Thoughts on getting people to rallying around an idea...

I almost wrote that the only time we aren’t generating ideas is when we are sleeping; I then smiled with the recognition that we dream. Although I have absolutely no research to back it up, I am going to throw it out there that we give rise to ideas all the time — 24/7.

Many of these ideas go nowhere because they’re unrealistic, they’re forgotten, or have no real commitment to make them happen. But there are also many ideas that just need some support to make them become a reality — and some ideas will need a number of people to be involved. These people will either support your idea, won’t stand in its way, or help with the heavy lifting.

Since it seems I’m always trying to help push an idea forward or watching people do the same, I thought I would offer some thoughts on rallying people around an idea to move it forward. For right or wrong, I’ve come up with five considerations.

The Articulation of your Idea — The idea that is in your head needs to be put in to words so it can be shared with others, and although obvious, isn’t always easy. To start with, the idea needs to be a solution to a problem and articulated as such; there is nothing worse than having someone suggest your idea “seems to be a solution searching for a problem” — if this happens, either it’s truly a bad idea or you haven’t articulated your idea’s value well enough. In my experience it’s important to get your idea down in writing and wordsmith the language to articulate the idea, the situation, the problem it solves for, the benefits it offers, who will be interested, and the opportunity. This language then needs to find its way into a thirty second elevator speech, a one page brief, a formal presentation, video, podcast, and frankly any other format that may be needed to help share your idea.

Your audience — I suppose it would be fair to say your audience is everyone because you never know who someone knows, but you will want your message aligned to the audience. Your audience will fall into five categories —

• People whose support you need (approval, financial, cheerleading)

• People who will help you make the idea a reality

• People who don’t care

• Detractors of your idea

• People who may stand in the way of making your idea a reality.

It may seem the last two groups are the same but I would suggest there’s a subtle difference as a detractor simply thinks it’s a bad idea whereas someone standing in the way may be doing it for no other reason then they don’t know what is happening and want to be part of the discussion.

Frequency of sharing your idea — Share as often as you can. This of course will be situational and needs to be in alignment with the audience, the situation, and how you are articulating you idea. People will respect your passion but context is everything.

Feedback and adjustment — With all this communication it will be important to stop and listen to what is being said by others. The belief in your idea (and the passion that surrounds it) will make you somewhat deaf to what others say, and it is important to fight through this. You will search out very smart and knowledgeable people (or should be), and it would be silly not to listen to them.

Action — Nothing gets people involved more than seeing something happening. It is important to make your idea alive in a tangible way, even if it’s baby steps to the final goal. It may be hard for people to grasp an idea, but they can literally grasp a “prototype”. Do something more than just talking about it.

And one more thing… Don’t ever give up, unless of course it’s a bad idea.

iamgpe

Moments — a moment in time.

It was hidden in a box and forgotten. Correction, some people knew there was a box and generally knew what was in it — although arguably, this did mean it was forgotten. I only found it through happenstance when I was looking for something else.

If I was to guess I’d say the photograph was taken circa 1956. I would also say it was taken at a Christmas party, and if I was to imagine…

It was their first Christmas party since they had gotten married, and everyone took the opportunity to get out of the cold and celebrate. With cocktail and cigarette in hand, people were laughing, talking about getting the family together for the holidays, and speculated what the new year will bring. Beside the tree a playful conversation was happening about what would be under the tree on Christmas day, although no answers were forthcoming. The playfulness would continue, people would kiss under the mistletoe, and they would dance the night away listening to Elvis Presley.

It’s a moment in time that was captured, was forgotten, and then rediscovered — it’s a fortunate opportunity to glimpse into the lives of others, their stories, and ultimately to celebrate who they are (and were). My mother, god rest her soul, won’t be able to tell about what they were talking about, but my father is still sharp and should remember.

Alas, our stories are really so very short.

iamgpe

Personal Branding or just self indulgence...

I got it in my head a couple of weeks ago I needed to update my professional photograph as part of my ongoing, ever evolving personal branding to ensure I’m portraying an image that reflects my value. It’s a classic marketing pursuit.

After a quick Google search you’ll find Wikipedia defines Personal Brand (or Personal Branding) as the practice of people marketing themselves and their careers as brands. While previous self-help management techniques were about self-improvement, the personal-branding concept suggests instead that success comes from self-packaging. The term personal brand is thought to have been first used and discussed in a 1997 article by Tom Peters. And if you take it a little further, the same Google (with the help of Business encyclopedia) defines Brand Equity as a marketing term that describes a brand’s value. That value is determined by consumer perception of and experiences with the brand. If people think highly of a brand, it has positive brand equity. When a brand consistently under-delivers and disappoints to the point where people recommend that others avoid it, it has negative brand equity.

Yes that is exactly what I was doing — keeping my Brand Equity front and centre using the subtly of a photograph to reinforce it.

Being an accomplished Sales and Marketing Leader with a reputation for effective strategy, creative problem solving and execution; highly experienced in sales and marketing management with a number of awards. And also someone who brings a wealth of cross-functional skill sets in product, price and marketing management as well as sales management and development to help business leaders with their commercial problems, I set out to build a brand.

Using my initials and the belief I’m clever, I built the name GPEStratagem — I adopted the Scottish Unicorn as my logo (because it is unique, speaks to my heritage, and is full of character, as well as strength), and adopted the moniker iamgpe. I had a very professional photograph taken and build a web site with social feeds where it made sense.

And then I started to blog for no other reason than if you want build a personal brand you need to articulate its value.

Over the years I have evolved my web site and expanded my social channels but I hadn’t done anything with that original photograph. Why get a new photograph now after all this time? Maybe it was the desire to keep my brand and image fresh, or maybe the belief that social media photographs shouldn’t be “too dated”, or simply a belief there were subtle changes in who I am, or what my value has become. Whatever the reason, it seemed new photographs were the only way to get the message across to support my personal (and professional) branding efforts.

A very talented photographer named Phillipa Croft (who likes to work with natural light) was able to help me in this regard. Having the photographs in hand I have know uploaded them onto my web site and various social media feeds, and even got a blog topic out of the little adventure as a bonus.

Arguably I’ve done a reasonable job of couching this in my personal branding strategy… although I suppose I’m just indulging myself by showing off my new pictures and how the natural light captures my features nicely.

In either regard, you have to admit Phillipa takes a fine photograph.

iamgpe

PS — OK, OK… it’s self indulgent. But then again, isn’t that an important component of effective Personal Branding.