The triangle illustrated that we were looking for connections, not prioritizations. It also communicated the idea that we were putting together a “whole” of some kind, piece by piece.
When the propositions were completed, it became obvious (not just to me but also to most of the team) that, having completed, the propositions around the triangle, we had created a space – but what was it and what was it for?
It just sat there waiting for us to fill it in; and it wasn’t giving us any clues.
If we defaulted to the standard ways of thinking in a meeting, we might have called it “the AHA!!! Moment.”
We could have stopped right there. In a marketing meeting we might have called this “the Big Idea” and stopped right there.
But our original goal was to come away from this meeting with the basis for an action plan – so we needed to see the space in the middle of the triangle as “marching orders” rather than solution.
We are both strong believers in the power of words. Words define. Words inspire. The right words precipitate action. A phrase I had never seen before crystallized in the open space. I wrote what I saw:
A Central Operating Principle does not tell you what you decided; it tells you want you need to do. It doesn’t describe thinking; it defines action.
The Coca Cola Company has been working with the same operating principle since 1946. American GI’s all over the globe were delighted to have a “taste of home” no matter where they were fighting. In at least a small way, the unique taste of Coke was a taste of the life and the freedom for which these men were fighting.
Every time a GI shared a taste of Coke with a local, something magical happened – the preference for the incredible American brown liquid was passed on to an ever-widening circle of appreciators, purchasers, and brand advocates. Coke’s CEO at the time heard about this phenomenon and traveled extensively to see it for himself. He came back with what was the Central Operating Principle that made Coca-Cola a marketing power around the globe and has kept it there ever since.
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