Podcast: Innovating Without Losing Your Core

Today’s Wave Report is a short one. For the next couple of weeks, our family will be taking time to travel and create memories as we conclude our Joie de Vivre – our summer living en France.

Joie de vivre is a French saying that means the “joy of life.” As in, “they are filled with joie de vivre.” 

Joie de Vivre is about being fully present in the moment and with the people in front of you. The joy of living is not only about happiness, but about embracing whatever life offers in the moment. 

For the next three weeks, I will share recently released episodes of the Purpose & Profit Podcast, our show about the surprising ideas at the intersection of nonprofit causes and for-profit brands.

This week’s featured episode is about embracing innovation without losing your core customers.

Dickies and Fashion: How to Innovate without Losing Your Core

In this episode, we sit down with Donna Lucas, an experienced for-profit and non-profit leader who has helped transform big-time businesses like Dickies, Adidas, and Benetton. 

Today, Donna is the Chief Marketing Officer at Joni and Friends, a nonprofit organization serving the nearly 1 billion people worldwide who live with disabilities. 

In the episode, Donna shares a story from her time at Dickies, the famous American workwear and apparel brand, illustrating lessons on how to introduce new innovative products and techniques while maintaining core customers. Through innovation, Dickies became more than a brand for industrial workers but was able to transition into an international brand for all workers. Donna reveals some helpful how-to insights on how this exciting change was made possible – and what this could mean for you and your organization.

Listen today:

Season 4, Episode 8

Dickies and Fashion: How to Innovate without Losing Your Core

Episode Topics:

  • Recognizing ways your core customers are changing.

  • How you can evolve without losing your identity.

  • What innovation looks like for non-profits.

Find out more about Donna at www.linkedin.com/in/donnamlucas and Joni and Friends at www.joniandfriends.org.

I hope you enjoy our conversation.

Until next week… Surfs Up! 🌊

  - Dave

P.S. We’ve closed admissions for our Sustainer Growth Coaching Program. If you want to grow your recurring giving program and would like to be added to the list for when we announce the next cohort, register online at www.imago.consulting/coaching.

About the Author | Dave Raley

Consultant, speaker, and writer Dave Raley is the founder of Imago Consulting, a firm that helps non-profits and businesses create profitable growth through sustainable innovation. He’s the author of a weekly trendspotting report called The Wave Report, and the co-founder of the Purpose & Profit Podcast — a show about the ideas at the intersection of nonprofit causes and for-profit brands.

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Practices at the Intersection of Innovation and Impact (Podcast)

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