It is a wonderful day to come your way again today. I hope all is well with you and all yours. There is a Yoruba adage that says, “Bi iku ile o ba pani, t’ode o le pa ni” literarily meaning, if one does not experience evil from within, it can be from without. That saying aligns with what we are discussing today.

Many times, when there is a Crisis for a brand, it usually comes from within. I will give an instance, some months ago, a financial institution sent out a memo to her employees that those who do not get vaccinated by the end of the month, they would be paid 50% of their emoluments going forward. The memo and the news spread across social and mainstream media within a few hours. As we all know, there was a lot of noise about it among Africans.

In our daily role, as C-Suite Executives, we need to acknowledge our employees as brand ambassadors. From the identity card lanyard to other branded collateral, our employees are our first brand ambassadors.

When an employee is treated well, they would not be the source of a crisis for the brand; they would speak in defence of the brand, and as they thrive within the organisation, it would be interesting news for the public.

Your employees are a great resource for generating media interest and for showing potential customers and partners that you are doing interesting work. 

Put your employees first, and they will willingly be your Brand Ambassador, and you will have “removed” one of the likely thorns in the flesh of your organisation.