Dangerous Comparisons, Ben Zander and giving back

Some years back I was lucky enough to listen to Ben Zander (conductor of the Boston Philharmonic) talk about his other passion: "The Art of Possibility". It was the last day of a 3 day conference and I remember walking into the auditorium feeling deflated.

I was attending my employers annual "elite" conference where top employees from all over the US come together to exchange experiences. My ticket to this prestigious event came from a sentiment other than greatness; I had come to work for my current employer through a series of corporate acquisitions, i.e. "they" didn't hire me and my management team wanted to help me feel part of the company. Unfortunately, by the morning of day 3 the conference was having a weird and opposite effect: I felt like I didn't belong in this crowd of geniuses … and I was feeling this right down to my bones as my brain replayed every professional screw up I'd ever made in crystal clear hi-def. As I got lost in thought Ben started talking to us with lots of energy and enthusiasm, I cheered up a bit … and then he said: "Think of a problem, any problem, and I promise by the end of this presentation it'll be solved". I was "optimistically skeptical".

Unbelievably Ben actually delivered. He delivered a number of important messages dressed as hilarious stories about his life. The solution to my particular problem lay in Ben's story of a broken relationship he'd had with a former wife. "We will always be in a relationship Ben - it's just the way we contribute to it that is transforming into something new" At that point Ben had an epiphany - he would make his life about making a contribution rather than seeking personal accolades. I smiled.

Comparisons are as insidious as they are destructive. Lately they've been catching up with me big time. It seems every time I put myself out there, there's a negative result - I want to recoil, focusing on what's gone wrong I lose sight of what's gone right and what's important. We can all give a little something back, maybe this contribution will help many, often it just helps a few and that's ok, in fact that's perfect.
Thanks Ben.

WARNING: This might just brighten up your day :)

Building a Personal Brand

There's a proverb that talks about how millions of tiny raindrops eventually create a magnificent lake. What has this got to do with building a successful brand? Not a lot, at least not on the surface.

Sometime last year I came across the idea that individuals could leverage the brand concept in the same way companies do. I mean imagine walking around with a metaphorical Nike sign floating over your head. Your participation is synonymous with: success, a great team experience, things going to plan, excellent quality, creative thinking, fun, etc etc. That would be pretty cool. But I found the concept difficult to implement. The advice seemed like common sense and there wasn't much detail on how to build the brand. I also sensed it was quite easy to fall into the trap of trying too hard at the cost of being genuine. So I left the outcome to the hands of fate and moved on. Then a couple of weeks ago I started reading "Delivering Happiness" by Tony Hsieh and a lightbulb went off.

Tony is the CEO of Zappos - an online retailer focused on footwear. In his book, Tony talks about the role "core values" have played in making Zappos the company it is today (USD$1.2 billion company with a reputation for providing extraordinary customer experience). What's interesting is that Tony suggests that he never focused directly on developing the Zappos brand. Instead he obsessed about their core values; If you focus on the core values, culture and brand naturally follow. And that's about the time the light bulb went off in my head.

I suddenly understood that trying to ensure that the 1000's of decisions that I make everyday are somehow consistent with a brand image is difficult. Especially when compared to defining a set of core values I'd like to live by. That's incidentally where the analogy of the raindrops and the lake come into this. The raindrops are analogous to the decisions we need to make everyday. If the decisions are aligned the results can be amazing. But how do you align all these decisions, especially when there are so many of them and they're potentially about vastly different topics? (e.g. Do I wake up early or late? Eat fruit or cake? Change job or stay?) I think having a set of core values can help focus the decisions.

In the lake example, each raindrop shares the same values, they're all aligned as are the forces that make them fall and govern their impact. That's what creates the lake. Imagine what would happen if each drop needed to be dealt with individually? Or if the rules that govern each drop depend on how each individual drop might be feeling at a given moment in time?

It also seems more geunine to go this route. Rather than focusing on how the brand will help you sell yourself, you're focusing on what you'd like to be or what you'd like to achieve (the lake you want to build). Often good core values have a  selfless component to them. i.e. Make things better for yourself AND the people around you. If that's the case being highly sought after should be natural consequence rather than a forced goal you may have set for yourself.

Ultimately I think we're more likely to get to our goals if the decisions we make are based on a higher set of principles.

References:

• Example: Core values at Zappos