Sometimes a profound revelation lies beneath the most ho-hum wrapper, like a corporate strategy slogan. Often these pithy sayings arrive laden with compromise – you can almost feel the eye-rolling meetings that led to their development, the bevy of consultants and facilitators and designers who did their best to polish up the results.

But this week, with one corporate leadership team, the strategy was simply “AND.” We can invest in our employees AND this is good for our profits. We can offer our customers value AND this accelerates amazing new product development. We can contribute in our community AND this supports provide good returns for our investors.

To some this sounds Pollyannaish, and to others it sounds like common sense. But to see the CFO’s eyebrows rise up as he described the better margins that followed wage increases, and how this reframed all of the lessons from his basic financial training…. Well, that was something.

Dear ones, where have we misplaced an OR? Where are we feeling pulled between two things that might actually coexist, or even strengthen one another?

Where could an AND change something big?

Smart AND kind.

Generous AND protective.

Committed AND flexible.

Open AND strong.

Operating margins are the least of it.

Let’s see what might be possible.