Brand Blisters? Take a brand break!

What are brand blisters?  Here is a personal experience to clarify this very real symptom of continuous hard work throughout the year.  This week I sent the same proposal to a client three times.  After receiving the first proposal he returned it to me asking me to correct the date, which I then duly did.  He returned the second copy and again the date was wrong!  And, if you can believe it, the third also needed a date correction.  I apologised profusely, but he was very kind about it, saying, ‘Hey, that’s just end-of-year blisters’. 

‘End-of-year blisters’ – it’s the perfect metaphor for those of us who feel like it’s been a steady marathon from January to December – we are low on energy and inspiration – and what about our brands?  Yes, our brands will suffer from end-of-year fatigue too.  After months of exposure and hard work on our behalf, our brands will also need to take a break.

Unless you specialise in a brand or product that must make the most of the holiday season, allow your brand to take a break at the end of the year.  Just like top athletes need to rest and recoup, so do our brands.  Not only will this break rejuvenate yourself, it will more than likely benefit your brand as well.

5 tips for a successful brand break:

1. Take a break from social media – your absence will be intriguing and your mind will have the chance to reset itself.
2. Take in something stimulating or maybe something you don’t usually do. Visits to the theatre or to museums could inspire you and result in new branding ideas.
3. Spend time with loved ones; they are, after all, your biggest fans and nothing will recharge your batteries quite like some care, nurturing and good old fashioned family time.
4. Keep your journal/notebook close at hand. Inspiration may come at any point – doodle, reflect, write poetry or even write new brand stories. Don’t make this the purpose of your down time but if inspiration strikes you need to be prepared.
5. Above all, be safe – we want to see you and your brand strong and ready to hit the ground running in the new year.

 A re-tweaked brand identity, from great ideas that occur to you in a state of relaxation, can only result in a refreshed and strengthened brand. 

 

Give your Brand Personality!

When it comes to someone’s work ethic, most of us are familiar with the phrase “all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy” but this can also be applied to personal branding. Personal branding needs to be just that; personal. If all we ever do when we network, meet people or share status updates, is speak about business, we render ourselves flat. It could be said that “all work and no play makes Jack a dull brand” too.

13 Tips to Starting your own Business

Sometimes I need a good kick in the behind to get a blog post up.  This one is thanks to People Magazine who have asked me to contribute to the January 2012 edition with some tips on starting your own business.  I’m not convinced that people Magazine readers are my ideal target market (never be too hasty, I hear you say),  and the tips, as I see them, apply to all aspirant entrepreneurs. They asked for 12 and I couldn’t help including 13 (for luck!).  So here they are, ala Michelle; 13 Tips to Starting your own business in 2012;

Keep Walking! and other techniques for moving beyond the limitations in our heads.

Although I’m not a whisky drinker, for some years I have adopted for my own inspiration the slogan from the Johnnie Walker Advertising campaign that encourages me to just Keep Walking!  It’s my habit to look for personal motivating slogans (from within and without the advertising world) to use as personal prompts to help me to stay focused on implementing my ideas.  Thanks to Nike— I ‘Just Do It’!  Thanks to the Olympic high-jump coach, I ’Throw my heart over the bar and the rest will follow’.  Thanks to my yoga teacher, I ‘Go there and make that effort’.

Leading & Coaching Across Cultures ~ South Africa 2012

Following the success of seminars in Europe, Asia Pacific and the US, Philippe Rosinski, global leadership development expert and author, is teaming up with executive coaches Dina Zavrski-Makaric and Michelle Clarke in delivering his highly acclaimed Leading & Coaching Across Cultures seminar in Cape Town South Africa.

Book early – space is limited to 21 delegates!  Interested participants to submit CV to Rosinski & Co. Don’t delay!

Details on the graphic below, with the full online brochure at  http://www.philrosinski.com/pdf/2012%20LCAC%20Cape%20Town.pdf

6 Characteristics of the Mentally Healthy Person

Whilst browsing through websites and pages of notes, as I do when researching, I happened to come across some really exciting and interesting information that the legendary Marie Jahoda, the late Austrian psychologist, wrote on mental health.

What really interests me about her work is the concept of ‘positive psychology’ which she addresses in her book ‘Current Concepts of Positive Mental Health’.  Marie Jahoda was a true warrior; a Jewish woman who survived World War two by fleeing to Austria in 1937. Despite these unhappy circumstances, Jahoda became a woman of great distinction and wrote no fewer than five scientific works and co-authored five others – most notably her work on how unemployment affects communities as a whole and her work on the six characteristics which generally make up mentally healthy individuals.

Coaching Across Cultures

Clarke, Rosinski, Zavrski-Makaric

Buenos Aries, April 2011; I join 21 experienced coaches from Canada, The UK, Argentina, Peru, Chile and Brazil to experience the sought-after material developed by European pioneer Philippe Rosinski and his partner Australian Dina Zavrski-Makaric.  Day 1; we’re divided into smaller teams—ours is called The Blue Team, and our brief is to submit a collaborative team project by day 3. 

Personal Branding – Own It!

We all have an idea of ourselves that we’d like the rest of the world to see, whether it is perfectly authentic or not. The problem is that for a large number of people, this idea that we hold in our minds, is often where it stays. Getting this version of yourself out to the rest of the world is where the problem begins to manifest, and take on a life of its own.  The person we believe we are presenting to co-workers and potential business partners turns out to be someone else entirely, someone you didn’t think you were at all. You find yourself asking: “How did my employees get the idea that I had no hobbies or social interests?” or “Why would potential business associates go with my competitors when I clearly charge a lower fee and deliver on promises?” The answer is this: the person you know you are, is not the person that others see you as. In other words, your internal brand and your external brand are not congruent. This means just one thing: your personal branding needs some attention

It is human nature for us to assign labels to each other. This may not happen consciously, but the mental associations that are automatically formed when meeting new people and digesting information connect certain labels with each other, like joining the dots. People are going to form opinions of you, whether you want them to or not. These opinions can either be what they pick up in the media or from pictures others paint of you – or you can take an active role in shaping their minds about you by owning who you are and branding yourself the way you see fit.

Here are five steps to get you started on making, and owning your own personal brand:

1. Brand Yourself! – Before it is done for you.

Undoing preconceived ideas about you is much harder than creating fresh ideas in someone’s mind. Create a strong picture about yourself through social media, networking, and by word of mouth. Don’t be judged by popular opinion alone. There is plenty you can do to influence how people see you. Don’t overlook things like manners, tone of voice and enthusiasm levels, it’s not just the car you drive and the way you dress that makes a first impression.

2. Deal with any incongruence

If your internal and external brands do not merge, have a look at why this is the case. Is your personal branding poor because you reflect yourself poorly, or are you actually not the person you are portraying? You must address this as it could lead to potentially disastrous struggles in the future.

3. What makes you unique?

You must be able to identify what makes you stand out from the crowd, and be able to communicate that to the rest of the world. What skills do you have that make you extraordinary?

4. Put a spin on “negative” traits

If you have personality traits that you know potential clients or employees may see as negative, try looking at them in a positive light. How might somebody else view your reclusive tendencies? They could see you as an observer or a deep thinker. You won’t be able to make everyone happy, all of the time but you can certainly be true to yourself and your image.

5. Make it yours

Take what others have already said about you, be it positive or negative – a trait you can’t seem to shake, or a peculiar hobby you enjoy, and work with it. Accept who you are and who you have been. Turn quirks into attractive qualities that are endearing, and win people over with your openness. Own it!

This article will shortly appear at www.entrepreneur.com blog in a series I am writing as the Personal Branding Coach contributing author.  Please subscribe to follow and stay updated with relevant information on this topical subject.

 

 

 

25 Powerful and Generative Questions

“When was the last time you sat through a meeting and said to yourself, “This is a complete waste of time?”.  Was it yesterday or even a few hours ago?  Why did that gathering feel so tedious?  Perhaps its because the leaders posed the wrong questions at the start of the session.  Or worse yet, maybe they didn’t ask any engaging questions, and as a result, the meeting consisted of boring report-outs or other forms of one-way communication that failed to engage people’s interest or curiosity.”  

Motivation and the ‘Referred’ Coachee

“I can’t see how coaching will benefit me.  Things are fine, just a small  hiccup, is all. I don’t have the time to be talking with you. I’m only here because they insist. What do you want from me?”

Ouch. These words from a recent client are not music to any coach (or manager or leaders) ears. How to proceed?  With calm caution.