So many unmatched socks.

Such TRU potential.

Someone asked me what the ‘TRU’ meant in my business name, TRU2U. 

As I started to describe it,  I found myself sounding more like a Marvel character designed to turn  bad operators into good, or unseemly corporate actors into good guys.

The truth is, for 3 decades, I have worked with organizations who seek to ‘make change’, ‘restore good’ or ‘do less bad’ if that’s the case. To be honest, most of the brands that I have worked with have been genuinely high integrity, good actors.

Still. 

 I could see the expression on my friend’s face. They were still confused. 

It started simply enough, defining a process that I came up with years ago, to help organizations get back to the beginning and back to the reasons they wanted to be change makers in the first place. 

“The TRU part is really a process”, I told him, “that leads to helping a team re-find their vision, their reason for being, and the change they always wanted to make.” The process works by answering a set of questions that are designed to lead them back to the time when they had an idea, a spark and a reason for making change.  Everyone remembers what they didn’t like back when, and the things they wanted to change.

The spark was the thing that got them up everyday and got them to start the business or organization they set out to build. 

Then life happens. 

Money runs out, staff turns over, culture shifts, and we forget about what’s TRU for us, for our team, for our sector, issue or reason for being. Keeping that change going, refreshed and energized takes work. 

Folding the laundry today I realized that fanning the flames of what’s TRU is a little bit like making sure the socks are always matched, or the junk drawer is organized or the garage is not a disaster. We all have places in our lives that get ignored - not because we don’t see the mess in the junk drawer or the pile of unmatched socks - we do see it. 

But it’s easier to look away. 

It’s easier to just say to yourself, “I’ll deal with that when I have time.” 

But we never make the time.

We do the things in front of us  - the email, the fundraising, the event, the conference, the staff meeting, the holiday party. There’s never time.

So the spark, the change we seek to make, sits like words on the website, in the mission and in our development materials. 

But like the unmatched socks, we haven’t tended to that spark in a long time. 

Imagine if we had a sock or junk drawer reckoning every year. Imagine if we reached out to our networks, partners, customers and other stakeholders and asked them what’s changed, how we could serve them better. 

These days, the TRU part of my work is not just rediscovering and rekindling that initial spark, but rather the tapping into the generosity sitting dormant within so many organizations with workplace talent built to take on change. (so many unmatched socks!) 

When I started in the business of social change communications and brand-building, most of us were inspired by the early adopters. The brands I worked with were pioneers, mavericks, heroes of the movement. Their visionary leadership made headlines, grew revenues, generated acquisitions from big companies looking to get into natural foods, organic, sustainable, innovative and green. 

Today, green is ubiquitous. Net-zero, ESG, CSR, purpose and impact-driven are commonplace metrics. Despite that, teams aren’t fired up and organizations aren’t keeping pace with the change needed to solve the big, intractable issues in front of us. 

To be TRU, I believe, is now to lean into your team, not an outside agency or consultancy for the answers. You know your organization and its capabilities best, and creative talent is often untapped. My facilitation in this role has seen teams get fired up, take on issues across the company, and extend their potential throughout.

In this way, the TRUbrand process taps inside talent and the teams are the ones that keep it going forward. Their passion, knowledge and talent is already there - part of today’s workforce’s DNA. These are the kids that grew up recycling, coding, innovating, looking for impact companies and wanting to make change. 

The TRU part now, is not only getting back to the founder’s spark, but extending it to everyone you serve. With the sock drawer of newly matched socks, imagine the potential for generosity once that brainstorm begins within your organization.

It can take you to the most surprising places.