Champions for Change: Taking bold action to impact social change

In case this is your first time tuning in to my video series, Champions for Change, I’ve been tapping into the wisdom of leaders driving all types of change in the workplace across various diverse industries. It’s hard to believe we’re already on episode five! I’ve truly enjoyed this chance to connect with colleagues, clients, and kindred spirits alike. Speaking of which, my latest guest is a fellow champion of small businesses across the country. Glenda McNeal is the President of Enterprise Strategic Partnerships at American Express.

Glenda and I had a wonderful conversation about how many small businesses survived and even evolved during the pandemic. And how American Express has helped to support these lifelines of our communities.

While you can access our entire conversation here, below are some key takeaways from the discussion that I believe can help small businesses—and in some cases enterprises—evolve as we all move forward together.

 1.     Deliver safe, frictionless experiences.

What does Glenda think has shifted - possibly forever - since the pandemic? Well, one familiar phrase will continue to dominate customer experiences: safety first. “As we move into recovery and the world opens up again, people want to feel safe navigating their way through,” Glenda says. “I think that that's one of the things that small business owners have to focus on. And it’ll take creating a safe, frictionless environment where people can feel a sense of normalcy, along with contactless payments and QR codes for menus.”

 2.     Integrate offline and online experiences.

In a hybrid future where the analog experiences meet digital ones, Glenda points out that, “It's very important for small businesses to have the technological capability to do business online. But at the same time [they must] be able to manage and balance [their business] offline and online.” She continues, “Customers are coming back, and people want to go out and dine in, so [businesses] will need to do both.” Over the past year, we’ve seen the shift from physical services and experiences to digital ones. I believe that the most successful businesses will be the ones that continue to integrate digital experiences with the physical world—which we sometimes refer to as “phygital.” And 5G will be at the center of delivering these experiences.

 3.     Your place in the community is your value proposition.

“It's important for small businesses to embrace the community in which they reside,” Glenda says, before submitting a powerful nugget of advice. “There’s been a change in that … customers feel a sense of community and they want that sense of belonging. So as a small business, being part of that community is very important.” I agree completely. It’s more important than ever that your business, your passion, is very clearly connected to your local community. And that you are a recognized part of the local fabric. Because when you are everyone’s favorite local florist, mechanic, or cafe, it gives a sense of belonging to your customers. And that’s a valuable connection.

 4.     Your employees are the face of your business.

Nurture your employees well and you’ll be nurturing your business. In speaking of her company’s employees (she refers to them as “colleagues”), Glenda says, “The one thing that I am most proud of to be part of American Express at this point is how we've taken care of our colleagues. They are the key asset that we have to make the business work. For us to be able to deliver the value, to be differentiated, and to deliver customer service and our products.” In order to serve your customers, it's really all about focusing on your people. After all, it’s your employees who have most of the face-to-face interactions with your customers, whether it's in an account relationship, a service relationship, or even in crisis mode.

 5.     Partnerships help you through hardships.

Whether you partner with businesses that are the same size as yours or bigger, these partnerships can help you make it through. This past April, we joined with American Express in supporting their #StandForSmall initiative, which brought the collective small business support of over 100 companies together, so that small businesses could easily find and access what help was available to them. As Glenda says, “These partnerships make 1 + 1 = 3 or 5. The power of AT&T combined with American Express just brings about so much more value.”

6.     Glenda’s “Change Champion” mindset.

In speaking to larger businesses, Glenda actually mentions three ways to develop a “Change Champion” mindset (you’ll have to watch the video to see all three!), but the one I feel applies the most to small businesses is, “Know what makes you different.” She elaborates, “Differentiation is so key because competition is fierce and for you to be able to make your mark, you have to know what makes you different.” As I mention in the interview, I don’t think that this truth is explicitly uttered enough. Businesses both large and small oftentimes get so focused on a particular service or product that they don't take a step back and say, “Hey, what is different about what we make?” And that’s where we truly provide our value.

I hope that no matter if you’re a small business or a large one, that one or more of these insights will help you evolve your business. And please during this small business month and all throughout the year, shop small and support your local businesses.

Stay tuned and please join me for future episodes of Champions for Change!