DZone
Thanks for visiting DZone today,
Edit Profile
  • Manage Email Subscriptions
  • How to Post to DZone
  • Article Submission Guidelines
Sign Out View Profile
  • Post an Article
  • Manage My Drafts
Over 2 million developers have joined DZone.
Log In / Join
Refcards Trend Reports Events Over 2 million developers have joined DZone. Join Today! Thanks for visiting DZone today,
Edit Profile Manage Email Subscriptions Moderation Admin Console How to Post to DZone Article Submission Guidelines
View Profile
Sign Out
Refcards
Trend Reports
Events
Zones
Culture and Methodologies Agile Career Development Methodologies Team Management
Data Engineering AI/ML Big Data Data Databases IoT
Software Design and Architecture Cloud Architecture Containers Integration Microservices Performance Security
Coding Frameworks Java JavaScript Languages Tools
Testing, Deployment, and Maintenance Deployment DevOps and CI/CD Maintenance Monitoring and Observability Testing, Tools, and Frameworks
Culture and Methodologies
Agile Career Development Methodologies Team Management
Data Engineering
AI/ML Big Data Data Databases IoT
Software Design and Architecture
Cloud Architecture Containers Integration Microservices Performance Security
Coding
Frameworks Java JavaScript Languages Tools
Testing, Deployment, and Maintenance
Deployment DevOps and CI/CD Maintenance Monitoring and Observability Testing, Tools, and Frameworks
  1. DZone
  2. Culture and Methodologies
  3. Career Development
  4. How Do You Connect Employees And Their Passion To The Brand?

How Do You Connect Employees And Their Passion To The Brand?

Steve Farnsworth user avatar by
Steve Farnsworth
·
Feb. 21, 13 · Interview
Like (0)
Save
Tweet
Share
2.90K Views

Join the DZone community and get the full member experience.

Join For Free

Often companies “roll out the new re-branding” to employees. and the marketing team then quickly puts a check mark in the done box and they’re on to the next. Often brand managers focus only on the communications deliverables and not the holistic reality of creating passionate brand ambassadors from within the company.

B2B, midsized companies, and especially tech companies are notorious for this painful disconnect. Not many companies are deeper tech than Xilinx. They design and supply programmable electronic systems. For simplicity just think semiconductors. Yet, they are a well branded company, which is unusual for their industry.

How Do They That Make That Happen?

They have warehouses full of uber smart engineers who are also passionate about the brand. One of the reasons is a concept that communications and branding pro Rachel Watkins‘ calls “Drawing a Line of Sight.” Engineers love creating their hard tech, but they are human, too. (Who knew?) They have the same need to understand how what they do impacts the real world. Xilinx has research to prove employees’ need for understanding their connection to the customer and the bigger picture.

Rachel is Xilinx’s Director of Internal Communications. She and her team look to make that connection for the employees. They seek out opportunities that let them see what they are a part of and the important things their work make happen.
Touching Mars

One of her team’s goals is to show employees that the technology or system they created enabled an advanced surgical robot to save lives, allowed the Mars Rover to travel across another planet, or even let millions of people back here on Earth talk to they people they love. This simple act ignites their passion for what they do. Now when a Xilinx’s employee is asked what they do at a party or backyard BBQ, they can talk about how they change peoples lives or ventured to other worlds.

Now, not every company has gadgets that have been shot into space or save lives, but all companies have a product or service that makes their customers’ lives better. If you don’t already know what that is for your company, you need to go talk to them right now! There is branding gold in those stories.

Reprinted with permission.

teams Engineer Connection (dance) Concept (generic programming) Space (architecture) Design Gold (linker) Travel

Opinions expressed by DZone contributors are their own.

Popular on DZone

  • How to Submit a Post to DZone
  • What Was the Question Again, ChatGPT?
  • A Brief Overview of the Spring Cloud Framework
  • Microservices Discovery With Eureka

Comments

Partner Resources

X

ABOUT US

  • About DZone
  • Send feedback
  • Careers
  • Sitemap

ADVERTISE

  • Advertise with DZone

CONTRIBUTE ON DZONE

  • Article Submission Guidelines
  • Become a Contributor
  • Visit the Writers' Zone

LEGAL

  • Terms of Service
  • Privacy Policy

CONTACT US

  • 600 Park Offices Drive
  • Suite 300
  • Durham, NC 27709
  • support@dzone.com
  • +1 (919) 678-0300

Let's be friends: