Fusion summary

“Just Do It.” The words alone conjure images of fleet-footed athletes, their Nike-shod feet pounding the asphalt or the track – people who, equipped with the right footwear, don’t merely think about pursuing their athletic dreams. They do it.

We all know this slogan because it perfectly fuses Nike’s brand and culture. That is, it takes Nike’s internal culture, which is fueled by founder Phil Knight’s belief that, if everyone “ran a few miles every day, the world would be a better place,” and externalizes it with a pithy and powerful brand message: “Just Do It.”

If you want to construct a bridge, you’ve got to know a thing or two about the land you’re building on. If you don’t, the bridge will probably collapse. So, before you begin construction on the bridge that is your core values, let’s assess the terrain being bridged – that is, your external brand and your internal culture.

First, you’ve got to identify your brand type.

For the nuclei of two atoms to fuse, there must be a great deal of heat. And, in the realm of business, that heat is provided by leadership. So let’s consider two examples – one of leadership that led to a successful brand–culture fusion and one of leadership that simply wasn’t hot enough.

After the 2008 financial crisis, Ford Motor Company wasn’t doing well. Luckily, it was led by a fantastic CEO: Alan Mulally.

Traditional business wisdom holds that company culture and company structure have little in common. Sure, a strong culture is good and nice – but it’s the “soft” side of business and has little to do with more solid matters, such as how a company ought to be structured and run.

But this approach is as outdated as it is ineffective. Today, it’s imperative that company culture and company structure combine to constitute a seamless whole.

In the first decade of the 2000s, a series of cosmic explosions lit up the business universe. These sky-shattering bursts gave birth to the companies that now dominate the corporate heavens, such as Facebook, Uber and Airbnb.

In order not to die out, some of these star-like companies have tapped into the power of brand–culture fusion. Airbnb is one of them.

Bwaaaaaam. The resonant tone of a conch-shell horn fills the room, and a man sporting a traditional Hawaiian outfit emerges and solemnly conducts a traditional blessing for the people assembled.

Thus commences the annual customer conference of Salesforce, a software company whose CEO, Marc Benioff, has a soft spot for Hawaiian culture.

Rituals and artifacts are tools of engagement – they encourage employees to form a relationship with your brand. This is a great first step, but since employee engagement is central to brand–culture fusion, you’ll have to do more than encourage engagement. You’ll have to ensure it.

How? Well, let’s look at Mitchell International, a software company that successfully used one of the most effective techniques out there: the brand-engagement program.

Did you know that Patagonia, the outdoor apparel company, only uses 100-percent organic cotton? Or that its products incorporate recycled material? These internal decisions send a strong external message: Patagonia is committed to helping the environment.

Indeed, Yvon Chouinard, Patagonia’s founder, has championed the natural world since his business’s birth in 1973. And this culture of environmental commitment is perfectly fused with the company brand; indeed, it’s what defines Patagonia’s identity.