Paul Copcutt - Just My Toonies Worth

What is your personal brand U.S.P. ?

I had the pleasure of attending a recent women’s entrepreneur lunch at the McMaster Innovation Park in Hamilton. It included a Dragon’s Den or Shark Tank style pitch by 4 local women run businesses in competition for some services and prizes to help them with their development and growth.

The panel was made up of local service and successful entrepreneurs, but they were certainly much nicer than many of the ‘sharks’ or ‘dragons’!

None of the businesses, as far as I can determine, were the only ones of their type, they all have competition. What was very noticeable and great to see from them was some indications of their brand uniqueness.

Lunch-bags.ca. A local custom catered lunch company, with fully compostable packaging, run by one much taller owner than the other – they even made humourous comments on this. The humour theme continues as their delivered food includes over detailed opening instructions on the boxes and a list of the music they listened to while making your food!

Sounds Sports Imaging. A start-up company offering training and implementation for sports medical clinicians on a revolutionary portable ultrasound machine. The owner was very knowledgeable and passionate about the difference this was going to make.

Cake & Loaf. A made from scratch bakery with all products made fresh daily using as many local suppliers as they can find. Also a high eco-emphasis with minimal waste and local bike delivery.

Eco Lux Pet Apparel. Offering luxury pet clothing styled on latest human fashion trends and made from used human clothing, wherever possible made from natural materials etc. The owner had a very outgoing personality and used her singing skills to present part of her pitch tunefully!

All four eventually ended up receiving prizes and they all seemed set for continued launch or growth. This in part was due to varying degrees of 3 things that all small business and entrepreneurs need to consider – their U.S.P. ;

Uniqueness. 99.9% of the time you are not going to be the only one in the market, there will be competitors similar or the same to you. You have to find what your unique approach, perspective or offering is going to be and then ensure you are communicating that all the time to make it memorable.

Savvy. Have a great idea, product or service is just not enough. You have to do your research, find out what your customers other options are. Also know your numbers. One business had excellent stats and demographics - they knew the depth of their opportunity.

Passion. There are going to be bumps in the road. You have to truly believe that what you have is a winner. If you do not believe it how can you expect anyone else to? One of the businesses was rejected for funding by banks because they thought their numbers were unrealistic – they have actually tripled them! This was because they had done their homework. Blind passion can be dangerous but if you add in the Uniqueness and Savvy then Passion can make you a real winner.

How clear are you about your U.S.P?

If you are not as clear as you think you could be perhaps a complimentary strategy session might help - check out my availability.

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? 

 

 

How E-mail Damages Your Personal Brand

The recent report of an executive recruiter in the UK being fired for e-mailing a job candidate to go away using colourful language - but accidentally copying everyone (all 4,000+ of them!) on the candidates blast list, highlights the dangers of damaging your personal brand and career by relying too much on technology. What is that recruiter going to say when the question comes up "Why did you leave your last job?"

The candidate also was obviously damaging their brand (and job search chances) by sending out such a generic application to so many people. I am seeing far too much of that at the moment. I get you that finding a job is tough, but use time wisely to be more targetted, not spray and pray job seeking that says I don't really care. 

Just last week, I was talking with both a colleague on the very subject of e-mail versus picking up this still very useful piece of technology called the telephone and also coaching a client on the dangers of mis-understood communication, when a quuick conversation would have eliminated all the angst that they ended up experiencing. 

All the 'gurus' are telling us that 2012 is going to be the year of mobile, but with that will come an even greater temptation to say it in text versus verbally. 

Some quick tips to keep your conversations live and real in 2012; 

1. Resist the temptation to respond to an e-mail straight away. A client once said to me there is rarely such a thing as an accounting emergency, and the same should apply to your situation. 

2. Before you pen an e-mail or a reply, consider if this form of communication is the best way to get your message across?  If it is, be sure to re-read it once and double check the to, cc and bcc box recipients.

3. When in doubt pick up the phone or arrange a face to face. So much can be mis-interpreted by the written word, if it's important let the other person know that by having a conversation. 

4. Make time for 15 minutes every day. We are all guilty (me included) of not connecting properly with people because we feel that we have no time. Stop the Facebook likes, Twitter re-tweets and Four Square check-in's and use that 15 minutes a day to pick up the phone to three people you know and say hello. 

As my colleague Dave Howlett said, "I am much more likely to remember you for that call than a tweet, like, poke or follow". 

 

Your Business Card is NOT a Queen of Spades

We love to play various card games. My kids especially love Crazy 8's, it's a fast paced game with the main goal to get rid of all your cards before any opponents. They get extra enthusiastic when they lay a card down that causes you as the next player to pick more cards up - especially the Queen of Spades, where the penalty is 5 extra cards! 

Unfortunately at many events people treat it like a game of Crazy 8's and use their business cards in the same way - they come around trying to put their cards down (or in your hands) as quickly as possible, many times moving on before even asking you anything or getting your card in return - more worried about their next turn instead. 

At two recent networking events I experienced two classic examples of this, which resulted in the damaging of each person's personal brand in a big way. 

1. At the first event I was standing at a small drinks table with three other people, all of us in conversation. This person 'barged' in to the group, had their business cards in hand like a deck of cards and proceeded to 'deal' us each one card on the table in front of us, with the comment of "I am X and I do Y" and then walked on to the next group.

We all looked at each other slightly bemused, continued our conversations and when we did depart not one of us picked up a card.  

2. At the other event I was in conversation with one other person who I had not seen for a while and was really interested in catching up. This person just came up to us both and shoved their card in our hands and walked on.

Not more than 10 minutes later they were back, had completely forgotten who they had already given cards to, and tried to give us their card again. My blue recycling bin was the only place I filed that card! 

Your business card is very often the only physical reminder someone has of your personal brand, so make sure you are using it wisely. 

Establish some kind of rapport or relationship with someone before offering your card, or wait until they ask for it. Or if you feel you can offer some value to that person make sure to ask for theirs. 

But however you decide to exchange cards, as the American Express ad's say -  don't leave home without them! 

 

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.

So if you are an accountant - is that designation really so important?

There is an interesting debate going on between the three main accounting designations here in Canada - CA (Chartered Accountant), CMA (Certified Management Accountant), and CGA (Certified General Accountant) about the value or not of a merger of two or all three organizations. 

Having spoken to audiences at conferences, professional development days and several chapters of all three, it is clear that merging is not going to solve all the challenges that accountants and for that matter many service professionals face - namely differentiation.

In fact if they end up doing a hodge podge of meregers only in some provinces and only some designations the picture may get very much more cloudy than clear. 

In the end the designations on their own are not enough. 

Unless you have sat down with an accountant and heard their explanation of their designation it is very likely that most people would not know the difference and the benefits of one over the other. BUT their buying decision might already be made, at least for a shortlist of who to use or hire. 

This is because the general perceptions are that all (accomplished) accountants are at the very least - accurate, honest and analytical - regardless of designation. so the choice becomes much more about the individual accountants personal brand and the emotional connections one makes to that person. Are you looking for a FUN accountant, or CARING or QUIRKY?  

It might only be when you find a FUN CA, CMA and CGA that the designation becomes important - at least to the buyer. 

 

Which came first the coffee, the cup or the store(y)?

     

Many people know me for driving past a Tim Hortons (or three!) to get to a Starbucks! As I only drink black coffee the connection I have to Starbucks is more than just the coffee - its the other emotional connections I make with the brand. 

Starbucks marketing team has been held up as a great example of using social media to engage consumers and they have over 25 million fans of Facebook for example, which obviously dwarfs a Canadian centric brand like Tim Hortons, although they have an impressive almost 1.7 million fans on their page. 

But the emotional connection that Tim Hortons is able to generate from its loyal following is quite impressive. Their web site EveryCup.ca was established to capture the unsolicited letters they were receiving about their customers love of their local Timmies and the impact on their lives.

I am not sure their recent move to offer prizes for the best letters was actually necessary, but competition for fans and comments is apparently hotting up! 

This was a Facebook post by Tim Hortons on September 14th:

"What living historical or pop culture figure would you like to have coffee with?"

This was a Facebook post by Starbucks on October 7th; 

"Who is your favorite person to have coffee with?"

What emotional connection do people make to your personal brand? How are you capturing and communicating that?

 

 

"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.