The Purple AscendancyTM Principle

Managing reputation through time and change

Never has reputation been more vital to the success of any enterprise—and never have the dynamics that drive it been more complex. Every week, a new global ranking featuring your company scrolls across our news feeds. What drives the change and the numbers? More important, do they help you manage your organization?

We provide a different approach to help you understand and manage reputation. The Purple AscendancyTMPrinciple provides understanding, reframing, strategic choice and relevant actions to drive your company forward.

The Purple AscendancyTMPrinciple helps you determine:

  • Where your company stands today
  • How and why it got there
  • What options you have, or that exist, to leverage or renew for the future
  • The risks and rewards of each option

Our approach considers a critical factor that others miss: Connection to the Future, or how your company fits into an evolving individual and societal future environment. We add this to the traditional performance and character attributes that make up most reputation frameworks.

One factor is not necessarily more important than the others. Only by analyzing all three in concert, and then assessing these in the context of the passage of time, can we help develop an effective reputation strategy.

The Lifecycle of Companies and the Impact of Time

Every company follows a similar lifecycle pattern. The turning points vary by industry, but understanding the crossroads from stage to stage and when and how to manage these transitions, is critical.

Stage 1 Miracle

Companies initially become successful by creating something that unlocks new value — a visionary product that’s better than what came before. At this stage, you articulate your company’s “miracle” in ways that disrupt the market and seem to effortlessly attract customers, investors and supporters.  To grow, however, your company will need to scale and broaden its footprint.

Stage 2 Familiar

Your company has become more widely known for its original breakthrough and is expanding its reach well beyond early adopters. It builds upon its initial miracle by moving into adjacent markets, or through adaptations and options. But expectations rise as your reputation becomes known and solidified. Imitators emerge. Investors and other stakeholders begin to impose their needs. Your miracle is no longer enough.

Stage 3 Common

What was once your breakthrough is now taken for granted, and value is normalized. Imitators and competitors have become established. You must now sustain your business in an evolving and advancing marketplace. Other threats emerge: changing consumer demands and new entrants, legislative and regulatory changes, societal expectations and active critics.

Stage 4 Devalued

Your company risks losing market share or the ability to generate sustained profits. Critics may say your original miracle is becoming outdated, unnecessary or even harmful to larger society. Your company, once considered visionary, may now be portrayed as self-serving, past its prime or irrelevant. These forces combine to put even a once-leading company’s future in jeopardy.

 

The four stages chart a typical cycle. But by recognizing the forces at work, we can architect a 5th Stage.

Stage 5 Renewal

With the right strategic frame and decisive action, organizations can be renewed before they’re left behind. The Purple approach helps you analyze the pressures: competitive, environmental, regulatory and internal. Then we help you craft a strategy for change and a far-sighted, practical plan to execute it. Established legacy companies can do more than merely regain stability—they can extend their maturity and become ascendant once again.

The 5th Stage: Renewal

With the right strategic frame and decisive action, organizations can be renewed before they’re left behind. The Purple approach helps you analyze the pressures: competitive, environmental, regulatory and internal. Then we help you craft a strategy for change and a far-sighted, practical plan to execute it. Established legacy companies can do more than merely regain stability—they can extend their maturity and become ascendant once again.

Leading Through Change

The Purple approach to reputation, grounded in Ascendancy, helps companies to consistently understand how to leverage their most impactful reputation assets while being mindful of the renewal needed to stay ahead of evolving expectations of each valued stakeholder.

Contact us to learn more about putting The AscendancyTMPrinciple to work in your company.

Learn more about The Ascendancy Principle

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