“I don’t think there’s anything worse than being ordinary” – Angela (played by Mena Suvari) in the movie American Beauty.
Branding
Don’t Give Up!
There’s a story in John Herman’s book “Hermanisms: Axioms for Business & Life” about Milton Hershey, the founder of the Hershey’s milk chocolate bar. It seems that Hershey was headed down the road of failure early on. Everyone around him, including his investors, had lost hope after his attempts at building a confectionary, first in Philadelphia, then Chicago, then in New York all failed before he returned to Lancaster, Penn. But Hershey believed. He persisted. In time the Hershey bar was born. But when success came, more seemed to be at play then making loads of money.
In Herman’s words, “…in addition to stick-to-itiveness, Hershey possessed another trait common among entrepreneurs: that when they finally hit the big time, they often want to share their success with others. To a real entrepreneur, it isn’t about making money. It’s about winning. Being right about your idea. Seeing the realization of your dream. The money is great, and is something you can share, but it doesn’t offer nearly the same satisfaction as accomplishing your goals. Don’t quit on your goals because you didn’t achieve them the first time around.”
While there are job cuts all around us and numerous small shops are taking down their shingles and the owners shuttering their hearts, it’s important to keep your dreams (and heart) alive. Don’t give up!
Charles
http://www.charlesguptonphoto.com
On Twitter @ http://twitter.com/CharlesGupton
On Listening
I was not a great listener most of my life. Actually, I was a very poor listener. Although I could come up with a number of reasons, the bottom line was that I didn’t care about what other people thought as much as I did about what I thought. And I thought they should be more interested in what I thought too. So even though I’d wait until they stopped talking to speak, all I was waiting for was an opening to share my great wisdom. Know anyone like that?
A few years ago, a confluence of several events caused me to realize how my self-centered ways were keeping me from developing deeper relationships. I found that people don’t really care how much you know until they know how much you care. Not only does listening show that you care, it gives you information to care about.
In the spirit of the “Brand You” movement that so many branding gurus have been espousing over the last couple of years, I started refining who I wanted to become in terms of the public perception of me. I also realized that the branding I wanted to take place had less to do with how much money I spent to create a perception than it did with who I was becoming as a person. I wanted my ‘brand’ to be someone who listens well, someone who genuinely cares. Not surprising, maybe, but we all have to ‘do’ before we ‘become’.
Have I become a great listener? I don’t think so. But, I have become better. I’m learning to ask better questions as I try to clarify, to understand the heart within a statement.
As more of our conversations take the form of electronic conveyance, I see the same need to express interest in others’ thoughts. If the posts about social networking etiquette are any indication, folks are still annoyed by those who dominate the discussion with cries of “Look at me!!!”
In Seth Godin’s book Tribes, he writes “What most people want in a leader is something that’s very difficult to find: we want someone who listens.”
A great overview of the proper social graces when using Twitter can be found in this post by Jenny Cromie. Seems to me that they’re equally applicable in any conversational setting.
How are you leading? How are you listening? Do you feel that you’re being heard? What do you think?
Charles
Showin’ da Love
There was a story in the Wall St. Journal yesterday indicating that because of the instability in the economy, job recruiters are having difficulty finding candidates for job openings in some companies. It seems that many executives are wary of leaving what they know for a company they don’t know. And there seems to be good evidence that their fears are not unfounded. A number of companies have hired, then almost immediately let go those who have most recently been brought into the fold under the “last hired, first fired” policy many firms have in place.
Although this is not a new insight, what concerns me is the continuing spiral down in the loyalty shown from either the company or the employees to the other. Almost every decision seems to be considered solely on the basis of what can you provide in the short term to fulfill my wants. Without a commitment, a company loses it’s investment in the intellectual and creative capital it’s established.
When people are living in uncertainty and fear, some of the first qualities they drop is their creativity and care for relationships that don’t immediately feed their sense of security. What that translates into for the company is loss of innovation and customer support. Without these two qualities, what does a company really have to offer to distinguish it from a competitor? A lower price point?
The painter Willem de Kooning observed, “The trouble with being poor is that it takes up all your time.” Whether real or imagined, people are feeling poor at this time. And in feeling poor, they have ditched some of their hope, their vision of what’s possible. That’s not only a loss for their lives, but a loss for the company which employs them.
In his book, Lovemarks, Kevin Roberts states, “I believe that the role of business is to make the world a better place for everyone…by focusing our creative minds on innovating for the greater good.” When a company innovates with its services or products in a manner which genuinely benefits the world, it usually profits as well. Throughout his book, Roberts encourages companies to move beyond thinking about products, services or even brands. He proposes that a company think in terms of serving its customers in such a way as to develop a loyalty or a lovemark with them. But neither loyalty nor love can be sold through advertising. It must be won through the interactions a buyer has with the company. Upper management often seems to forget those interactions happen through people – those very same people whose emotional capital has been spent on just keeping their jobs.
If you want your customers to know your love for them, you gotta show ‘em that love through the people who represent you to them. An employee who doesn’t have a well of love to draw from has no where to share it from.
Charles
http://www.charlesguptonphoto.com
Keeping an Ear to the Pulse
I just read a great example of using social media for marketing in a constructive and relevant way. In this Adweek.com story, the developers of Bacon Salt – a spice that makes everything taste like bacon – explain how they used social media platforms to generate buzz before a product was even ready to sell. But the take-away message for me was not so much that they generated buzz, but how they handled it.
In her book “Marketing to Women,” Marti Barletta emphasizes that when marketers speak to the needs of women, the bar is raised for men as well. And although women are generally willing to express it more than men, what is one of the most important needs all people have? To be listened to, to be heard. Apparently Justin Esch and Dave Lefkow have learned and responded to that need and succeeded through the process. Like all relationships, time committed and genuine interest are more important than money spent trying for a quick result. Having a product that generates good buzz doesn’t hurt. But the key to growth is handling that buzz in a thoughtful manner.
Could it be that financially tight times could lead to better service and listening to buyers needs?
Charles Gupton
http://www.charlesguptonphoto.com