self-actualize
enter the collective stillness that i
mentioned earlier on
and it’s during these times that we as
humans
rapidly develop that our growth
accelerates
so net net we’re experiencing a movement
of people spending more
time energy and dollars on their
self-actualization
this movement is being accelerated by
the pandemic
and as a result the self-actualization
economy is
gaining steam this same economy has the
potential to unleash
the power of business in fact
when you look at businesses serving
their customers self-actualization
many are showing signs of outperforming
their peers
through the pandemic this includes two
brands i’ve had the pleasure of working
with
lululemon the darlene yoga wear and the
lego group
the toy brand beloved by all although
these brands appear worlds apart
look closer and you’ll notice a common
thread
a purpose rooted in enabling their
customers growth and development
one through play the other through
providing customers the tools to fulfill
their potential
it’s this elixir that has and will allow
them to thrive
beyond crisis i’d advocate that not only
is this type of model
savvy business it’s the obligation of
commerce
in a time of need business is the
greatest tool
to affect change both during times of
normalcy and
crisis it powers our lives
but its superpowers are grossly
underutilized
it’s time we remodeled beyond
purpose-driven
building a self-actualization economy
will allow us to scale the consciousness
the events of the pandemic have given us
so what does this look like and where do
we even start
there’s a couple ways we can activate
this
at the business level the first step is
to answer the question
how do we enable our customers to be
their best selves
versus simply how do we make money or
what problem are we solving many of the
brands that are swimming versus sinking
in this pandemic
are those who have built their business
models around
that question such as beyond meat
helping solve human health and
environmental issues
through a different way to nourish
headspace
improve your health and happiness
through a meditation app
enabling people to be their most mindful
selves
master class learn that new skill from
the expert in the field
yes business has made admirable strides
in the realm of social innovation to
date
from ethical manufacturing to minimizing
carbon footprints
to creating a more connected world i
applaud that
but the world is calling us to do more
i’m talking about making this stuff core
to every brand’s purpose
and business model i’m talking about
diving in to figure out what
self-actualization looks like for your
customer
and then enabling it for them imagine a
world where
every business focuses on betterment as
a means to profit
where business is used to heal where
business is
wellness where business is wellness
small large business to business
business to consumer brands
i implore every business to think
through this lens
now you can also activate this at the
individual level
as a consumer you can define what being
your best self looks like
and embrace the products and services of
business as a means to help get you
there
to supercharge your self-actualization
as a consumer when i purchase a lego set
i’m not only purchasing
hours of uninterrupted play i’m
purchasing stress relief
learning connection these benefits are
expansive
they’re things that help me grow
what helps you grow i’d invite you to
reflect
the more we can adopt this model on both
these levels business and individual
the greater the ripple effect because
when we’re each our best selves
our individual stitches strong and not
the yoga pant kind
we’re able to more powerfully give back
to our communities and the planet
creating our very own self-actualization
economy
on the contrary not embracing this model
will result in clipping the wings of one
of the most powerful forces
at our disposal commerce
just when we need it most recent times
have opened up
pandora’s box but this has armed us with
the collective consciousness
required to solve the problems facing us
today
i’d implore you as individuals and
businesses
to channel this moment to remodel your
outlook
and unleash your superpower
so what do plastic bricks and yoga pants
have in common
perhaps a lot more than you thought
thank you