Mass Readings Audio
https://bible.usccb.org/podcasts/audio/2021-08-15-usccb-day-mass-readings
Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary – August 15, 2021
Welcome to the one hundred and seventy-seventh episode of By Your Life. I’m Lisa Huetteman and I know that you have a hundred different things you could be doing right now, so I thank you for choosing By Your Life.
My goal is to inspire, empower, support, challenge, and encourage you to connect Sunday, with Monday-Friday, in a secular business world. It’s my desire to help you live our Catholic faith in the marketplace. I hope to offer you practical ways to go forth and glorify the Lord by your life.
In this edition, we’ll reflect on the readings for the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Mass during the day.) Our first reading for the Solemnity was taken from the Revelation to John and was an account of visions in symbolic and allegorical language. We heard proclaimed that “A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.” (Rev 12:1) What is John communicating with this “great sign?”
Communicating with Signs
In business, we use signs and images to communicate our brands. We call them logos and you can find them everywhere. They are on our clothes, our cars, our food, phones, TVs, and computers. Some logos are incredibly straightforward, and others are more complex, but the goal is to inform what the brand is all about.
You likely recognize the FedEx logo with the arrow created by the negative space between the letters “E” and “X” that communicates speed and precision, both attributes that FedEx wants to promote. You may also be familiar with the Baskin Robins’ logo with the number 31 hidden in the “B” and the “R” to communicate the variety of ice cream flavors. In Tostitos’ logo, the letters “T”, “I”, and “T” are made from the image of two people enjoying chips and salsa, communicating that these snacks are social and fun. Although Google’s logo is nothing more than the company name, it relays its message with color. They used primary colors except for the letter “L” which is green to convey that they don’t play by the rules but prefer to break them.
Probably one of the most recognized logos on the planet is Amazon’s. Their logo went through several iterations as the company grew from an online bookseller to the powerhouse it is today. Their current logo was rolled out in 2000 and the company has been using versions of that same design ever since. Of course, I’m talking about the word amazon with the yellow arrow that starts at the letter “a” and ends at the letter “z”, implying that they sell everything from a to z. The arrow also represents a smile Amazon puts on their customer’s faces.
Delivering on the Promise
These famous logos belong to companies that people all over the world admire because of their success, philosophy, identity, or customer satisfaction. Each logo captures the brand and communicates an identity people can relate to. But an image is nothing if the message it is trying to convey is not the experience people have with the company. A brand experience has more to do with company culture than logo design. Employees must internalize their organization’s purpose and values, so they make decisions and act in a way that clearly supports those priorities. Ultimately, it is the employee that designs and delivers on-brand customer experiences that build brand loyalty.
Take Amazon, for example. An article in Forbes Magazine explained how Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos communicates the values and principles that create their customers’ brand experience. Amazon’s culture is built on four core values: customer obsession, long-term thinking, eagerness to invent, and taking pride in operational excellence.
Bezos doesn’t just tell employees to pay attention to the customer; he tells them to obsess over them. Obsessing over customers is difficult because most leaders, managers, and employees rarely interact with customers directly. At Amazon, they start with the customer’s needs and work backward. Bezos reminds Amazonians to pay attention to competitors but to obsess over customers.
The second core value that Bezos consistently articulates is to think longer-term than most companies. Amazon Prime Video, which has more than 100 million viewers, was the result of a decade of research, development, and content acquisition. Bill Carr, Amazon’s vice president of Digital Media, said that “Having that long time horizon is critical if you want to build something big and enduring.”
The third core value, “eagerness to invent,” means taking risks and accepting that ideas or projects will fail. A pioneering mentality doesn’t just happen within an organization. A leader has to inspire a team to strive to accomplish something different and unique.
The fourth core value is defined as “operational excellence”. According to Bezos, “Operational excellence implies two things. Delivering continuous improvement in customer experience and driving productivity, margin, efficiency, and asset velocity across all our businesses.”
Bezos reminds employees that “People will never see 90 percent of what you do. The only thing that makes you have high standards on that work that nobody ever sees is your own professional pride in operational excellence.” Customers may never see the behind-the-scenes efforts, but they see the results like on-time delivery, and that puts a smile on their faces.
I may not agree with everything Jeff Bezos says or does, but one thing is certain, a successful company has a strong corporate culture. Effective leaders like Bezos communicate the values that make up that culture and build them into every process and decision.
Failure to Deliver What’s Promised
When leadership fails to communicate and honor their values, the organization suffers. Unfortunately, according to the Gallup organization, less than half of customers strongly believe their vendors deliver on their promises and only 27% of employees strongly agree their organizations deliver on their promises to customers.
These two statistics are completely related. When employees recognize that their organizations fail to deliver on promises to customers, they lack commitment and engagement which leads to inconsistent customer experiences. When there is a gap between what an organization says and what it does—between what a brand promises and what it delivers—both customers and employees disengage. If your employees don’t believe you deliver on your promises, the world won’t either.
According to an article in the Harvard Business Review, employees’ engagement in their company’s brand is missing in most organizations. Quoting from the Journal of Brand Management, the authors say that four in ten employees struggle to describe their organization’s brand or how they think customers feel their organization is different from competitors. How can employees possibly deliver on a brand promise if they don’t know what it is?
Core Values, Culture, and Brand Equity
Culture bridges the gap between what a company says and what it does. Winning cultures turn brand promises into action because employees are united behind deeply held core values and a genuine purpose. Creating a winning culture begins at the top and is the responsibility of every person in the organization.
In my book, The Value of Core Values, I share five keys to success through values-centered leadership that I learned from interviews with dozens of successful CEOs. By owning, defining, sharing, institutionalizing, and honoring their core values, these organizations have created winning cultures that deliver on the brand promises their customers expect.
The Christian Brand Promise
Which brings me back to our readings from this Sunday. “A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.” (Rev 12:1) What is the meaning of this “great sign?” On the Solemnity of the Assumption, we recognize the Blessed Virgin Mary in this great sign, but there’s more.
The woman adorned with the sun, the moon, and the stars are images taken from Genesis 37:9–10. The twelve stars symbolize God’s people in the Old and the New Testaments. The Israel of old gave birth to the Messiah (Rev 12:5) and then became the new Israel, the church, which suffers persecution by the dragon.
This central section of Revelation portrays the power of evil, represented by a dragon, in opposition to God and his people. First, the dragon pursues the woman about to give birth, but her son is saved and “caught up to God and his throne.” (Rev 12:5)
The sign is intended to convey more than just an image of old and new, and good and bad. The book itself describes the ruthless persecution of the early church by the Roman authorities and encourages the readers to trust in God’s providential care over the Church.
The Book of Revelation had its origin in a time of crisis, but it remains valid and meaningful for Christians of all time. In the face of insuperable evil, either from within or from without, all Christians are called to trust in Jesus’ promise. Those who remain steadfast in their faith and confidence in the risen Lord need have no fear.
No matter what adversity or sacrifice Christians may endure, they will in the end triumph over Satan and his forces because of their fidelity to Christ the victor. This is the enduring message of the Book of Revelation; it is a message of hope and consolation and challenge for all who dare to believe. (Introduction to Book of Revelation)
This is the brand promise of Christianity. The question is, are we engaged with the Christian brand and living what it promises at home and at work?
Let’s ask God to help us.
Heavenly Father, you choose the Blessed Virgin Mary as your Mother and our Mother. Help us to follow her example and be Christ-bearers to the world. Help us to live lives that proclaim your greatness and rejoice in you, our Savior, so that in everything we do, we may glorify you by our lives.
May God bless you abundantly as you live the promise of the Christian brand and may you glorify the Lord by your life.
If you liked this episode, spread the word. You know what to do, forward, share, or click to post. Also, check out the Resources page where you can find a link to the books and other resources mentioned in this and other episodes of By Your Life. I’m always interested in what you think, so give me some feedback by leaving a comment.
