The True Story of Paul Revere

The story goes that Paul Revere was so influential that when he rode from town to town to warn his fellow Americans about the impending British invasion, people listened to him.

Except for this is not exactly what happened.

Paul Revere was not alone on the ride. It turns out he was accompanied by two other men. All three were stopped on their way to Concord after leaving Lexington, and held by British troops. Revere's two companions escaped. When he finally escaped, Revere has no horse and had to walk all the way to Concord.

The ride sounded better, I suppose.

In the deep dive on influence I did here and at SxSW solo last March, we looked beyond some of the artificial constructs invented for special service level agreements, code for big program spends by organizations.

My work is solely focused on helping businesses trade better promises. You don't do that by making up reality. There are other circles for that kind of fiction in Dante Alighieri's work.

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I was intrigued by the relaunch of Brand Karma recently.

Many are looking at the current crisis as an opportunity to get back to real value creation. To me, value creation is about trading better promises, which in turn give strength, resilience, and edurance back to the business.

As I said last week at the keynote workshop for Social IRL, brand is one asset -- a very visible and talked about -- yet still only one among the many each business has. I define brand as the sum of promises made, promises kept and the unbounded expectations market.

 

Value is about closing the gap -- reducing the cognitive dissonance between what was promised and what was delivered. Which is where social media is so valuable in realigning expectations with the trade and integrating additional meaning into the trade. 

 

[image of Paul Revere statue]

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Comments

[David]

I appreciate the article. It seems to all come down to integrity and respect.

[Valeria Maltoni]

honesty has a role as well. The Golden Rule is a good rule of thumb in relationships.

[Brian Driggs]

Promises made and promises kept. In other words, saying what you mean and meaning what you say - and then following through, consistently, to actually DO it.

I agree completely. Greater value is communicated through more meaningful promises and realized through the keeping of those promises.

Tremendous opportunity in this regard.

[Valeria Maltoni]

then you look at how consistently you are able to trade better promises, which allows you to trade your brand as an asset. The higher the trust, the more people are willing to trade, etc.

[jason walker]

Paul Revere must have had a great PR agent then!

[Valeria Maltoni]

what happens when the real story catches up with a business/person? We're seeing a glimpse of that now. Public relationships vs. propaganda ends up making for better trade.

[Emily Holmes]

Paul Revere did have an excellent publicist: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow - who wrote "Paul Revere's Ride" in 1860 more than 40 years after Revere's death. I recommend checking your facts (for example Revere did not reach Concord that night - he returned to Lexington - his original destination - after being released by the British Officers) here at our website: www.paulreverehouse.org/ride/real.html and reading his OWN words here: masshist.org/online/gallery/doc-viewer.php?pid=16&item_id=99 on the Mass Historical Society's website. -Emily Holmes, Education Director, Paul Revere House

[Valeria Maltoni]

And he now has a precise historian on his side, albeit one who might want to consider checking her tone. I don't see a mention of "that night" in my post. Of course, you and I both know the point I was making was another.

Thank you for the links, and for the all caps, lest I miss *your* point, Emily. Some of my best teachers employed the skills of persuasion and empathy. Food for thought, possibly.