Many years ago, in a student-led sustainable apparel project with an Arts and Design school, TRU2U was born. It was a simple idea  – that any company that was manufacturing stuff, should be transparent, or TRU, about materials, working conditions, and every aspect of a supply chain, from making to selling. 

To the students, it seemed simple. If we make the most basic of things – underwear, for example, we will brand it TRU2U and be transparent to both sides of the story – the back story of the maker as well as the product attributes from the seller. Both sides, the students argued, would make you feel good about wearing it. 

Years later, when TRU2U the underwear concept didn’t make it through our second round of funding, we resurrected the branding process that we created to design, develop and map the brand’s path forward, and tried it on other organizations that were looking for a discovery, research and social impact/sustainability plan. When we applied it to others, it made a world of difference, not just for branding but also for their business strategy, their development goals, their impact and their communications. 

Because it worked so well and gave our clients clearer insight into their core businesses and a path forward, we didn’t feel so bad that the underwear start up failed. You could say, we lost our underwear, but not our shirt. 

To this day, TRUbranding and this process is the core of what we offer. 

When someone asks me what I do, I often say that I am in the business of helping change-makers  – social entrepreneurs, brands, NGOs, non-profits, to discover what they do and where they are going with social impact communications. I often think back to how simple it seemed to our students, but now have the years of experience to see what happens when an organization loses track of where they are going or why they got going in the first place. 

The truth is, our daily lives often become more about making the trains run. We don’t have the luxury of pausing to question: why did we get started; where did we come from; what do we want to risk to get there; and other essential questions that will get us to ‘better’. 

When you have a process that takes you back to the beginning and starts with revealing ‘who, why, what,’ (and some other questions) –  real insights are born. Add to that, the best of your team and some key stakeholders, and it becomes a time machine of AHA moments. Once you map that out, it can be a compass to help you achieve your biggest goals and to accomplish what you set out to do. 

One way to think of this process is to remember that scene in the Wizard of OZ at the end of the movie when Dorothy is distraught that she will never get her one wish – to get back to Kansas, until Galinda, the good witch, tells her she has always had the power all along. Once she names what’s most important, closes her eyes, and trusts, she finds herself where she wanted to be all along. 

Take the pause, mine your truths, and work each day toward that place that only your organization and talented group of people, can achieve.