Searching for Certainty Inside the New Canadian Mindset

Afterword Navigating the New Canadian Mindset: A Dozen Rules of the Road 1. IT'S ALL ABOUT TRUST The future will be dominated by the competition for public trust. Canadians are increasingly turning to "trustmarks" to sort through the cluttered marketplace of an information economy. For organizations interacting with individual Canadians, trustmarks will supercede the trademarks of old. A trustmark goes well beyond a good brand name. The brand provides the entry point to the product. Today, people are seeking guidance of a higher order. We want to be able to judge quickly if the information coming our way about products to buy, decisions to make, causes to support is authoritative, credible, and reliable. We aren't seeking a signal about the quality of the product as much as the trustworthiness of the producer whether it be a corporation, charity, or political leader. The default position of the new Canadian mindset tends to be set on skepticism rather than trust. Therefore, the trustmark holder possesses an asset as rare and valuable as platinum. Trustmark stewardship will become one of the top tasks of modern ceos. Leaders must excel beyond the traditional management skills of finance, strategy, and marketing to master the political skills necessary to forge trusting relationships with the new knowledge consumers. 2. THE NEW KNOWLEDGE CITIZEN/CONSUMER IS KING The marriage of the most highly educated generation in our history and the information technology known as the Internet places phenomenal power in the hands of a newly enfranchised class of knowledge citizens and consumers. Information has been democratized, giving rise to heretofore-unprecedented demands for choice in everything we do. The mentality of "there is no alternative" no longer suffices; we will create our own alternatives if the official offerings don't satisfy. Indeed, the motherlode wealth of information now available to individuals and groups is giving rise to a revolutionary power shift from producers to consumers. Producers and governments are under pressure as never before to deliver results and be accountable for performance. Combine this heightened consumer assertiveness with a diminution of brand loyalty and you will see the potential for businesses, voluntary groups and political parties, which may have taken decades to build, to be destroyed in the blink of a cursor. Witness our swift abandonment in the 1990s of long-standing institutions such as the Red Cross, Eaton's and the Progressive Conservative party. The challenges posed by the new knowledge consumer/citizen are obvious, but so are the competitive advantages for those who can relate to a more informed and wilful population. 3. WHAT I WANT IS CONTROL WHAT I NEED IS CERTAINTY What the new knowledge consumer most desires is a greater measure of control in an unstable and insecure world. Our craving for control is not an end in itself but a means of enhancing certainty of outcome. (Is this the best medical treatment for me? Am I receiving the training that will secure my career goals?) The new mindset demands to know how the story ends, and a means to intervene if the ending appears unsatisfactory. Canadians are less willing than ever to entrust the narrative to the powers that be. Producers and governments therefore are going to have to be able to articulate their vision and persuade consumers and citizens not just of their intended destination but of how they plan to get there. Those with a compelling vision and a convincing plan are best positioned to satisfy the search for certainty. Those, in contrast, who hide behind glib sales pitches will learn how swift and harsh public judgement can be. 4. MULTICULTURALISM IS THE NEW DEMOGRAPHIC MEGATREND Our traditional view of the three founding nationBricker, Darrell is the author of 'Searching for Certainty Inside the New Canadian Mindset' with ISBN 9780385259675 and ISBN 0385259670.