The Engaging Brand

Day 3 of Leaders in London

This morning at the Leaders in London conference, I heard an interesting look at the world from Sir Martin Sorrell who gave 7 areas that leaders should be looking at as part of the future strategy

1. Globalisation. America used to dominate but the economic power is shifting to Asia,Latin America and Africa.
2. Overcapacity. All industries are producing more than the consumption needs. That means differentiation is key and even more importantly intangible differentiation - which means that talent will become a central driver to growth.
3. Web. Yes the web, yes the technology but also the human side as well. Talent is being given more choice....and the web is drawing them rather than monolithic organisations.
4. Distribution. Retailers have the power, which means that margins will increasingly come under pressure. The only way to grow is through innovation and branding. Innovation can do without branding but branding cannot live without innovation.
5. CSR. Now on each companies agenda - Branson, Gates, Gore are putting CSR on the agenda.
6. Structure. There should be 2 focuses for business - globalisation and country. Regional management will lesson in importance.
7. Internal Communications. People are the most important resource and becoming a limited resource. The ability to communicate vision, mergers, structure will increase in importance. We need to reduce the waste on time from people's inability to work together.

Recipe for Business Success

I often get asked about how to 'create employee engagement', now as much as I don't believe you can create it, I believe that there are elements that encourage and develop the right environment for it to flourish. Here is an initial Engaging Brand recipe, but watch out for improvements...feel free to make suggestions!

Ingredients

2oz 'Zest' of a Future Vision and a Zest for action
2oz 'Self Raising' Development for all the Talents
2oz  Eggs...emplary living to the values by the leaders
2oz Clarity Oil (To coat the accountability, objectives, vision and  measures of success)
2oz Raising agent for ideas.
2oz Undiluted Appreciation for great work

Mix a diverse set of people who share the values and the desire to the achieve the vision. Leave to ferment ideas and encourage collaboration by mixing continuously. Keep testing the mix and add talent as appropriate. Keep the mixture as flat as possible to allow responsibility and accountability to grow. Keep an eye on the heat and cool when required, but don't let the mixture cool completely as the heat will allow the mixture to bind together. Once the ingredients are ready, cook immediately before the flavour is lost or diluted

When each batch is completed, arrange a party to celebrate the achievement but keep focused on ensuring that the mixture is refined and remixed to improve the recipe of success. 

Please note local palettes will have local tastes refine the cooking times and balance of ingredients for the local culture.

Success tastes great.....the ingredients are there for you....understand that the recipe of success is a mix of many talents..respect each ingredient for what it brings to the final taste.

Day 2 Leaders in London - Sharing My Learnings

Carrying on from my recent posts here are some more titbits from the Leaders in London conference (They also have a blog about the learnings here)

Stephen Covey

• "What air is to the body, to be understood is to the heart"
• " We manage things that don't have the power to choose, we lead people who do have the power to choose"
• You can buy the body but not the mind, heart and spirit
• Forgiveness is an important skill to learn, if you don't it is the equivalence of drinking your own poison.
• When faced with a conflict, ask....Would you be willing to search for a solution that is better than what either of us have proposed?
• Leadership is a choice not a position

Nick Wheeler - Founder of Charles Tyrwhitt

• 3 important business principles - make your suppliers love you, make your employees love you and make your customers love you.
• Keep focused exclusively on your goal don't let anything distract you

A Creative Future

Wow, what a day - here are some more learnings/quotes from today's Leaders in London conference

Firstly from Andrew Zolli

• We live saturated in data...we need to look for great moments in communication to break free of the crowd.
• 3 Important trends:- Demographic Transformation, Thinking in Network Terms and the Rise of the Right Brained Economy
• Ebay seller feedback is now being used on CV's!
• Design and technology are the new differentiators to humanize capitalism
• 3 new jobs will come into the business world - Someone who understands demographics, one who understands networks and someone who understands the fusion of tech and design.

Secondly from David Cameron, his 3 lessons on leadership

• Be clear and bold about what you want to achieve from the start
• Be clear about yourself and honest about your strengths and weaknesses
• Understand what is happening at the macro level, understand the forces of change and develop plans that tap into that change

Thirdly from Edward De Bono

• You cannot move from certainty to certainty...you must look at the possibilities
• Data is still important but more important is the skills of interpretation and the skill of thinking how to use it
• Teaching thinking as a skill in schools improves results in the other subjects by between 30-100%
• Spend more time on possibilities than finding the truth

Leaders in London - Benjamin Zander

I am privileged this week to be at the Leaders in London conference, to hear some wonderful speakers - and hopefully grab a couple of guests for the podcast, so make sure you subscribe!
This morning I witnessed a masterclass in inspiring people from Benjamin Zander, the World Renowned Conductor. Here are some thoughts to share with you

• The secret of life is that...it is all still to be invented...
• My job as a leader is to awaken the possibility in others...
• Zander gives all his students an A when they arrive...why? ...."If you "invent" them as "A" students they quickly assume the mantle"
• The new leader's job is to create a powerful vision that allows room for things to occur that are as yet undreamed of..."
• Never say anything that you don't want to stand as your last words spoken...a lesson he learned from an Auschwitz survivor who never got to apologise to her brother for being short with him the last time she saw him.

I will make notes and share as many insights as possible throughout the 3 days - Why, because if these are the last words I ever get to type......I want them to help others.

Show # 126 - Conversational Marketing Pt2

Show 126 of The Engaging Brand  podcast is now live, ready just for you - your own free, personal audio show aimed at helping you create that success in your career.

Today is the second part of our conversation with Connie Reece who writes at the Every Dot Connects blog. Connie is a conversational marketing expert and co founder of the Social Media Club International.
 

Today, we talk further about conversational marketing - are we in danger of creating an echo chamber, how Dell is using social media to create customer and employee engagement, and how to write with a conversational tone to engage your audience.If you missed out on the Show 125 then here is the link to the first part of the conversation.

Remember to hop over to The Engaging Brand facebook group - and add your thoughts to the conversation!  If you have feedback on the show or want to contribute to the new leadership tip section then record an audio message by clicking on the recorder on the side of the blog or e-mail me at anna@theengagingbrand.com.

How you can listen to the Engaging Brand

1) You can listen on your PC now without downloading any software just press the play button!

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Learning, the Roosevelt Way

As many of you know, I love the sayings of Eleanor Roosevelt. I have just been reading You Learn by Living and here are some quotes to inspire the week ahead

• A leader must not get too far ahead or he will outdistance his followers; but he must move at least a step ahead.
• There is no human being from whom we cannot learn something if we are interested enough to dig deep.
• We can grow only as long as we are interested
• We cannot say "Nothing has changed," or "The old ways are best." The point is that the old conditions are gone and we are left confronting the new.
• Human relationships, like life itself, can never remain static. They grow or they diminish.
• Since everybody is an individual, nobody can be you. You are unique. No one can tell you how to use your time.It is yours.Your life is your own.You mold it.You make it.

As I always say, for everything that changes...such a lot stays the same...these quotes are from 1960, almost 50 years ago..but as relevant now as they were then.

Age of Conversation Revisited

Many of my wonderful American friends are celebrating Thanksgiving, a time when friends and family come together, much like a project that I contributed to earlier in the year.
The Age of Conversation was a book that 103 authors gave their time and content free of charge to create a wonderful book that has raised over $11,000 raised for Variety the Children's Charity. Fantastic...and tribute should be paid to Drew McLellan and Gavin Heaton for all their hard work.

We all want to raise even more money for charity - and therefore some news

As of November 30th...

• The hard cover version of the book will be discontinued.  (You can still buy it in bulk)
• The paperback version of the book will no longer be available directly through Lulu.com (again, can still be bought in bulk)
• The e-book will remain on Lulu.com for the same price

All of that makes way for:

The paperback version will appear on Amazon and other book sellers throughout the world.  (at an increased price to cover the book sellers' commissions.)

If you want a great book and also help to raise more money for charity then consider Age of Conversation both for yourself and even a present for Xmas! The list of authors is impressive

Gavin Heaton, Drew McLellan, CK, Valeria Maltoni, Emily Reed, Katie Chatfield, Greg Verdino, Lewis Green, Sacrum, Ann Handley, Mike Sansone, Paul McEnany, Roger von Oech, Anna Farmery, David Armano, Bob Glaza, Mark Goren, Matt Dickman, Scott Monty, Richard Huntington, Cam Beck, David Reich, Luc Debaisieux, Sean Howard, Tim Jackson, Patrick Schaber, Roberta Rosenberg, Uwe Hook, Tony D. Clark, Todd Andrlik, Toby Bloomberg, Steve Woodruff, Steve Bannister, Steve Roesler, Stanley Johnson, Spike Jones, Nathan Snell, Simon Payn, Ryan Rasmussen, Ron Shevlin, Roger Anderson, Robert Hruzek, Rishi Desai, Phil Gerbyshak, Peter Corbett, Pete Deutschman, Nick Rice, Nick Wright, Michael Morton, Mark Earls, Mark Blair, Mario Vellandi, Lori Magno, Kristin Gorski, Kris Hoet, G.Kofi Annan, Kimberly Dawn Wells, Karl Long, Julie Fleischer, Jordan Behan, John La Grou, Joe Raasch, Jim Kukral, Jessica Hagy, Janet Green, Jamey Shiel, s, Dr. Graham Hill, Gia Facchini, Geert Desager, Gaurav Mishra, Gary Schoeniger, Gareth Kay, Faris Yakob, Emily Clasper, Ed Cotton, Dustin Jacobsen, Tom Clifford, David Polinchock, David Koopmans, David Brazeal, David Berkowitz, Carolyn Manning, Craig Wilson, Cord Silverstein, Connie Reece, Colin McKay, Chris Newlan, Chris Corrigan, Cedric Giorgi, Brian Reich, Becky Carroll, Arun Rajagopal, Amy Jussel, AJ James, Kim Klaver, Sandy Renshaw, Susan Bird, Ryan Barrett, Troy Worman, S. Neil Vineberg, C.B. Whittemore, Mack Collier, Andy Nulman

Social Media is to business, as a canvas was to Picasso!

Look you have been reading this blog for a while, you know my train of thought is odd!

Today, I was thinking about branding and what we can learn from Picasso. Think of it....Picasso was a huge brand with many followers...so how did he create a world wide brand that continues to have brand evangelists even after his death.
P= Paint a vision of what you are seeing in your mind so that others can see what you are thinking.
I = It is not the medium that is important it is how you portray it, with your values...your character.
C =Create a premium through talent. Picasso once charged 100's of pounds for a quick sketch of a dog..the lady complained and said it only took you 5 minutes...Picasso said 'No, that took me a lifetime to create'
A= A canvas was needed to show the world. Ideas are great but unless you find a way to share the idea then no one will see it, no one will buy into it...social media is to business as a canvas was to Picasso!
S= Strong definition of your style differentiates you from others...you may lose some potential followers but the ones who love your work will evangelise about it.
S= Spot other talent than yourself...and cherish it. Picasso collected other artists like Matisse...he didn't ignore the competition he bought it!
O= Only through the brush, the paint, the canvas, the easel coming together with Picasso was the painting born. No matter how talented you always need a diverse set of resources around you to bring the dream alive

Winner of The Engaging Brand Competition

Last month I decided to give away many of my business books as a further way of giving something back to the world. I set a question based on my 5 Thoughts for Bonfire Night post - asking What is the best quote or saying that you know?

The draw has been made, with all the names in a hat and drawn by my lovely neighbour for true independence...and the winner is Doug Fleener. Doug gave the following thoughts

• A friend/mentor of mine would always ask me, " Are you working on the man you hope to be?"
• My father told me, "If you don't take the time to enjoy the rewards of your hard work why work hard?"
• Passion trumps knowledge and skill.  Never try to cover the lack of knowledge and skill with passion.
• Ask for help when you need it.  Offer to help when you don't.

So for an early Christmas present here is your next chance to win a book from "The Engaging Brand library!" just complete this phrase based on a question I normally ask on the podcast

I want my legacy of the world to be.........

To win leave a comment or e-mail me at anna@theengagingbrand.com