Topics

Leadership

Making Everyone a Brand Champion

March 5, 2016 —

Making Everyone a Brand Champion

Developing brand champions is critical Good brand strategies don’t stop at defining why the brand matters. They go further to define the attitudes and behaviors that will define the brand experience in ways that truly matter. Behavior is best defined on two levels: brand and workplace. Brand behavior Brand behavior focuses on the tangible and controllable aspects of your brand. These include the brand’s visual identity and it’s voice in marketing and advertising. Brand behavior identifies the shifts that will generate the feelings with which the brand seeks to be...
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Using Values to Build Engagement and a Meaningful Workplace

February 17, 2016 —

Using Values to Build Engagement and a Meaningful Workplace

Fifth in a series. “People may not remember exactly what you did, or what you said, but they will always remember how you made them feel.” – Maya Angelou The goal of employee engagement is to drive employee attitudes, behavior, morality, and ethics in such a way as to improve their productivity, morale, satisfaction, and usefulness within the organization. However, many companies have struggled with converting their proclaimed values into compelling, work-changing experiences for their employees. Often, the problems have been that the values are typically expressed with meaning-neutral (if...
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Thoughts for CEO’s

November 9, 2015 —

Thoughts for CEO’s

Business is hard. Companies face a never-ending stream of challenges. Ask a CEO, “What’s the matter?”, and he or she is likely to talk anxiously about need to scale faster, recruiting top talent, lagging innovation, disgruntled customers, growing competition, the threat of commoditization, investor concerns, and a litany of other issues. These are real issues and concerns. They are often complex issues that are difficult and expensive to address. And, try as they may, many CEOs have trouble implementing the changes needed to counter these disruptive and destructive...
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Why Leaders That Matter Look Outward

November 5, 2015 —

Why Leaders That Matter Look Outward

One of the biggest challenges for any leader is to maintain a holistic perspective of the world. Too often, the pressures of the market, of shareholders, and the organization, keep the leader looking inward. This inward-looking behavior extends to the rest of the organization, because people “follow the leader”. As a result, the organization continues to spiral down into egocentric, myopic and self-serving behavior. Unfortunately, this self-serving attitude, and way of being, puts the organization in the class of “most” businesses, and therefore, dilutes whatever...
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What Does This Say About Your Leadership Style?

July 30, 2015 —

What Does This Say About Your Leadership Style?

Leadership style. What is yours? Gianpiero Petriglieri is Associate Professor of Organizational Behavior at INSEAD, a regular contributor to the HBR blog, and a prolific and insightful tweeter. Indeed, the title of this post is taken from one of his recent tweets promoting his latest piece on HBR, “There is no shortage of leaders.” Professor Petriglieri’s main point is that the methods and goals of leadership are misplaced. He suggests that the current view of leadership development and practice is falling short of what’s needed in today’s world. “There is no shortage of leadership at all.”...
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Innovative Leaders Articulate the Way Forward

July 23, 2015 —

Innovative Leaders Articulate the Way Forward

Innovative leaders. Getting Innovation right.  Seth Kahan, a change specialist who authored the book, “Getting Innovation Right” presents three practical secrets for the innovative leader. We were particularly struck by his second secret. Articulate the Way Forward People rely on their leaders to craft a vision of the future that makes sense and can guide their everyday decisions. Most of the leaders I have met improvise this activity and many do it badly. And yet articulating a rousing vision of the future isn’t difficult. It can be your secret super-power, if you just master...
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Give People Meaningful Reasons to Innovate

March 24, 2015 —

Give People Meaningful Reasons to Innovate

We often come back to the Fast Company blog post by Seth Kahan, a change specialist and author of, “Getting Innovation Right”, published in 2013. Many of our clients are looking for help creating a brand strategy and developing corporate values that will help create a culture of innovation. Seth presents three practical secrets for the innovative leader. We were particularly struck by his second secret: Secret #2. Articulate the Way Forward People rely on their leaders to craft a vision of the future that makes sense and can guide their everyday decisions. Most of the leaders I...
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Why Every CEO Should Pursue a Purpose Beyond Profit

January 21, 2015 —

Why Every CEO Should Pursue a Purpose Beyond Profit

It’s textbook management practice to formalize a company’s “mission, vision and values.” And while these are important steps in helping form a direction and way of being for a company, many CEOs are nonetheless challenged with a litany of business issues: Unengaged employees An inability to attract the new talent needed Customer defection Lack of marketplace differentiation Dissatisfied shareholders This list goes on and on, doesn’t it? Behind each of these business challenges is a big question: How can my business matter more to people? When your business truly...
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Leadership Is What Leadership Means

December 22, 2014 —

Leadership Is What Leadership Means

Gianpiero Petriglieri is Associate Professor of Organisational Behaviour at INSEAD, a regular contributor to the HBR blog, and a prolific and insightful tweeter. Indeed, the title of this old, but relevant post is taken from one of his tweets promoting his piece on HBR, “There is no shortage of leaders.” Professor Petriglieri’s main point is that the methods and goals of leadership are misplaced.  He suggests that the current narrow view of leadership development and practice is falling short of what’s needed in today’s world. “There is no shortage of leadership at all.” “There are plenty of...
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Meaningful Leaders Resolution #1 for 2015

December 17, 2014 —

Meaningful Leaders Resolution #1 for 2015

Lead by proudly, confidently and passionately proclaiming a new destination for your customers, your employees and your business. Going beyond profit, declare your intention to do well by doing good. Give everyone the answer to their burning question, “Why?”. Why does your business exist? Why is that good? Why does that matter? Interested in learning more about how to create your Purpose Beyond...
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