July 31, 2007
Trademark 2.0: New Book
Hardly an information technology book or magazine can be picked up that does not mention the focus to achieve enterprise effectiveness or share information in a manner that allows the organization to react in an effective manner across the entire supply chain. The result of these efforts to lower the costs and gain a competitive advantage within the supply chain has lead to a much more diverse community of individual suppliers. This transformation from hierarchal controlling structures to distributed flat organizations has created what Dan Pink calls the Free Agent Nation. The reality is that free agents may not come from next door but rather the next country. Employees need to adapt by creating unique value propositions that are captured with their Trademark.
This book will discuss several dimensions of building a personal Trademark. Unlike other books on this subject, this book will focus on the “How” an individual can move from local labor to global talent in the new world defined as Enterprise 2.0. Enterprise 2.0 commonly refers to organizations that operate under an open communication model where interaction and communication is encouraged from the top down. Enterprises are accomplishing this feat by not only addressing the technology requirements of Web 2.0 but the social and organizational changes required to sustain a competitive advantage.
Subject
The domain of the book is the creation, development, and ongoing utilization of a personal Trademark. Wikipedia defines a Trademark as follows:
A trademark is a distinctive sign of some kind which is used by a business to uniquely identify itself and its products and services to consumers, and to distinguish the business and its products or services from those of other businesses. A trademark is a type of industrial property which is distinct from other forms of intellectual property. Conventionally, a trademark comprises a name, word, phrase, logo, symbol, design, image, or a combination of these elements. There is also a range of non-conventional trademarks comprising marks which do not fall into these standard categories.The choice of the Trademark over the conventional term branding is by design. Information workers think of themselves as members of a trade. A trade is a long term progression where skills, competencies, and experiences come together to create subject matter expertise. The new world of business is built around ambiguity, collaboration, networks, distributed leadership, loosely coupled processes, and a dispersed workforce. For many in the industry, the transformation has been overnight and the majority of us are not prepared to handle a world without hierarchal structures. The Trademark is a physical representation of who you are as opposed to the concepts of branding which are more metaphysical. Much of this book will focus on the physical creation of informational elements that define a brand or brand position. Generally speaking, information workers are more receptive to the hard elements of a Trademark versus the emotional elements of a brand. Historically, trademarks have been associated with professions like the pharmacist’s mortar and pestle, the anvil for the blacksmith, the red and white pole for a barber or the wooden Indian statue for tobacco stores. These symbols represented something about the profession and those that practiced it.
In the 2.0 environment, these physical trademarks have been replaced by more meta-physical ones such as logo, slogans, and reputation. Still, like every organization, we must learn to build both the physical and meta-physical trademarks in order to compete in the next 25 years. This book is designed to give the information worker an overview of personal branding and provide a process for the creation of their physical Trademark in a 2.0 world.
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Posted by Todd at 11:54 AM
May 16, 2007
Welcome to the Herring Club
Animal Planet is a great resource of business metaphors and last night had a great show on Dolphins. One of their favorite foods is herring which forms a giant ball when attacked. The thinking is that if they come together, they will appear to be bigger and a more formidable foe. Unfortunately, thousands of years of evolution and basic instincts plays right into the Dolphins hands, I mean fins. The tightly packed school of herring creates an undersea McDonalds; fast food for Flipper. I won’t describe the actual details of the feast, but you get the idea that mother nature isn’t always the kindest thing to watch.
What struck me was how our corporate hierarchal structures do the same thing; create giant balls of fish. They hire the same people, with similar backgrounds, similar skills, and knowledge. Then if that wasn’t enough, they immerse them into similar technologies, cultures, processes, and structures. We don’t want people that color outside the lines and we have been taught that since second grade. We, as employees, gladly accept this as the norm. Our assumption is that if we pool together and appear the same then we are safe from outsourcing, downsizing, and job stagnation. Don’t believe me that we are all treated the same? Ask your HR professional what percentage of employees got a below average rating last year? Mathematically speaking, that number should be 49% but you and I know it’s more like .05%. Are you the one getting packed (herring) or doing the packing (Dolphin)? Either way, the end result is the same.
Do you blog every day? Do you own www.johndoe.com and develop your personal brand? Do you collect, track, manage, and evaluate yourself by your trademarks at the end of the year? Do you update your resume or CV quarterly? If your organization deploys Social Software, will you be one of the 1% that actually participates? If not, welcome to the Herring Club, glad you’re here.
Posted by Todd at 12:50 PM
June 7, 2006
Breaking the Rules of Career Planning
Rule #1: Work Hard and you will be noticed!
Wrong: The meek will inherit nothing; work hard and someone will steal your ideas; the world belongs to the ones that control their brand.
Rule #2: Work and Retire for Corporate America!
Wrong; You are employee #2,345 and nobody cares; Ask someone what you did three years ago and you will see how much they care; Careers are made through a cycle of extensive learning followed by value creation.
Rule #3: Develop Leadership Skills!
Wrong; the vast majority of people can tell you difference between management and leadership; leadership is getting things done; leadership changes daily, leadership emerges after the battle, survival is what happens during.
Rule #4: Everyone is here to support you!
Wrong; all of that ended in High School; we live in reptilian world where we eat our own young in order to survive and prosper; we would trade our soul for success (See Enron, HealthSouth, Anderson, etc.); There is only one you, one brand, one message; unfortunately, if you are one in a million your one of 6,652 and counting.
Rule #5: Keep your nose clean and do what you are told!
Wrong: Following that advice will place you in the middle of the pack of community hell. Disruption and failure changes the world; push everything to the limit and grow your experience; The vast majority of directives play it safe and eventually someone or something will be able to do safe 10 times faster and cheaper.
Posted by Todd at 6:30 PM
June 2, 2006
Personal Branding Framework
A couple of days ago, I posted a request for review of a personal branding model. Several folks have stepped forward to provide feedback. Here is one of the slides that focuses on the tasks and activities of the Persona Trademark.
Again, if you are interested in reviewing the slides and providing feedback that would be greatly appreciated. Especially, if you have been in the personal branding space for a few years; your insight would be extremely valuable.
Thanks again,
R. Todd
Posted by Todd at 1:36 AM
May 31, 2006
Branding Model: Request for Review
Over the past three months, I have done a deep dive into the concepts of personal branding which included four books and countless articles from both the academic and professional perspective. More importantly, I took a look at my own journey and started laying out a framework for others to replicate. My first realization is that personal branding which focuses on emotions, perceptions, and the meta-physical elements has a second dimension. That dimension is the trademark or the physical elements of the branding process. These trademarks include the network, publishing, persona, and portfolio. In addition, I pose the question of the personal brand promise and the existence of a personal branding maturity model.
What emerged from this research is a model with 6-8 areas of focus with as many as 123 tasks. While the model reflects my efforts over the past 7 years, does the model apply to others that have also been in the personal branding process? Would anyone be willing to review the model and provide feedback on the gaps and accuracy based on your experiences?
If you are interested then drop me an email and I will send the power point for your review. All I ask is for you to provide feedback within a couple of weeks of review.
Posted by Todd at 1:04 PM | Comments (1)