We’ve all been in offices/establishments and seen posters/pictures hanging on the walls that communicate the values of that particular business. But, rarely will you see something like this:

Bob Filner is officially banned from entering any Hooters in San Diego

From Slate:

According to the manager of that restaurant, all of the Hooters locations in the city (Rancho Bernardo is in the zone) have taken up this policy. “The signs went up at our four locations in San Diego this morning,” said Melissa Fry, director of marketing for HootWinc, the west coast Hooters franchise. “It’s not a political move for us in any way, shape, or form. We’re strictly taking a stand for the fair treatment of women. At our franchise alone, we employ 1100 beautiful, talented women.” And so Mayor Bob Filner, who has been locked out of city hall, has just been locked out of this fine family restaurant.

Now, there are people who will look at this move by Hooters with skepticism and say that they are doing it as a PR stunt. Which might and might not be the case. Who knows. But, for a moment, forget about this being Hooters. I have nothing against them. I’m just using them to make a point.

And the point is that if only actions like these were taken before the fact, the world would be very different.

You see, to stand for anything is to stand for nothing. How many businesses do you know that stand for something as opposed to just selling something?

People, businesses and institutions that stand for something have standards. What are your standards? How are you communicating that? How are you making it happen? How do people know what you stand for?

Answering questions like these is what it takes to understand what it really means to be different.

Key takeaway: Have an opinion before thinking about strategy.