Enjoying the park

Today I decided to try something new… My first al fresco blog post. We’ve had such lovely weather lately in Atlanta that I couldn’t bear to stay cooped up inside. Thank goodness for smartphones (although my thumbspeed is fairly abysmal).

I have no grand observations for you today nor any grand ambitions to sprain my thumbs pecking out War and Peace 2.0. However I will lob this over the fence: I believe that being successful means being yourself and that in turn means you need to know a little bit about what makes yourself tick. Right now I can think of no measure of success greater than enjoying a beautiful afternoon in the park with Julie and our bunny (Mr. Bialy). No doubt I will be using a different yardstick tomorrow, but for today I have my full measure.

Superheroes, a call to arms.

“Superman didn’t become Superman. Superman was born Superman. When Superman wakes up in the morning, he’s Superman. His alter ego is Clark Kent. His outfit with the big red ‘S’? That’s the blanket he was wrapped in as a baby when the Kents found him. THOSE are his clothes. What Kent wears – the glasses, the business suit – that’s the costume.” ~Quentin Tarantino

I love that because I believe that we all have something authentic to offer, something that makes us special, something that can make us a beacon to others if we would just let that light shine for all to see. However we don’t always trust that talent, that passion, that superpower – we hide it behind a job title, we bury it underneath professional conformity. We’re taught to fit in, not stand out, but branding is about standing out.  Branding requires the risk of being noticed, especially when it comes to personal branding. If you’re not noticed then your brand never has that seed from which to grow. You may be awesome, heck I’ll even go out on a not-so-skinny limb and say that you are awesome, but if we don’t know you and don’t know you for your awesomeness, well then we can’t help you and sadly we’re not going to give you the opportunity to help us.

My ambition, my purpose, my superpower if you will, is to help others to identify their difference, to give their powers a name – to accept the mantle of their inner superhero. Yes, I’ve got a soft spot for the mavericks who were born on Krypton, but there are plenty of Earth-born humans who are mutating, who took the super-soldier serum, who’ve been
bitten by radioactive spiders and feel that light burning inside. I see them all around me. I meet them every day, but they haven’t all yet come to recognize their powers or to trust them.

Kryptonite! Poisonous vapor of doubt. Kryptonite! Energy-sapping force of the dont-make wave (believed to emanate from meteorites made during the explosion of planet Me-Too). Admit it, it’s not easy to give yourself permission to stop being a face in the crowd. The life of a superhero can be super-risky, even super-embarrassing.

Have you ever worn a cape? It’s a tough look to pull off. Even Clark Kent can’t work that look because it clashes with the briefcase – it is not part of the costume, but when you dare to shrug off the Clark Kent disguise and reveal your authentic super self that’s when the cape fits – it’s not a costume it is a part of who your are. That’s when you’ll pick the color of that cape, stock your utility belt, build your secret lair… and name your powers.

“Look! Up in the sky… It’s a bird… It’s a plane… It’s you!”  Super.

Georgia Business Directory Network Interview

I want to thank Diane Bogino over at the Georgia Business Directory Network. She really made the interview a fun experience and I’m very impressed by what she’s been building with her video blog.  Thanks for everything!

Kitten up a tree – a guest perspective

My good friend David Bailey shared the following with me.  He begged me to edit it, but I liked it in its raw form:

“Human problems, top and bottom:

Top: call it the ‘kitten syndrome’.

People who find themselves with no path down from where they’ve gotten themselves in life. Even the soft ground below looks like a fatal drop, so they climb higher and higher and the problem gets worse. How to find yourself where you need to be without breaking your neck?

Bottom:

Maybe it’s the tree itself – the tree syndrome.

Your job is to be a tree. That’s pretty daunting, since you’re a seed.

1) What do I need at this stage?

What do I need at this stage? Water is your limiting nutrient. If you don’t soften that outer core and fill yourself with a medium for reactions to take place, you’re going nowhere. So you need water now, but what you need will change.

2) Oh, crap, where did I end up? Which direction now?

There’s no light here. Fortunately in this story, you’re not just one seed, but several.

Repeat.

1) Good. Got water.

2) Got light. Lucky.

Repeat.

1) Need soft soil for roots.

2) Okay, reach down a little to the left.

Repeat.”

Schnicks and Stones – High Velocity Interview

Well I had some good fun yesterday visiting the High Velocity Radio show, which is part of the RadioX network.  Hosts Stone Payton and Todd Schnick really do a great job of making their guests feel welcome and giving them a chance to shine.  I had the good fortune to be on the bill with Grant Carter, CEO of Team Doctors, and Marna Friedman, owner of Mpressive Solutions and author of The Small Business that Could for Women.  We each had about 15 minutes at the mic and all got hit with Stone’s favorite zinger “Tell us about your biggest mistake.”  The whole show is almost an hour, but if you’re in a hurry there is a brief excerpt, which clocks in at 3 min. 44 sec., where I talk about how branding happens whether you intend to or not. I hope you can check it out

The Portable Personal Brand

Is your personal brand portable? Is your message easy for others to carry and spread?

Sometimes we get too caught up in our own message – we labor over the words, trying to get the nuance just so; making sure we get the essential essence of our value proposition; delving into details; artistically articulating skills, services and strengths… only to find out that everybody else refers to you as “the guy with the funny hat”, or “you know, that lady who sells real estate”, or “the dude with the stale coffee breath”.  It happens.  But there is a lesson to be learned here: if you show up often enough people will remember you, but are they remembering you for what you want or for what they find convenient?

What if you could combine the two?

The portable personal brand is about getting known in that straightforward, easy to identify, easy to remember way, but also in a way that points people toward your value.  You can’t do this with  a complex message: “Oh you know Dave, he’s the guy that went to art school after getting a math degree, and went on to startup companies and then built a career in marketing, blah blah blah…” It is too much. I can’t remember it all and I lived it, how can I expect someone else to carry all that info?  And even if they could what would they do with it all?   But if I give myself a label, “the brand therapist”, and tell people one thing I can do, “help people brand themselves to get more business” then maybe, just maybe someone might remember that.  Maybe then, when someone meets a person with a murky message who is not getting results, they  will say “Oh you should talk to Dave, the brand therapist, he can help you”.

Simplicity is portability, but there is a trade-off:  there is more I can offer, but I have to leave it out otherwise it is distracting and cumbersome. There is certainly more you can offer than will fit in a sentence or two, but it is unreasonable to expect people to remember it all.  And if it isn’t simple it won’t function as a trigger.  When you network you will meet great people who are willing to help you, don’t you owe it to them to make that job easier?  Equip them to help you with a simple way to understand your value. Build a portable personal brand that makes it a reflex to relay people to you who need your help.

Interviewed on ThriveAMERICA

David Cohen interviewed on ThriveAMERICA

I just wanted to give a shout out over to Brent Brooks at Blank Stage Productions and thank him for having me as a guest on their video blog: ThriveAMERICA.  As an interviewer Brent was great – friendly, prepared and he went out of his way to make me feel comfortable as a guest.  Thanks Brent!

The interview is about a half hour long, but is broken up into 10 minute sections.  I hope you’ll take the time to check it out as we discuss the three Rs of branding and the three Cs of communication.  Brent even got me talking about some business mistakes I’ve made and some ideas for the future.  I hope you enjoy it and if you do, please remember to click on the stars to rank the video.

Thanks!

David Cohen discusses branding on ThriveAMERICA

The Everest Question

There is a difference between getting great advice and getting the great advice that helps you get to where you want to go.  The key is to ask your Everest question.

So what’s the Everest question?  Let me explain.  I could walk up to you and say, “I’m 44 and I want to climb Mt. Everest, what should I focus on for the next couple of years?” and you’d probably be surprised, but after a pause you’d give me your best, well-reasoned, well-meant and practical advice. However, if instead I only asked, “I’m 44, what should I focus on for the next couple of years?” while I’m certain that I’d also get your best, well-reasoned, well-meant and practical advice – I’m equally certain that the subject of climbing Mt. Everest would simply never have come up.  Even hiking would have been a long shot.

It is important for any business leader to seek counsel, but do yourself and your advisers a favor: if you have a burning desire, a vision, a big audacious goal that you simply have to reach, then don’t forget to include it when your asking for input.  And even though you respect the people you have gathered to give you guidance, don’t be shy about challenging them if their great advice isn’t moving you closer to your vision. They can’t help you climb your mountain if you don’t make it clear that the goal is to get to the top.

What’s your Everest question?

New Workshop – Social Media Sales Impact

 

June 10th, Georgian Club

Well I’m excited to announce a new workshop – I’ve teamed up with Nadia Bilchik, Barb Giamanco and Troy Johnson to put together a special program.  We’re calling it Social Media Sales Impact.  The idea is to take the participants through a half  day process involving concepts for better content development, conversational impact, connection via social media tools, and most importantly converting that online activity into sales.  We’ll be at the Georgian Club on June 10th, for details and registration visit http://socialmediasalesimpact.eventbrite.com/

Hugs, Punches and Business Communications

What does a hug feel like? It is a simple thing to do – the instructions are short: Person A and Person B embrace and then separate – duration varies, sighs are optional. What could be simpler? But this action belies a richness of emotion. The complexity of expression a hug can convey is enormous, human and irreplaceable.

The hug is an extraordinarily efficient means of communication. We hug for lots of reasons: pride, affection, belonging, friendship, comfort and sympathy. We hug because we missed someone. We hug because we will miss someone. We hug because we love – and the amazing thing is that in every hug those intangibles are clearly communicated.

Businesses should communicate so well.

We aren’t wired to get emotional about sanitized communications, but business isn’t supposed to be mushy, right? We don’t hug spreadsheets…

So how do we reconcile this? How do we get some clarity and human contact without getting sappy or sentimental?

What about a punch?

Punches, like hugs, can clarify relationships. Think about it.

If someone punches you square in the face it will shake the ambivalence right out of you. You’ll be “in the moment”. It is, as they say, very centering.

Yes, we associate punches with anger and aggression, but a punch is not always evil. A punch in the arm is jovial, a fist-bump is hip and benign, even a little rough-housing amongst kids can be a bonding act. Have you ever seen a coming-of-age flick without a big, cathartic, punch-out scene? It is is a cliche of modern movies.

Even when a punch is meant to harm one could argue that it is a form of overloaded expression – more often the product of an emotional upwelling than malice of forethought. We punch when our system can’t process the information through any other route. We punch because we are imperfect communicators. We punch because we are human and we hate, and we love.

But businesses are supposed to be predictable and unemotional, right? Hmm.

But there are lessons:

Punches and hugs unambiguously communicate a lot in a very short amount of time.

So be clear and concise.

They are hard to fake: You can fake the aftermath, the reaction, but if you pull the punch or you don’t return the hug the person on the receiving end will know it instantly.

So be authentic.

Hugs and punches differ, however, in predictability: You can pull out your calendar and name a bunch of dates on which you can say, with great certainty, that you will be hugged. Thanksgiving, Christmas, your birthday, etc. – the hugs are coming! Yet that will not diminish by one iota the spontaneity, the genuine emotion of any single one of those future embraces. On the other hand, unless you are a boxer, any punches that you might receive this year are likely to be shockingly unexpected.

So put the positive messages on a regular schedule, keep the close, interactive communication on a high rotation. Make statements of care something your customers can expect.

But isn’t this a risky approach for a business?

To hug a friend is only risky if you don’t mean it. To hug a stranger is always risky (you might get punched) – it puts a lot on the line and demands a reaction that cannot be controlled – but if you can hug a stranger and mean it the outcome can be amazing.

Humanness, authenticity, spontaneity, risk, emotion, shock and love – business-think eschews these messy ideas, it is more business-like to scrub away the emotion, focus on the data, the specs, the ROI and the bottom line. But we’re human. We crave connection and reassurance, comfort and belonging, and the occasional jolt of clarity. What do businesses crave? They crave loyalty. Loyalty, after all, is good for the bottom line, but where does loyalty come from? Loyalty is emotional, by definition. It doesn’t come without trust, but there is no trust without an emotional connection.

Businesses often won’t risk what is necessary to make us feel that connection. Businesses need to risk some punches if they want to win some hugs. Communicate with authenticity, be genuine, be human, and take chances. Accept the idea that no communication connects for everyone – not everybody wants to hug you, but your time, your energy, your thoughts, and your words are better spent meeting, cultivating and embracing the ones that do.