We recently came across an old, but provocative article in The Economist entitled, “Corporate culture: The view from the top, and bottom“.

It detailed findings from the “National Governance, Culture and Leadership Assessment”, a survey based on thousands of American employees “from every rung of the corporate ladder”.

Key findings from our perspective:

• “41% of bosses say their firm rewards performance based on values, only 14% of employees swallow this.”
• “27% of bosses believe their employees are inspired by their firm. Also only 4% agree.”
• “43% of those surveyed described their company’s culture as based on command-and-control, top-down management or leadership by coercion – what researcher Dov Seidman calls ‘blind obedience”.
• “54% saw their employee’s culture as top-down, but with skilled leadership, lots of rules and a mix of carrots and sticks, which Mr. Seidman calls “informed acquiescence”.
• “Only 3% fell into the category of “self-governance”, in which everyone is guided by a ‘set of core principles and values that inspire everyone to align around a company’s mission'”.

Behind all this is the growing gap between what business needs and what matters to people.

By not creating a meaningful balance between the two, companies seem to alienating people more and more. Company efforts to engage and align employees using traditional messages and rewards are falling on deaf ears.

The emotive branding process seeks to bridge this damaging gap. Our clients walk away with a clear route to a more meaningful position in the hearts and minds of people. They put to use the tools we develop to change the attitudes and behavior of the people behind the brand.

It boils down to this simple formula: Why + Emotions = Meaning.

Emotive Brand is a San Francisco brand strategy firm.