Screw It. Let's Ride.

What a great ad!  That was the first thought when getting knocked over by the full-page, back-cover ad on the Money section of USA TODAY on Friday.

Harley-Davidson Motor Cycles became a leader by figuring out what the customer experience was and turned it into a culture.  It's not about them.  It's all about you and the person you think you are, trying to bust free. 

There's a lot of reasons to love this ad.  First of all, we salute creativity and good writing.  Next, we realize that advertising is necessary to sell stuff and pay for things we like to have at lower costs, such as newspapers, magazines, websites, and trade shows. 

This ad is all about what is going on with the economy--the biggest thing on everyone's mind.  It's about how you feel about it and what it possibly means to you.  Look closely.  What do you notice about this ad that is different from most ads?  There is not one word about the product, the features, the benefits, specifications, the price, the location of dealers, or the great people and management of Harley-Davidson.  Not a peep.  It's all about what is in your head and because of that, it totally connects. .

It's mostly words and just the hint of a motorcycle with an illustration of a pair of hands on the handlebars.  It says:
The other side of fear is courage.
The other end of Wall Street connects with millions of better roads, all leading far from the stink of greed & billion dollar bankruptcies.
If it was all just a casino, where were the complimentary cocktails?
Metal is our currency. 
It''s value is on the rise, even as wealth on paper spontaneously combusts.
So we'll still lend to those putting in long days. 
The American ideal of work & reward does not diminish with the stock market.
Screw it. 
Let's ride.

The lesson for all who wish to have leading companies and leading associations is clear.  Become an expert at what your customers, members, constituents think, want, say about you and expect to see coming from you next.  Then talk about that--not your product, your service, your blah blah blah.

Leadership is about the courage and connection with what empowers those most important to you--the people who buy from you and refer others to you.

When we think of the leadership of Harley-Davidson, we also think of the association executives our firm has served, who look like really important, impressive leaders of prestigious national associations by day, in their three-piece suits.  These include Dr. Michael Jones (OD), Executive Director of the American Optometric Association and Linda Beverly, CAE, Vice President -Administration for the International Facility Management Association.  They love their Harleys and some weekends see them putting hundreds of miles on their respective odometers.  These leaders are all about courage and connection as well. 

Maybe that's what happens when you live the life of who you were really meant to be.

Comments

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Wonderful saying....so short and sweet and to the point. But it does make an impression on one's own medulla oblongata. Reminds me so much of the ill-fated flight 93 "Let's Roll" saying which I have definitely seen applied to many print ads and on some television commercials. Sayings like this leave that ubiquitous mental "imprint". Good seeing it in the forefront and brought up!