The e-newsletter from Forrest Workshops
The public dimensions, nature and implications of personal brand are changing fast. Used to be, you were known as "Tom, the Baker" or "Mary, the Seamstress", or "Errol, the Goat Herder." That was your outside world mantle. But we're not unipolar creatures, and, wanting to be know by more than the lifelong vocation we inherited from our forebears (and armed with some free, transparent broadcasting tech), we started expanding and communicating more about other aspects of our personal brands. "Beth is a busy Mum of 3 kids, is a keen cross country runner who wears Lulu Lemon, has a degree in graphic design, works 3 days a
week for a not-for-profit, and loves bush camping with a group of close families who went to school together". "Tim drives a black Skyline, barracks for the Eels, loves classic Motorhead, hates coriander and thinks Andrew Bolt makes some good points." "Ezekiel makes lanterns out of driftwood, identifies as pansexual, loves freediving and only eats foraged food." Still kinda macro pigeon holes, but a public painting of Brand You in multiple hues. A complexity arising from more broadly dimensioned and publicised personal brands is brand association. Tarring yourself, or being tarred with the brush of another brand (deliberate or no) that's also increasingly publicly multidimensional. Love playing CandyCrush? We've built up a brand picture of CandyCrush players
in our mind, and now we think of you like that. Like to broadcast your child's sporting success in Insta pictures en masse? We know others with brands like that, and we now think about you like that. Constantly commenting on Donald Trump or forwarding motivational posters or showing yourself on Friday night with champagne in your hand? You're in a brand box in our head with others we see doing likewise. Maybe that's OK. Maybe it's accurate. Thought about it? Gets even deeper. Values alignment is now quickly and continuously interpreted through public assessments of your personal brand. I see you liked an article by Andrew Bolt? We can't be friends any more. Visibly donating time and cash to some cause for sick hairless cats? I like the cut of your gib, you're in. I see you associating with
people like that, associating with brands like that? Mmmm, I'm making a call on you based on my perception of the congruence of our Values. This idea of your personal brand and how it links to your values set (the things you believe in, evidenced by your actions over your words) has great implications for the companies you work for, the staff you hire, the contractors you engage with and the customers that partner you. They (all of them) make more and more calls on you based how they perceive you fit with what they believe are their values, based on what they're seeing about your personal brand in the ether (which is heavily influenced by your brand associations). And you'll be doing the same. One party isn't necessarily more powerful than another here. It's just a really unique time to be alive. The internet is
exposing everyone's personal brand. And don't think any Ostrich behaviour is the answer to getting out of the game. The very fact you don't have a FB page puts you in a particular brand category by default. Like it or not, you have a personal brand. It might be an accurate reflection of you, or perhaps it's misleading, but either way, it's decision-influencing for others. And as each day goes by, and more information finds its way into the ether, and the public perception of your personal brand gathers more and more micro detail, we're forming a clear picture of a nuanced Brand You. That leads us to judgments. Then we make decisions. So... are your personal brand associations accurate reflections of the person you truly are (and the legacy you want to be known by)? And are
your values being accurately and honestly showcased by your personal brand? Troy Forrest, Forrest Workshops & Strategy Road.
Strategic play – First principles
If your strategy is about what you'll do and how you'll do it to get you to a future point that's desirable to you, then pulling back to first principles would be a smart first step. 1. Future point. Start there. Your legacy defined in advance (your Purpose) and the mountaintops you want to summit en route to creating that legacy (your Vision). 2. How you'll do it. That's Values first (applying your core beliefs), then the paths you'll take (markets, value propositions, broad approaches to engaging and serving a target client group in a purposeful way). 3. What you'll do. Your business plan. Your products & services. Your selected
projects. Your resourcing specifics. So think about that future point piece a moment. Think about what life looks like for parties critical to your success at that future point. - Your key customers - the ones funding (and benefiting from) your existence. How is their world changing, their needs and wants and standards and expectations? Is your approach and ambition to lead them somewhere, or to watch where they go and then serve them as they change? Or to serve a rotating roster of customers as some grow out of you and some grow into you?
- Your value proposition creators &
deliverers - staff, supply partners, collaborators... how does that swarm look in the years ahead? What's your prediction about the interfaces, the needs and wants, the nature of relationships the world will prioritise in the years ahead? Is it golden-handcuffing the current talent pool? Is it nurturing the right high-schoolers? Is it reinventing the nature of the partnerships?
- You. You're running this show that is your professional life, right? Think about the kind of human you'll likely be at that future point (history's a good starting point guide). The influences and shaping forces in your life then. The other passions and pursuits you'll want to be engaging in. The skills and experiences and status you'll want or need at that future point. Think about what'll be nice to have, what'll be
essential, and what'll likely add no discernible value in the world of tomorrow?
Crystal ball gazing is hard, and always inaccurate, but starting with the best sketch you can create of that future point, and considering the folk that are a vital part of that future point, might give you some pointers for strategic paths you should consider now.
From "The Surprising Power of Questions", HBR May-June 2018
The Green RoomGood wood from smart guest contributors. This edition…. Jason Dunstone from Square Holes, on employing research to sharpen your web presence...
Deciding from the fulcrum
(Excerpt from "La Vista Dal Fulcro"...) Options versus “The One” Walmart and Amazon are options businesses (“What are you after? We can help you regardless!”). Ben and Jerrys are “The One” (even if the one comes in 60 versions). You want soup or tyres? No, just got ice cream. Maybe your business has been a scaled-down version of Walmart, a suite or shopful of offerings that expanded over time to encircle the customer’s many needs. Maybe you’ve pared back, or held firm, on a singular (or limited) core product or service offering, playing to your big strength. Width versus depth. Horizontal versus vertical. Maybe your services are about giving clients
a suite of tiered alternatives… or maybe, like a Madison Avenue pitch, your power and value comes from recommending “the one”. What’s going to be the better play for you, in your space, with your lorry, in the years ahead… choice, or binary value propositions? - If you’re a range offerings business, is there scope for, or merit in, honing the customer’s focus to a singular, preferred point? One that takes all the ambiguity and complexity and stress out of their decisions, and says “this is theone that will give you what you need”?
- If you’re a one-trick pony business (though no doubt it’s
a very neat, value-providing pony), will your market continue to value that deep, laser focus in increasing quantum in the years ahead (mindful the range offering providers are invariably sticking their fingers into this cake tin)?
- Whichever play you feel works better for you, be it niche specialist or broad generalist, are you borrowing some of the smarts of your opposite and overlaying them for balance? Expanding the colour range of “the one”, or adding smart tailored tech tips on shelf talkers for “the many”?
(To read the 13 strategy decision making tips for the leader of 2019, simply click here or on the picture below to read the full white paper....)
Parking lots.... (don't).a. They're used to capture off-topic stuff that really isn't for discussion or decision-making in this forum...
b. Sticking it up on a wall where peoples eyes can keep coming back to it throughout the day seems kinda counter-productive if you want them focused on the business at hand...
c. If you really don't credit your audience with the intelligence to come back to the parked topics at a more appropriate time or forum... are they really that important (or just red herrings thrown up by people conditioned to bring up parking lot topics?)Did anything good ever happen in a parking lot? Close them.
3 questions to ask yourself about the load on your to-do list…- If I steeled myself... elected to apply every iota of discipline in my sinew, and single-mindedly churned... could I nail the biggest bits of the most important stuff by sleep time?
- If I find watching old Netflix episodes of Arrested Development a more compelling proposition than knuckling down to thin the to-do-list herd, why am I in this gig?
- What
would the kind of professional, the kind of leader, the kind of impact maker I'd like to be remembered as... that I'd like my kids to tell THEIR kids about when I'm gone... what would that person do with the to-do list they're staring at right now?
You have time and places you can work. Anywhere. Kinda no excuses left.
Meet Strategy Road Associate Brendan Littlechild, Director of Indigenous Workforce Consulting. Brendan and his team guide organisations on engagement strategies with indigenous communities, develop and implement Reconciliation Action Plans, source and place indigenous staff, design and deliver graduate, trainee and cadetship programs, and facilitate mentoring and support programs (including diversity and cultural sensitivity training). Check out Brendan's organisation and value proposition here, IWC.
Dimensions of health that matter most to you..."Healthy" means so many things. For humans, "not sick" is a good start. Working optimally, firing efficiently and effectively on multiple cylinders, thriving, robust, growing maybe. There's physical health, mental health, emotional health, perhaps spiritual health. There's relationship health, a healthy self-image, healthy attitudes and practices and environmental dynamics and choices. At an organisational level, there's the health of the industry, of your business fundamentals and operations, of your leadership and your strategy and your outlook on the future.
Your customer's health, your supply chain's health, a healthy workforce and the health of your culture. There's no doubt lots more, and they're all important, and it'd be Jim Dandy if they were all given APGAR scores of 10. But they won't be. And you won't be. So you've got some calls to make. What dimensions of health, for you, for your organisation, are MOST important to nurture, to protect, to prioritise and invest in, across 2018-19? What most needs a flu shot to protect you from ill or failing health and its consequences? What's showing signs of dry eyes and scratchy throat that you'll need to sort quickly, to regain your rosy glow and what that'll let you do? Healthy is attractive, it can do more, and it has lots of dimensions. Where'll you put your focus?
Big event announcement coming soon... shhh... secret squirrel!
From the University of St Gallen, the Business Model Navigator is a decent primer for leaders to consider alternative structures and strategic pathways to deal with and succeed in evolving markets with changing supply chains. Grab a copy here.
Luft balloons* (imagine...)
Initiative. Not given. Taken. What if you took it in any of these arenas this month? - Start a study group. A research group. An ideation group.
- Kick off an industry seminar.
- Call the oldest client on the list to thank them.
- Start looking for your successor.
- Research something a VIP is struggling with.
- Create a case study.
- Build plan B. Or a new tool.
- Forge an alliance.
- Cull an outdated practice. Fire a client.
- Make a video... a podcast... an interview... an e-newsletter.
Serving it up on a spoon like this kinda defeats the idea. Ffind something worth starting.
Just start it.
I like using this message, and it applies to any group, in advance of a session, or at the end. Because it takes a moment to recognise and show gratitude for the fact that they have put in (or are about to), and it points to the butterfly-flapping-its-wings effect (best illustrated by Dr Seuss) - that you never know what amazing things the effort might ultimately give rise to. But it's always an effort by someone that starts the ball rolling.
Pulling a crew together for a day, particularly senior folk, is expensive. You either make it a brilliant investment, or you squander an opportunity, based on how you employ the time. The common traps for meetings (that annoy, and that cost), are; - Using the discussion pit for matters better dealt with by empowered individuals, or in one-on-ones, or using other comms platforms (email, intranet etc)
- Inadequate preparation asked of (or done by) participants
- The wrong combo of folk (including people for
political or convenience reasons rather than genuine value in being there)
- Being loose when tightness is needed, or being tight (rigid, controlling, paradigm-following) when open-mindedness or fresh thought is needed
- Lack of leadership (i.e. a role model following a process and ensuring a desired outcome).
Think about what can only be achieved in a room together. What email, what phone calls, what one-on-ones just can't do, that you should employ a group meeting for; - To hear (in real time) multiple already-informed perspectives on
a common problem, put forward verbally in front of others sharing the same overarching goal, who might be coming at it with different pressures and weightings, to inform and influence a decision.
- To ascertain the visceral physical, mental and emotional reactions of key people when a decision is announced, that quickly become key questions, that lead to next step defining, to aligning a message and activity set.
- To really hear the vehemence of an argument, the passion behind a perspective, as a path is advocated or a viewpoint is laid bare to convince others (and to hear this in the context of the diverse positions occupied by others)
Most important of all, group meetings hum loudest and
deliver best when they're used as calibration mechanisms and context setters by framing a discussion and decision making session within the Purpose of the enterprise, the Vision all are working towards, and the Values set all committed to. Any discussion, perspective sharing, debating, collaborating,idea synthesis and ultimately decision making (the real work of meetings) should be done with this context overlay. Just don't use it to share information. So many better ways to do that...
If a mate has forwarded this free e-share to you and you’d like it once or twice a month, click here and type "sign me up, Scotty!" – thanks!
Thank you for reading! Forrest Workshops custom-builds and facilitates team workshops on topics ranging from strategic planning, leadership and sales practice development, to innovation, customer experience creation and collaborating with your supply chain in an evolving market. Based in Adelaide, serving clients nationally and internationally, from SMEs to Fortune 500s.
Committed to facilitating purposeful teamwork. Forrest Workshops For One are tailored Coaching & mentoring programs for leaders, business owners, sales and service professionals. High-touch, deep- and long-term impact support. Contact Troy Forrest from Forrest Workshops on 0430 308963 or troy@forrestworkshops.com.au for a discussion.
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