Designing meaningful excellence: the magic of guiding principles

Photo by Aron Visuals

Companies like McDonald's, IKEA, SouthWest Airlines, Apple, Starbucks, LEGO, and Nordstrom have long-standing financial success and high customer engagement. All these companies stand out from the rest with a clear purpose, a recognizable way of working, and thoughtful choices in what they do and don't do. Their core of meaning, recognizability, and transparent decisions enables these companies to keep their eyes on the ball and anticipate changing customer expectations.

Being meaningful as a professional service provider is not accidental. It results from conscious design, implementation of simple guiding principles, and a well-defined positioning and purpose. In our work for clients, we handle three fundamental guiding principles that set a clear direction toward a meaningful and prosperous future.

Human-centeredness is one of the foundations of meaningful service. It is about understanding the context and motives, knowing your customers' higher goals, and having designed services from the perspective of customers and other stakeholders. We deploy knowledge, experience, and networks to serve clients and society. The guiding principle is to be meaningful in everything you do for customers.

Data-driven is a "condition sine qua non" in contemporary business - without a clear data strategy, you no longer compete. Cleverly combining different data sources and technology provides opportunities for new services that add more meaning to customers. Being data-driven is a deliberate strategy, leading to success due to conscious choices and a clear direction.

Finally, sustainability is the third fundamental principle for meaningful service. We need to look beyond service, revenue model, and margins. Being meaningful has a broader meaning than just focusing on customers. The goal is to be valuable to the bigger picture of our world, our society, and the fair distribution of wealth in which everyone has the right to keep up financially and socially. In everything you do as a service provider, the guiding principle is: how does this contribute to a better world?

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