Managing Talent: Why You Should Treat it Like a Marketing Portfolio

How defined is your brand?

“I have always believed that great brands are built on improving the lives of the people they serve; I wanted to prove that maximum profit and high ideals aren’t incompatible but, in fact, inseparable,” said Jim Stengel, former global marketing officer of Proctor & Gamble and author of GROW.

While reading a recent issue of Advertising Age, I came across an interesting article about branding — not from a qualitative state but from an analytical and quantitative approach. The article was based on work done by Stengel (along with Millward Brown) identifying the 50 fastest growing brands in terms of value and consumer preference.

They designed an analytical, rigorous method that tested corporate ideals as the core of an organization’s success. Their findings were called the Stengel 50 — brands that built the deepest relationships with customers and achieved the greatest financial growth from 2001-2011.

Superior growth for businesses built on ideals

Passion & Drive: They’re the Game Changers For Top Performers

“It would not be enough to keep you interested.”

That statement was told to me by a dear friend who had interviewed with a non-profit and was told this was the reason that she would not be hired. Say what?

When you are in HR you get calls all the time since you are the “resident expert in all things HR” (their words not mine). I had to tell her that this is the first time in my career that I had ever heard that one. She is an accomplished HR consultant who has an excellent career.

Finding the sweet spot

Can You Hear Me Now? The Impact of Social Media on Your Workforce

Can you hear me now?

That ubiquitous phrase made famous by Verizon became quite apropos at the end of 2011. After the most embarrassing debacle in history of marketing/pricing, Verizon was forced to backtrack, put their tail between their legs, and somberly walk away from what they thought would be another revenue steam.

Netflix was faced with the same situation in mid-2011.

What was the major connector to both of these events? What was the determining factor that drove them to make an immediate u-turn? The answer: social media.

Time magazine’s Person of the Year for 2011 was the protester. What drove the protest throughout the world that drove their movement? Again, social media was the key.

Two of the most driving forces going into 2012 are social media (and the power of it), and the employee, regardless of the level of engagement.

The pendulum has swung

What to Ask as You Start 2012: Why Would Somebody Work For You?

As we enter the doors of 2012, the prognosticators have all given their respective thoughts on what is coming into focus for the year.

These are all great readings, but if you have survived these past few years of economic turmoil (and the aftermath), you know that, really, who knows?

All organizations have basically put together their various strategies for either getting back into the game, moving to the next level, or something similar. Some of those strategies will be called into focus as the year progresses. Think Verizon and their slogan —  “Can you hear me now?”

As I read Sunday’s New York Times, there was an article that encapsulated IBM strategy that was devised by Samuel J. Palmisano, who is departing as IBM’s chief. In the article, Palmisano mentioned that he focused on four key questions to drive strategy and growth when he took the helm of IBM.