How Impact and Promise Work Together

Brooke Foley on Jun 23, 2023

“When a corporation brings on a diverse supplier, there’s some fear on the corporation’s side, right? It’s important for diverse suppliers to know that you, standing behind your promise, diminish that fear.” — Pam Isom, founder of ICE Safety Solutions.

Impact (n) – Having a strong effect on someone or something. A community. A small nation. An industry. A project. Or, just your commute home.

Promise (n) – A declaration or assurance that you will do a particular thing or that a particular thing will happen that is of value to someone else. It’s the seed ingredient of collaboration and trust.

Have you ever thought about how your promise IMPACTS others, including both your clients and colleagues? The impact of your brand stems from your promise, guided by your mission. Missions are rooted in purpose. Purpose ties back to an organization’s promise: a declaration of value, what you deliver—day in and day out dependably, scaleably and repeatedly.

Impact and promise also reflect a balance, given that we’re all human beings juggling multiple concerns. As diverse supplier Pam Isom explains, “There are lots of promises that I have to maintain on a daily basis, and it’s a push/pull. For sure, I cannot be all things to all people. But when I lay my head down at the end of the day, I’m going to ask myself this question: Was I great at one thing?”

Impact hits at two common diagnostic areas affecting countless organizations who seek to turn their unique story into a legacy of growth and change: 1. How your organization sets its vision, mission, and values. 2. How those definitional building blocks come together to activate your brand platform.

Vision, mission, and values of an organization.

Vision: Sets the dream in motion for “where now” and “There, then.”

Mission: A formal summary of aims and values of a company, organization, or individual. Mission defines what, who, and why of a company.

Values: Operating principles; how you deliver on the promise of your company.

Brand platform activation – Codifying WHAT your company stands for, and what it delivers (why, and to whom!).

Position: This is where your brand sits in a category relative to competitors.

Promise: What you deliver, day in, and day out that is of value to your most focused audience. This ties into your mission statement. Setting a course for impact your brand will make.

Support: How you backup/defend your promise, i.e., how many years you’ve been in business, what services and capabilities you offer, types of talent you’ve acquired, awards won, certifications, and more.

When an enterprise or a solopreneur achieves alignment between their mission (purpose statement designed to guide impact) and their promise (delivery on commitment of value), the two reinforce each other in ways that benefit the organization inside and out. Ensuring resources are optimized to create outcomes that are measurable, drive value, and become defendable in your support. Here are a few examples of how an Impact and Promise Work Together.

Jayne Agency and MBE magazine caught up with Pam Isom, founder of ICE Safety Solutions, to talk more about the impact her business has on the communities and world around ICE Solutions based on promise and impact.

Q: Why is keeping your promise so important?

Isom: ICE Safety Solutions is a safety service firm protecting our client’s most critical asset, their PEOPLE. We promise our customers: TO BE SURE NO EMPLOYEE BECOMES ILL, INJURED, OR LOSES A LIFE.

Q: Where does vision come into this? How did you find your vision in the space of safety?

Isom: When I was 16, I became a lifeguard as a summer job. I took CPR, learned it, and filed it away. Then a few weeks later, my dad had a heart attack. I thought he was joking around. Then when he went down, I’m like, “Oh my gosh, he’s really having a heart attack.” So my training kicked in. My dad survived, and that’s where I fell in love with the human heart. I continued that pursuit. I earned a degree in biological sciences. And my first pharmaceutical research job was in heart research. So again, I was just following my passion and my heart. So that’s kind of really how it began.

Q: What impact has your promise had on the world around you?

Isom: We do this by providing safety training, medical equipment, strategic safety plans, and consulting. If we do not fulfill our promise, it will be a matter of life and death, literally.

Q: How do you contend with fear and anxiety in the arena of safety?

Isom: We always say, “With safety, fear.” Fear is False Excuses Appearing Real. False. Excuses. Appearing. Real. If we can get over the false excuse that’s appearing real, that’s causing the fear, then we can get you through any emergency whether it be a storm, an earthquake, an active shooter, or a cardiac arrest.

Q: How might this insight apply to the diverse supplier space?

Isom: When a corporation brings on a diverse supplier, there’s some fear on the corporation’s side, right? Is this supplier big enough? Can they scale? Can they deliver what they say? I think it’s important for diverse suppliers to know that you, standing behind your promise, diminish that fear.

Q: How do you make an impact in your space?

Isom: A lot of our impact in safety comes from competence. Many of us watched the Monday Night Football game where the player, [Damar] Hamlin, collapsed. That really moved the country because there was a good part of the viewership that felt unprepared. What if that happened to me? What if I were in that situation? But I’m coming at it from a unique angle in that I’m trained to act and react in that type of situation. And someone we train could have acted and reacted with the same level of competence that saved someone like Mr. Hamlin’s life. Talk about impact!

Q: What happens if you don’t keep your promise? What happens to your business if your business doesn’t keep its promise?

Isom: If we do not keep our promise to exceed expectations and keep their staff and contractors safe, people could become ill, injured or lose a life or, the corporation could undergo significant [Occupational Safety and Health Administration] compliance fines, be shut down or people could lose their lives and livelihood.

To learn more about how Pam sees her promise impacting the world around her, listen to the Beyond the Logo podcast, a Content Series between Jayne Agency and MBE Magazine, on How Impact and Promise Work Together.

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