Archives
February 2025
Categories
All
|
Back to Blog
ARROW1/20/2025 Branding has never been that important in anyone's life until now. Whatever you do, whether you're working as an employee, working on your business, perhaps a student or a stay-at-home parent, there's nothing like having a brand that works specifically for your purpose. I was just one the phone with a friend who's looking to shift his employment to something better in terms of flexibility of the role and higher remuneration but within his field. He is thinking of having a personal website and also looking to write a book. Writing a book nowadays is as easy as ordering a product online. Self-publishing has become a billion dollar concern and that everyone can access anytime. Who has never thought of having those in the past few months or years or so? No one. Everyone does. Branding is no longer a corporate or organization's monopoly to position oneself in the marketplace. Individuals with aspirations of a more successful career or business platform are stepping up to be seen, heard, and followed. Obscurity is the number killer of inspirations. Anyone who has joined a contest knows that it takes recognition to get a publishing deal, a record deal, a million-dollar contract, and a shot to fame. Authentic branding is a major differentiator nowadays. When everyone has the same photo shots, same fashion, and same writing style using ChatGPT, it becomes boring quickly. To be different is to be your own self. There is no one in this world like you. Some will find similarities, common grounds on many areas but to be you is already taken. Your brand should represent the best of who you are, as with companies, their brand signified a promise of quality, reliability, and trustworthiness. What's your personal brand? What qualities represent who you are? The second question, how do you want these qualities projected out to the public realm? For example, as a Filipino-Canadian, my cultural heritage is something that can't be faked or imitated by someone that's not. I lived it out in the public in a way that strengthens their understanding of me and what I represent. You are bullet in the gun. You are the arrow in your brand marketing message. Whether you like or not, if you choose to play this game, be prepared to be you. To divert from who you really are, hurts your self-concept and esteem, as well as hurts your brand. Protect it, be comfortable in your own skin, and never underestimate your own worth in a noisy undifferentiated world.
0 Comments
Read More
Back to Blog
HERDING9/30/2024 I was in an agri-show a few weeks ago and there, I met Ray. Ray was the herd dog that was herding five ducks in a show to demonstrate how dogs can be good shepherd with proper training. The ducks went into different obstacle challenges with Ray not barking once, but pre-empting the ducks' movements, nudging them to take a certain direction, and lastly, blocking their way so that they have no choice but to take the challenge. It was a great experience to learn and see how Ray was a patient, methodical, and strategic herd. I likened this to leaders who are trying their best to show their followers the way. Through nudges, incentives and rewards, pre-emptions, and strategic blocks, leader fine-tune their styles to suit the temperaments of their team, the objectives at hand, and the process they had to be girded on. Herding is a process that requires high relational quotient. if your team doesn't trust you, your herding is scorned and ridiculed. Your attempts to pre-empt and redirect will be taken in contempt and mistaken to be self-serving. Your nudges and subtle reminders will be ignored. Like Ray, you don't need to bark to show them the way. Your subtle gestures are loud enough to warrant paying attention.
Back to Blog
ALLIES8/26/2024 I was talking to a coordinator of a research institute a few weeks ago and we talked about how community supporters can help in bridging the academe with community issues through their involvement and advice in their institute. Good idea, right? Well, this idea is not new and had been proposed for several years but the supervisor refused to budge on the topic for various reasons: Money, adding up to work, etc. When bureaucracy says no, almost all the time, it's just protecting the status quo and eliminating any threats to its state of being. Community involvement means work but it will open up the institute to far greater input, new ideas, new partners, which will then lead to greater impact. Results are not what bureaucracies are for, in general. When questioned, they tend to have a zero vision about outcomes, impacts, or resonance with real-world issues. If our academic institutions are solely run on past successes and are afraid of building allies, then we should all be worried about our future generation! |