Last week I attended the Sage Summit, where I spoke on digital’s impact on retail. While I was there, I had the opportunity to see Sir Richard Branson, the founder of Virgin Group, speak. The topic was entrepreneurship – a fitting one for a conference focused small businesses. But there are lessons for retailers of all sizes, even as those lessons raise some interesting questions about the role of business in general.

First, some context. I’m constantly fascinated by the evolution of the shopper. Between the rise of the digital consumer (the one armed with mobile phones and who increasingly begins her shopping journey online), and the rise of the Millennial shopper (the one who is more digitally native to begin with, and who expects to let brands into her life only if they have distinct meaning to her), there have been some tectonic shifts in consumer behavior – in how they shop, and in how they engage with brands.

Where it becomes most interesting is around philanthropy. Millennials (in general, and keeping in mind that we’re talking about anywhere from 70-81 million people in the US alone, depending on how you count them) increasingly demand meaning from the companies they engage with. This may be companies they work for, or companies they do business with, even if the “business ” is as transactional as buying soap. Thus, the rise of companies like Toms, where philanthropy – buy one, give one – is central to the brand.

Most retailers have a philanthropy arm – a foundation of some sort. Most of them give to causes that either have a connection to the founders of the company, or deal with community in some way. Target, with a strong cadre of young moms as a core shopping group, gives generously to schools, basing the donations off of local business. The more your local community supports Target, the more Target supports your local schools.

Usually, though, the company’s philanthropy is off to the side. You usually find the company’s giving information next to investor relations on the corporate website. I’ve only ever seen companies actively advertise their philanthropy as a response to some kind of public relations need, like after a bunch of bad press. Or maybe it’s rolled into the company’s annual report.

So, if you have a corporate giving program already, but it’s not central to your brand, what do you do with this seeming demand from Millennials that your brand have meaning in order for them to be willing to let you into their lives?

Enter Virgin Group. You look at Branson’s collection of companies, and on the surface, there’s no rhyme or reason there. Philanthropy plays a large role in his business but is it central to the Virgin brand?

Well, actually, yes it is. Because what Branson defines as the core component that is central to all of his companies is entrepreneurship. Specifically, seeing a problem or something that is wrong, and doing something to fix it. Doesn’t really matter what that something is, as long as effort is made to properly understand the problem, and bring together the right people to fix it. Everything from Virgin Galactic to The Elders is a Virgin Group (or Branson) effort that falls into that definition.

If even that level of eclecticness has a base of meaning underneath it, then the answer to my earlier question is, yes, your brand needs to have meaning. If your current philanthropic efforts fit easily into your core brand value proposition, then your company’s corporate giving should be more front and center, especially in digital channels. And if your current philanthropic efforts do not fit easily into your brand’s core value, then you should develop some activities that do fit.

Here’s where I can still hear my grandmother’s voice. Maybe this is a generational gap which exactly explains the difference between older generations and the perspectives of Millennials. I was taught that philanthropy is a private thing. I donate time. I donate money. But I don’t make a big deal about it. Celebrating my own giving seems like a really self-serving thing that is antithetical to the meaning of philanthropy in the first place.

To be fair, I can see where Millennials are coming from. When, just as you were entering the job market, you see extreme corporateerism nearly destroy the economy, you might be thinking you don’t want to be a part of that world. And it’s not that much more of a step to demand that if you are going to give your time and soul to a company that is not going to return the favor anyway, you might as well demand that the company be not just a good corporate citizen, but one that is trying to make the world a better place. And it’s not very far from that to demanding this from all the companies in your life, including the ones you buy products from.

How do you marry these two opposing views? Branson had the answer at Sage Summit. He didn’t come right out and say it, but I’ll summarize: it’s okay for companies to have emotions. It’s okay for emotion to play a role in how you engage with each other within the company, and in how you engage with your company’s customers. It comes out of that entrepreneurial core – in order to solve a problem, you have to understand the problem. In design thinking terminology, you have to have empathy – and that means feeling the problem, living the problem. Not just analyzing it. Emotion.

Brands need to have emotions too. They increasingly don’t have much choice. They can’t sit out the culture wars, as they’re more often being called to take sides in things like what signs they put on the bathrooms, or whether they have toy aisles segmented by pink and blue. But just like with anything else, if you don’t have a plan for the emotional components of your brand, then it’s not that your brand has no emotions associated with it. What happens is you cede the definition of your brand’s personality to others. Or it emerges by default – and the default may not be what you intended.

Branson closed his keynote with this: “A good leader must lavish praise and look for the best in people. If you don’t water a flower it will shrivel up. We need a lot more love and praise in companies these days. “

Something to think about – and not just for employees. For customers too.