Paul Copcutt - Just My Toonies Worth

What is holding you back from your personal brand?

Through my wife's business I have had the opportunity to be connected to Keith Kochner at Mentorfish.com for the last few months and have found his teaching exactly what we need in the 21st century. Lots of great content, he is prolific with new insights and learnings - even for someone like me who tends to explore and read a lot! 

Keith is coming to Toronto next week to hold a live evening event so you can get a full experience of what he has to offer. Cost is just covering running costs of the event, but I know you will get way more value - hope to see you there. 

100 Toonies Worth

With consistency and progression comes change. As you spend more time consistently delivering on what you say your brand is and find your career progressing in the right direction, you are going to reach a point where new challenges and opportunities arise. New skills are developed and new ways to communicate your uniqueness present themselves. 

This week see's the 100th edition of the Tuesday Toonie weekly e-tip, which I feel is quite a milestone. Thank you for reading, commenting and recommending to others for the last 2 years. 

It is also a great time to announce some small changes to the format and delivery of this weekly resource. When we started the Tuesday Toonie the rise of Facebook and Twitter was really starting to gain traction and people subscribing to news and blog feeds was rising. Now this weekly Tuesday Toonie is only being read 10-20% of the time by people via the e-zine delivery method - the rest of the time you are reading it or getting to it via social media or directly at the blog. 

This does not make the content any less valuable but with our inundated in boxes and busy lives it does beg the question about sending it out in full format in an e-zine rather than a quick mailing, linking to the blog for the full content. So going forward the Tuesday Toonie is going to be a 21 second or less read. Enough for you to maybe stop and think for a moment about your career and if you want to understand more then go to the blog to get more on that weeks topic.  

We will be continuing with the monthly Inukshuk e-zine that delves deeper in to the subject of career management and personal leadership branding and provide in there links to all the previous months weekly Tuesday Toonies for anyone you might have missed. We also continue to blog and post other very latest links and resources via social media - especially our Facebook page and my LinkedIn updates, or you may just prefer to be made aware of the Tuesday Toonie via one of these methods - so if you have not done so please connect with us at;

www.facebook.com/personalbrand and http://ca.linkedin.com/in/paulcopcutt 

Thank you again for reading and we look forward to continuing to serve you. 

Is your career facing a Kodak moment?

No doubt the business school case studies in years to come about the sad demise of Kodak and it's brand will raise many questions about the effectiveness of it's leaders. 

The filing of Chapter 11 bankruptcy by Kodak this week has many lessons for all businesses, but what can you learn from this and be sure that you are not facing the same in your career?

1. Don't underestimate the impact your ideas have. 

It was the mid-70's when Kodak actually developed for the first digital camera. Can you imagine how far ahead they may have been in the market place and for how long had they moved on this revolutionary idea. 

Personal Brand Lesson - just because your industry or vocation has done it the same way for a long time and everyone is comfortable with that way does not mean an idea out of left field is not a better one. Be willing to challenge the status quo. 

2. Don't be complacent or greedy. 

Kodak leaders decided to shelve the digital camera because they felt it was going to do too much damage to their highly lucrative and profitable film business. 

Personal Brand Lesson - it makes sense to maximise your value with the core strengths you have. But know that you need to continually develop yourself and add new skills. Demands and markets change, so your brand has to evolve over time. Anticipate demands and start adding to your skill set now. 

3. Be Prepared to Re-brand

The plan for Kodak is to sell it's $2 billion worth of patents and emerge as a more agile company in the printer business. They see revenue and profit in ink (HP generates $9 billion a year in ink cartridges). But does the tagline of the "Kodak Moment" still apply? Likely not, as they become less and less synonymous with photos a re-brand of the company would almost seem inevitable. 

Personal Brand Lesson - the experts tell us that the workforce of the future might well be in many different vocation, not just jobs, in their lifetime. The foundation and core of your brand might remain the same, but sometimes the message and your target audience will change and a re-branding is necessary. 

How do you see business the lessons from the likes of RIM and Kodak apply to your career and personal brand? 

 

 

On the 11th hour, of the 11th day of the 11th month - Remember those who gave and still do

As on all remembrance days I will be remembering the sacrifices and bravery of all and in particular my father (above) who served as an instrument basher in the Royal Air Force for 6 years in WWII and my Grandad who served in both the army and navy in WWI - Lest We Forget

This was originally posted in November 2009, but in our busy, ever connected world, felt it was worthy of repeat.

Like many of you this past week, I had the opportunity to attend a remembrance day event. This one was part of a client event and included a talk by a WWII veteran.

As I listened intently to his stories I was distracted by a bright light in the dimmed auditorium. I glanced across and noticed an invited guest to the event checking and sending e- mail on their smartphone. Initially I gave the benefit of the doubt, you never know when someone has something personal and urgent going on.

But the scrolling, clicking and tapping of the keyboard continued. Finally I had to lean across and ask the person if the e-mail was so important that they felt it warranted the disprespect they were showing to someone who served to afford them the freedom to text in the first place. They quickly put the phone away.

A lot went through my mind before I said something. Most people would know me as someone not normally one who would speak out. But this individual was compromising one of my key values - Respect. Your core values are a key component of your personal brand and you should stand up for them and live them every day.

The final question I asked myself before I said something was. How would I feel on the drive home if I said nothing?

How are you living and expressing your values? Are they a core part of your personal brand?

What do you think? Take a moment to add your toonies worth.

 

The Brand That Was Steve Jobs

The passing of Steve Jobs resulted in an outpouring of emotion and praise that I would suggest was almost unprecedented. A Google search shows over 234,000,000 web pages - 70,000,000 more than Obama!

Now part of that visible reaction was due to the fact that we have so much more ability to communicate to many more people - ironically in many cases using the very tools that Jobs helped develop. 

Also that technology and it's speed helped produce fast reactions - with many online eulogies, pieces and collections (see below). 

Also significant media responses such as whole ad-free magazines ( like Business Week, Time ) and newspaper inserts ( San Francisco Chronicle, Los Angeles Times) dedicated to him. E-books launched ( by Wired) and sold on Amazon within hours and an upcoming biography rushed forward by 6 months. 

And the inevitable surveys on the future of Apple;

Poll: How will Apple perform without Steve Jobs?

They'll do just fine (52%)

Become stagnant (21%)

Fail (10%)

I'm not sure (18%)

In currently reading Paul Allen, Co-founder of Microsoft's autobiography  it is apparent that Steve Jobs was not always a liked man, or a pleasant leader to work with and for. 

But the ultimate test of a strong brand is defined "by a perception, good or bad, that your customers or prospects have about you".

In Jobs case it would appear that with his own personal leadership brand the many positive attributes, skills and unique abilities far outweighed the negative in the vast majority of eyes. He will certainly be missed by many. 

12 contrasting and insightful perspectives I found on Steve Jobs: 

Steve Jobs commencement address at Stanford University 2005, watched the day after his death by over 8 million people. 

 

Steve Jobs - The Builder- blog post from Jonathan Salem-Baskin who worked on the PR account of Apple in the late 90's.

Steve Jobs - A Tribute - obituary from Steven Levy at Wired.com. also check out his podcast at Harvard Business Review -  The Legacy of Steve Jobs - a perfect CEO

Steve Jobs dead at 56, his life ended prematurely by chemotherapy and radiotherapy for cancer - hard hitting commentary on Steve Jobs health choices and the impact of Apple from Mike Adams, Editor of NaturalNews.com

What I learned from Steve Jobs - reflections from Guy Kawasaki, former Chief Evangelist at Apple

Apple under Jobs was quintessentially corporate - Financial Post Comment from Terence Corcoran, commenting on the irony of Occupy Wall Street protestors using Apple products. 

Social media reaction immediately following his death, captured by the Globe & Mail 

Gallery of Fortune Magazine covers with Steve Jobs on the front 12 of them in total!

The Top Ten Lessons Steve Jobs Taught Us - Forbes magazine  

The Legacy of Steve Jobs - Harvard Business Review

and of course Apples own tribute.

What does your business card communicate about your brand?

Last week John Baird, Foreign Secretary and one of the Canadian governments leading figures, caused a bit of storm with a recent business card re-design. 

He seems even to have strayed from the 'brand standards' that are recommended and his Chief of Staff even had to sign a disclaimer to formally acknowledge that his office was advised against the changes. 

There is always the challenge of wanting to have a business card that best communicates your brand, but it also has to be remembered when representing an organization that the card also has to convey their brand - even when it comes to Government. 

In a rush to stamp his own brand on the card, Baird seems to have committed three sins of business card design:

1. He actually had the 'Canada' word and brand of the flag removed entirely from the card. If you represent a well recognised brand have that on your card, it adds to your credibility. 

2. He changed it to a unlingual card, not having the reverse done in French, even though he is bilingual and represents a bilingual constituency. If you have a unique or differentiating skill or strength, see if you can highlight this - having the card double sided with a second language is very visible and memorable. 

3. His mailing address in the capital Ottawa was at a building named after a Liberal prime minister AND Nobel Peace Prize winner - but not from the same party as Baird. If you have an issue that you would rather not be associated with but it's a key part of your professional details, the business card is not the place to display this dis-satisfaction - have a little more class. 

Even in this very technological and connected online world, the business card is still an important part of your personal brand communication, in fact it might be the only printed tool you have. Take some time to ensure it is a balanced and clear reflection of who you are and what you want to be known for. 

And the new Premier of Ontario is..........likeable?

The provincial election in Ontario is a little over a week away and depending on which poll you believe anyone of the three main parties could end up winning. 

But if it came down to backyard barbecue invitations instead of votes NDP leader Andrea Horwath would be the winner with 37% of respondents to an IPSOS Reid poll saying they would prefer to have her than 32% for PC leader Tim Hudak and 31% for Liberal leader Dalton McGuinty. 

The reason...........?

LIKEABILITY.

With all three leaders so closely matched it's the emotional attribute of Horwath that makes her more appealing than the others. 

If you had asked in the same poll what words people would use to describe each leader the chances are a few would come up for all three such as;

Leader like

Confident

Ambitious

Honest .... (well on second thoughts!)

If all three posess the same words then these are what we term rational attributes - i.e. they are what we expect to see in any leader of a provincial party. They are the table stakes, they get you in the game and seriously considered. 

However - they will not be the deciding attributes in why someone will vote for them. The differentiators are the emotional attributes - such as Likeable.

When you are communicating your personal leadership brand be sure that both the rational AND emotional words are included in your language - written and verbal - it's critical to your success. 

 

"I messed up. I owe everyone an explanation."

These are not always the words you would expect to hear from a leading CEO when admitting that a move they made in the market was the wrong one, or at the very least one that should have had a more considered approach. 

They are certainly not the words that Jim Balsilee the Co-CEO of Research in Motion, makers of the Blackberry, has uttered (well at least not publicly). The latest analyst reaction to RIM's worsening performance is not positive, siting current executive leadership as one of the barriers to returning glory.  

But this is exactly how Reed Hastings, the CEO of Netflix started off a recent blog post to explain that the move the company made on increasing prices without consulting their customers was perhaps the wrong one.  He went on to admit the fears he faces from being so successful in one realm that any other new ventures may never match up. Finally he went on to say:

"I want to acknowledge and thank our many members that stuck with us, and to apologize again to those members, both current and former, who felt we treated them thoughtlessly.

Both the Qwikster and Netflix teams will work hard to regain your trust. We know it will not be overnight. Actions speak louder than words. But words help people to understand actions."

Some commentators felt that this was just too little too late, given that the price changes were announced back in July and that this open letter of apology only came after Netflix reported losing over 1 million subscribers. and they had a 'new' service to launch, namely the re-branding of the mailed DVD service to Qwikster. 

Both close in age, Hastings a masters graduate of Stanford and Balsillee a masters graduate of Harvard are certainly no dummies - so what are the lessons you can learn from their respective personal leadership brands?

1. Clear belief in a vision that was inspiring, innovative, and moved markets to a whole new level. When you have such a vision be sure to clearly communicate it to those that need to know about it and don't waver from that belief and message. 
2. Know that you cannot do it all yourself. Identify where your strengths and your operating uniqueness lies, do that and find other ways to get the rest done. Your leadership will be much more effective hiring others to do what you do not do well, outsource areas that are not a core expertise, be open to others input and insights. 
3. Listen to what is going on in your marketplace. Trailblazing got you to where you are, but it may not sustain you as your market matures, competitors catch up or overtake you and customer demands change. Gather feedback, ask for opinions, watch reactions to ideas - but then act on them, do not plug your ears, sing loudly and pretend you cannot hear the noise. 
4. When you make a mistake fess up. And do it sooner rather than later. in today's world where transparency is so evident and expected, people may not love what you have done but will respect you more for admitting when you are wrong and doing something about it versus hoping its all going to go away or continue doing what you have always done. 
5. Know when it's quitting time. When you have built something so impactful stepping aside is going to be extremely tough - look at how hard it must have been for Steve Jobs. But sometimes the damage you are doing to yourself as well as the products, service, company and all of its employees is greater than the benefit of your staying, bow out gracefully versus getting the Carole Bartz phone call. 

Define what you want your personal leadership brand to be and stick to the plan. 

Do you have nothing to say in your e-mails?

The passing of Jack Layton just recently was especially personal as I found his courage in the battle with cancer was an inspiration for my own. I was not surprised by the outpouring of emotion and support for someone I considered a rare breed - an authentic and generally honest politician! 

The more cynical and condemning responses, especially to his letter to all Canadians, were a little more surprising, but perhaps not totally unexpected - it is politics after all! 

But this letter was not just about politics, it was also a clear display of Layton's personal leadership brand. it was totally what he believed and stood for. 

In fact I have discovered that Layton displayed this brand with every e-mail he ever sent. At the foot of his e-mails was the following Tommy Douglas quote:

"Courage my friends, 'tis never too late to build a better world."

How many e-mails do you send out each week? Do they reflect your personal brand? 

They do not have to contain a link to a web site or social media connection, it could be as simple as a quote that sums up your personal brand. Just don't leave it blank anymore - it's a waste and suggests you have nothing to say!

Just my toonies worth!

Cancer is personal, so it's part of my brand

"You're not alone, in fact this type of cancer is the fastest growing type of oral cancer in men under 55, who do not smoke and are not heavy drinkers"

That word "cancer" immediately causes a heightened level of awareness as well as obvious concern.

Last October after a great summer vacation with my family in Jamaica and what I thought was a viral lump in my neck gland had seemed to go away and come back, I finally went to see my family doctor.

Within 72 hours I had most medical exams and tests you could imagine for this and was told that nothing appeared sinister and that I was being referred to an Ear, Nose, Throat Specialist. After two appointments with him and two inconclusive biopsies, he felt it was better to refer me to a head/neck colleague.

The appointment with this Dr came within 5 days (I figured not a good sign) and just a few days before Christmas last year, he sat down with me and very calmly and with much care said "I'm sorry, but I am 95% certain this is HPV cancer."

The week between Christmas and New Year the results of his biopsy came back and he confirmed that the lump in the lymph node was the secondary site of a head/neck cancer and that I was going to be referred to the Juravinski Cancer Centre in Hamilton for next steps. As you can imagine my mind went in to overdrive - all the negative, worse case scenarios as well as positive and even humorous takes on the whole situation.

The early January meetings with a round robin of Dr's resulted in mixed courses of action; surgery, immediate radiation, etc but the senior Dr wanted to take a little more time to see if the primary source could be located. He won out the day and after a left hand side tonsillectomy it was confirmed the tonsil was the primary source AND that it was HPV (Human Papilloma Virus). Believe it or not I was actually quite excited for a couple of reasons. Having lost my step mother to a cancer where they were never able to find the primary source and therefore treat it effectively, with me this meant we knew what we were dealing with. Secondly through the power of Google I was becoming quite well informed about HPV cancers in men, various treatment approaches, clinical trials - prognosis and success rates were encouragingly high.

After the surgery, a course of radiation and chemo treatments were recommended and at the beginning of March, I embarked on the first of three chemo and the first of 35 consecutive weekday radiation treatments. The treatments are now concluded and I am awaiting further tests to determine levels of treatment success and next steps.

Overall the whole process was probably better than was first laid out to me, side effects and the severe burning (like extreme sunburn outside and inside the whole neck throat area) have quite quickly subsided. Although I need to put back on some weight and muscle tone, my levels of energy are improving daily and I am back to eating almost normally.

But what I have also discovered on this journey so far, are a number of far more impactful things;

1. Most people, that I have come across, who are diagnosed with cancer ask a question of themselves along these lines - "If this was it, am I going to be happy tomorrow doing what I am doing today?" - for me this was probably in part one of the easiest questions to answer because I love what I do - helping people realise the impact of personal branding. I am going to be re-designing my business model in a number of areas over the coming weeks and months and priorities for some things are going to less and for others more (you will be reading more on all this in the blog over the coming months), but personal branding will still be at the centre.

2. You're not alone - everyone you speak to has been touched either directly or indirectly by cancer and have stories and words of encouragement to share. Do not be afraid to reach out and ask for perspective and insight from others.

3. I am very grateful and blessed to be surrounded by a loving and supportive family, fantastic network of friends and colleagues and many more I hardly knew but who have become more to me through this experience.

4. There is always someone who has it way worse than you, it may not make easier to bear, but it puts it all in perspective. You can find much strength from others who face the same challenge, there is a 'club' to which you belong and immediately you have a new set of cheerleaders.

5. Kids especially can help that perspective, we were very upfront from the beginning with our two about the whole situation, not hiding facts or conversations from them. They have been amazing and the card that my daughter gave to me within days of knowing what was happening says it all for me "Be happy and healthy - I will always love you" - I will be reading that in my father of the bride speech in 20 years (or hopefully longer!).

I spent a lot of time considering whether this type of post or topic has a place in a blog that has always had a business bias, but the more I realise what it is I offer, the more it made sense.

In the re-worked words of Larry Winget - "They call it PERSONAL branding for a reason" - cancer is very personal, but its part of my brand - thanks for reading.