The Practical Leader

AUGUST 16, 2023

Some managers will complain about a declining work ethic. When we look at 360 assessments or engagement surveys, it’s clear that a more accurate response to these managers is; nobody wants to work for you. Yet despite our very tight job market, highly effective “magnet companies” attract and hang on to good people.

Energy 52

Energy Crisis Absenteeism Leadership 52

In the CEO Afterlife

JULY 26, 2016

Early in my career, when I worked for a couple of big companies in brand management, I joined my colleagues in nodding to the notion of taking a step back. In those days, and in those companies, you never heard the word, “entrepreneurial.” In that company, I learned how to slay Goliath.

Brand 100

Brand Learning-by-Doing Brand Management Proposal 100

In the CEO Afterlife

FEBRUARY 26, 2012

As a 23 year-old Macleans Toothpaste Brand Manager in 1970, my colleagues and I competed against powerhouses P&G, Colgate and Unilever. The secret to thriving against mega-company competition comes down to three potent armaments – strategy, creativity, and culture. You be obsessed with innovation. You be fast.

Creativity 240

Creativity Brand Management Marketing Resistance 240

N2Growth Blog

APRIL 20, 2010

Unless you are a very large enterprise it is unlikely that you have the time, money, staffing, or external professional relationships to execute a brand management strategy such as the one outlined above. Be very, very smart.

Brand 271

Brand Blog How To Public Relations 271

Lead Change Blog

OCTOBER 2, 2018

Jim Taggert of Changing Winds provided Leadership and Innovation: Bridging the Gap. Jim shares: “ Innovation occurs throughout organizations. Joel Garfinkle of the Career Advancement Blog submitted Personal Branding at Work. Joel shares: “ Individuals, like companies, have a brand.

Leadership Development 312

Leadership Development Development Leadership Brand 312

Lead Change Blog

DECEMBER 17, 2015

And, it is the dream of every brand manager. The concept of brand in this country started in the west with the branding of cattle. The golden arches today help us identify a particular fast-food restaurant; an apple with one bite removed identifies a particular computer company. Cattle shared open grazing range.

Brand 150

Brand Airlines Wilde Tools 150

Skip Prichard

SEPTEMBER 24, 2019

These are the people who will turn things around, lead the organization to innovate, and drive through challenges. Over the past 27 years of my career in marketing, brand management and executive search + coaching, I’ve found time and again that organizations have blind-spots when hiring talent. That’s right. In the U.S.

Emotional Intelligence 74

Emotional Intelligence CTO Stress Exit Strategy 74

Women on Business

DECEMBER 2, 2012

I had a background in marketing and brand management, and working with concepts and ideas was my passion. We share the same vision for the company, communicate well, and respect one another as friends and professionals. She was a good friend of a friend and came with excellent references. I took the leap, and never looked back.

Franchising 255

Franchising Finance Brand Management Advice 255

In the CEO Afterlife

AUGUST 1, 2011

After the stint at Bristol-Myers, I moved on to Beecham Products (now GlaxoSmithKline) as Brand Manager of Brylcreem Hairdressing, Macleans Toothpaste and Silvikrin Shampoo. The company that now owns Brylreem Hairdressing is Combe Inc., Their slogan is: We’re not a Me-Too Company, We’re a What-If Company.

Brand 170

Brand CEO Stage-Gate Marketing 170

LDRLB

MARCH 12, 2012

As a 23 year-old Macleans Toothpaste Brand Manager in 1970, my colleagues and I competed against powerhouses P&G, Colgate and Unilever. The secret to thriving against mega-company competition comes down to leadership of three potent armaments – strategy, creativity, and culture. You be obsessed with innovation.

How To 95

How To Brand Management CEO Strategy 95

In the CEO Afterlife

JULY 24, 2011

The original concept, created by Art Director Geoff Hayes in a bathtub, and perpetuated by several creative notables, has managed to stand the cruel test of time and create the 3 rd largest-selling liquor brand on the globe. Whenever they change companies, they want to put their mark on their new company’s brands.

CEO 100

CEO Advertising Brand Creativity 100

LDRLB

MARCH 12, 2012

As a 23 year-old Macleans Toothpaste Brand Manager in 1970, my colleagues and I competed against powerhouses P&G, Colgate and Unilever. The secret to thriving against mega-company competition comes down to leadership of three potent armaments – strategy, creativity, and culture. You be obsessed with innovation.

How To 111

How To Brand Management CEO Resistance 111

Skip Prichard

FEBRUARY 8, 2021

This is an except from Jan-Benedict Steenkamp’s Time to Lead: Lessons for Today’s Leaders from Bold Decisions that Changed History , New York: Fast Company Press. It has benefited enormously from employees and consumers acting as brand ambassadors, who rave on social media about the brand’s advocacy of social causes.

Charisma 144

Charisma Bond Leadership Brand 144

Coaching Tip

APRIL 29, 2011

Corporate leaders often fail because the organization’s structure is wrong: key players don’t have budgets or authority, the company moves too slowly and the structure promotes destructive conflict. Companies worry about losing talent – Google is losing talent to Facebook as it becomes bigger, slower and less agile.”. . Kates says.

Development 112

Development Bureaucracy Globalization Middle Management 112

In the CEO Afterlife

AUGUST 1, 2011

After the stint at Bristol-Myers, I moved on to Beecham Products (now GlaxoSmithKline) as Brand Manager of Brylcreem Hairdressing, Macleans Toothpaste and Silvikrin Shampoo. The company that now owns Brylreem Hairdressing is Combe Inc., Their slogan is: We’re not a Me-Too Company, We’re a What-If Company.

Brand 131

Brand CEO Stage-Gate Marketing 131

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 23, 2018

That fear drives their companies to invest millions into coming up with breakthrough innovations. If innovation projects are going to succeed, they’ll need to survive a handoff from an innovation team to an execution team. One major Asian electronics company built a design lab to develop new hardware product ideas.

Project 8

Project Innovation Team Stage-Gate 8

Building Personal Strength

APRIL 4, 2011

This cultural phenomenon was a big problem for the gas companies. One of their first course offerings in La Jolla was the "Targeted Innovation" course, and they wanted my help. Towards the end of the course, we asked participants to come up with new solutions for a real problem that was challenging their company.

Creativity 81

Creativity Brand Management Participative Course 81

thoughtLEADERS, LLC

DECEMBER 16, 2019

When you talk about branding, you are talking about constant change. This fast-paced environment leaves brand managers with no choice: they need to favor SPEED over perfection. When innovation is a key element in the industry, processes must be faster. That is, if they want to succeed. Especially when launching products.

Marketing 11

Marketing Brand Management Brand Environment 11

Harvard Business Review

MARCH 20, 2013

Digital disruption has clearly been one of the major catalysts for this change, but less has been said about how the transformation is a prime example of open innovation , a focus of my research for many years. What it takes to make the successful shift to open innovation is always an important theme in our discussions.

Innovation 15

Innovation Advertising Market Segmentation Brand 15

Strategy Driven

AUGUST 19, 2011

There are millions of companies in the world. Let me start with the first: Your Company Sucks: It’s Time to Declare War on Yourself by Mark Stevens. Let me start with the first: Your Company Sucks: It’s Time to Declare War on Yourself by Mark Stevens. Put bluntly – but – candidly—the company sucks.

Marketing 50

Marketing Objective Short-term Discount 50

Harvard Business Review

MARCH 20, 2013

Digital disruption has clearly been one of the major catalysts for this change, but less has been said about how the transformation is a prime example of open innovation , a focus of my research for many years. What it takes to make the successful shift to open innovation is always an important theme in our discussions.

Innovation 8

Innovation Advertising Market Segmentation Brand 8

In the CEO Afterlife

AUGUST 6, 2013

So, wouldn’t you expect a heck of a lot more corporate attention to commercial brands? Wouldn’t you expect greater care in stewarding brand presence, personality, positioning, single-mindedness, and strategic consistency? Wouldn’t you expect more innovation? Some companies brand exceedingly well. Panic has set in.

Brand 260

Brand P&L Human Resources Brand Management 260

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 25, 2016

So the companies push hard to provide both. At one Fortune 1000 company, for example, “flame wars” broke out between customer support units, desperate to respond faster to customer complaints, and the technical design group, equally desperate to avoid ad hoc fixes. This tension drives my clients mad.

RACI 8

RACI Agility Brand Management Decentralization 8

Strategy Driven

OCTOBER 29, 2012

Here are more painful ‘reputation’ questions about your company and your products : What are you doing to build it? What are you doing to innovate it? Apple is the classic example of a brand, with products that back it up. They don’t have to talk about their competition – Apple is the innovator.

Brand 50

Brand Reputation Customer Loyalty Industry 50

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 23, 2012

Lafley on my "Innovation Mount Rushmore" as a reminder of the importance of investing time and energy to understand the target market. It feels like a classic battle — the scientific approach of a company that launches 80 market research studies a day versus the intuitive touch of the iconic innovator of our time.

Audience 15

Audience Entrepreneur Maturity Innovation 15

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 4, 2018

Thoughtfully managed, recommendations can prove far more valuable to marketers than for the customers they ostensibly serve. Calendar managers visually and acoustically suggest scheduling options and priorities. That makes simple and engaging user experience design for management key.

Engineering 8

Engineering Marketing Advertising Brand Management 8

Harvard Business Review

MARCH 29, 2012

billion , entrepreneurial companies with technology at their core have disrupted entire industries and threatened or eliminated incumbents. A 2011 IBM study of over 3,000 CIOs revealed that CIO-CEO alignment is stronger than ever, with traditional companies aggressively investing in technology innovation.

Technology 14

Technology Venture Capitalist CIO ROI 14

Harvard Business Review

NOVEMBER 25, 2013

Indeed, even organizations where top management keeps their eyes glued to KPI-driven dashboards have trouble agreeing on what their Top Ten Most Important Customer/Client 80/20 analytics should be. Should management refine and dig deeper into existing 80/20 KPIs? is the challenge top management needs to both ask and rise to.

Due Diligence 11

Due Diligence KPI Loyalty Information Technology 11

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 6, 2013

First, other global firms have a deep bench of seasoned brand strategist supported by rich and varied set of brand management systems and tools that are lacking in Chinese firms. Both are largely based on the brand management effort pioneered by P&G some 75 years ago and extended by the many P&G progeny.

Brand 8

Brand Globalization Brand Management Long-term 8

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 23, 2014

A few years ago Dave Ulrich, a management thought leader from the University of Michigan, made a comment I found both insightful and profound: “ Every leader needs to have a model of organization design.” An effective organization design model guides a manager in answering five fundamental questions in a thoughtful and well-integrated way.

Ulrich 8

Ulrich Cost Efficiency Consultative 8

N2Growth Blog

JUNE 11, 2010

In today’s world no one wants to do business with a company that’s not connected, has no influence, isn’t engaged, and that doesn’t get it. Let me say this as clearly as I can…a ready, fire, aim approach will rarely find the target. It won’t do anything to help you, it will only hurt you.

Media 368

Media Influence Blog Real Estate 368

In the CEO Afterlife

OCTOBER 17, 2011

The ramification is clutter, the enemy of brand messaging. So, wouldn’t you expect a heck of a lot more company attention to commercial brands? Wouldn’t you expect greater care in stewarding brand identity, personality, positioning, single-mindedness, and strategic consistency? Wouldn’t you expect more innovation?

Brand 168

Brand CEO Stage-Gate SWOT 168

Harvard Business Review

SEPTEMBER 20, 2013

Content Innovation. For example, a product evaluating nonprofit organizations may be highly useful to a wealth manager seeking to help his client to select a charity as part of a value-added tax efficiency service. Execution Knowledge management' In some cases, they’re right. Frame up realistic aspirations for monetization.

Execution 8

Execution Metrics Content Christensen 8

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 20, 2012

More and more companies I see these days are making strategic process changes to drive unprecedented business model innovation. Consumer packaged goods manufacturers are monitoring social media to get real-time information on their customers' perceptions and share it with brand managers.

Business Model 15

Business Model Process Innovation Media 15

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 16, 2010

These six ideas emerged in 2010 as powerful "innovation invitations" and seem sure to intensify in power and influence. They'll increasingly be a source of, and resource for, innovation differentiation in 2011, if not for your organization, then for the firm you most dread competing against. That's right. Contestification.

Innovation 16

Innovation Supply Chain Business Simulation Advertising 16

Harvard Business Review

JULY 24, 2014

And brand stewardship can no longer be under the exclusive purview of marketing departments and brand managers. A 2008 survey of chief marketing officers and brand managers by the Association of National Advertisers found that 64% say their brands do not influence decisions made at their companies.

Brand 8

Brand Strategy Advertising Brand Management 8

Harvard Business Review

NOVEMBER 26, 2012

The product manager, who had come up with what he thought was an airtight, iron-clad, compelling and irrefutable business case for launching a fairly clever innovation, completely failed to persuade the impassive CMO. The pitch can be before venture capitalists, brand managers, product review committees and/or the CEO.

Venture Capitalist 8

Venture Capitalist Due Diligence Innovation Brand 8