How to charm corporate personalities for alignment đ
As a product or marketing leader crafting a sustainable subscription product business, building consensus is key to gaining stakeholder support for experimentation and growth. But various corporate personalities can derail even well-developed plans. To charm them into alignment, adopt the identity of the corporate VIPER.
You're no doubt familiar with the boardroom HIPPOđŠ, whose opinion reigns supreme based on seniority and pay grade alone. But beyond the HIPPO lies a whole corporate zoo of personalities that can potentially disrupt optimization efforts:
WOLFđș - Working On the Latest Fire - disrupts team focus by constantly raising urgent issues
RHINO đŠ - Really High-value New Opportunity - fragments the product by laser-focusing on pet projects
ZEBRA đŠ - Zero Evidence But Really Arrogant - relies on instinct and ego over data and research
Any one of these corporate animals can undermine the hard work you've done gathering customer insights, setting strategic goals, and developing thoughtful experiments. After months collaborating with stakeholders, gathering data, testing hypotheses, and setting methodical optimization plans, it's incredibly frustrating when arbitrary opinions lacking equivalent logic come in to derail progress.
You know your proposals are rooted in customer truth, designed to create sustainable value, and methodically validated. But when a HIPPO, WOLF, RHINO or ZEBRA interjects based on seniority, urgency, pet projects or ego, it can feel like you're back to square one. All that work gathering insights, setting goals, and plotting a course can feel wasted when sidetracked.
Any of these can undermine your hard work gathering insights, testing hypotheses, and developing optimizations. It's frustrating when arbitrary opinions lacking logic derail progress rooted in customer truth and rigorous validation.
To navigate these personalities, embrace the identity of the VIPER đ:
VISION - Consistently tie everything back to the core vision and objectives
INPUT - Demonstrate you've gathered input systematically across stakeholders
PRIORITIZATION - Have a clear prioritization process for evaluating opportunities
EVIDENCE - Provide quick proof points and research to support recommendations
Adopting the VIPER identity taps into psychologist James Clear's concept of identity-based habit forming. As Clear explains in Atomic Habits, we are more likely to act consistently with a chosen identity than from sheer motivation. Motivation fluctuates, so tying behaviors to identity creates lasting habits.
Chances are you already incorporate elements of the VIPER approach in your workflows, you may just need to bring it forward in the boardroom. Remember that stakeholders are often indirectly involved or new to the initiative. Take time to intentionally engage them, bringing context and rationale to build consensus and confidence behind your optimization plan.
Walk stakeholders through your VISION and tie all proposals back to core goals. Show how you gathered INPUT systematically from all sides to identify customer pain points. Outline your process for evaluating and PRIORITIZING opportunities for high-impact optimizations. And have EVIDENCE and RESEARCH at the ready to build confidence in your approach.
Rather than relying on motivation, consciously embody the identity of the VIPER - someone who builds alignment by tying to vision, gathers wide input, prioritizes methodically, and provides evidence. Make VIPER-consistent behaviors your habit.
The VIPER mentality helps create alignment even when stakeholders come from very different vantage points compared to your daily immersion in the product and customer research. Consider which corporate animals đŠ đș đŠ đŠ populate your boardroom and take care to charm each with the VIPER đ approach. It takes more upfront effort to bring everyone along, but pays off with smoother buy-in and execution down the line.
Weâre offering workshops for individuals and teams to learn and adopt the techniques weâve honed over 22 years of collaborating with enterprise leaders to gain alignment while driving growth. Let's connect if you want to discuss implementing the VIPER techniques for your subscriber growth initiatives.
