COMMENTARY: A brand new focus?

Political rancor in the United States might have the unintended effect of tarnishing the country’s trade and investment brand    It has been said that a brand is the sum of all the promises that a company makes. I believe that people have brands and that countries also have brands.
   I can’t remember a time when the country felt this divided–maybe in the late sixties or early seventies–but I was too young to remember that. The primaries, the elections and the subsequent first few months of this presidency have left America a polarized place. Regardless of whether you are a fan of this president of not, you cannot help but to see and feel the divisiveness and the rancor.
   Throughout my career, I have had the good fortune of traveling around the world. I have done business in over 35 countries and been witness to cultures from all over the world. Some of the elements that this great country has always stood for are unity, integrity, healthy debate, due process and opportunity.
   Yet, in the last four countries that I visited, I have gotten questions about whether or not those values still apply to America. To be clear, I believe that they do still apply. Yet, the brand that we are projecting to the world is not always consistent. And, as any branding expert will tell you, consistency in branding is critical.
   As countries and the business people that underpin them decide where they would like to trade and invest, they are making decisions based on data and assumptions. Based on the news and data that is leaving the United States and being promulgated around the globe, businesses are forming new assumptions about who they would like to trade with and where they would like to invest.
   And, based on the shift in the questions that I have been receiving in my international travels, I can only surmise that those business people are feeling less certain about the United States than they have in the past.
   As Americans, we have a role and a say in what our brand should be. It may feel like the mountain is too big for us to move individually, but together, we can rise above the rancor and the discord to project the unified brand of unity, integrity, healthy debate, due process and opportunity for which America has been known. I have seen what we are capable of in the past and just witnessed it on President’s Day in Washington, D.C.
   I was in Washington for a volleyball tournament in which my daughter was playing. On the first morning of the tournament, as I entered the convention center that had been turned into 120 volleyball courts, a volleyball player had been recruited to sing the national anthem. And, as more than 20,000 players, parents, coaches and officials walked to their designated courts, we all stopped, looked for the nearest American flag, removed our hats and unified as Americans. For the duration of the national anthem, there was absolute unity. There was no rancor, no divisiveness, just Americans unified.
   I am hopeful that we can restore our country’s brand and regain the confidence of countries and businesses around the world. I am hopeful that the unity that we all feel during the national anthem becomes a more permanent and consistent sentiment for Americans and that we project that unanimity, globally.

Tom Nightingale is a longtime freight transportation and logistics specialist.