A new definition of brand.  Inspiring employees.  My take on the Super Bowl ads and the new Taco Bell tagline.  Check out my writings on these and other topics in the following “brand as business buffet,” a round-up of content from me from this past month.

retail and restaurants:

• How to Keep ‘Em  Coming Back — my QSR Magazine column on how to increase purchase frequency
• So, You Want to Try a New Concept – a piece published by Smartblog on Restaurants about how to get the most out of a new concept test
• Brand Experience Briefs – insights, analysis, and photos from my audits of new and interesting restaurant and retail concepts:  Steak n’ Shake Signature and REI in SOHO
• Loyalty Payoffs – a quote of mine in a RGMT Magazine piece about effective loyalty programs

advertising and marketing communications:

• The Super Bowl’s Intended Receivers – a blogpost about lessons on hitting your target audience from this year’s Super Bowl’s ads
• Ghosts of Super Bowl Pasts – reminders of lessons learned from past Super Bowl ads
• Taco Bell to Exchange ‘Think Outside the Bun’ for ‘Live Mas’ – my response when Advertising Age asked me what I thought of Taco Bell’s new slogan
• Thank You and Come Again – a brand as business bit on the brand-building power of a heartfelt thank you
• Think of Ads as Movie Trailers – a brand as business bit on what ads can learn from best practices of movie trailers

brand as business:

• The Brand Equation – my first piece as a regular contributor to OPEN Forum suggests a new definition of brand
• Mutiny or Movement – It’s Your Choice – a guest post on Uprising Movements about inspiring your employees to greatness
• Employee Movements – my January “brand as business brief (tm)” with bonus content on employee engagement
• A Brand Lesson from Komen and Planned Parenthood – a brand as business bit on the importance of brand alignment

other brand-building topics:

• Brand Elephant – a few brand definitions from the world’s leading brand thinkers as compiled in Debbie Millman’s Brand Thinking and Other Noble Pursuits
• Justin McCarthy on Crossing the Chasm at Garmin – my interview with Garmin’s sports and fitness rep about how his company is trying to appeal to the mainstream consumer
• The Problem with Passion – an excerpt from a ChangeThis Manifesto by Carol Roth that challenges the myth of following your passion to success
• Would You Like a Coffee with That Wi-Fi? — a brand as business bit about  the value of the entire customer experience compared to the specific product purchased

brand as business bit:  I’m interested in the Komen/Planned Parenthood situation from a brand point of view, not a political or moral one.  That’s why a piece by James Gregory, CEO of Core Brand, a brand valuation consultancy, piqued my interest.

He says the Komen organization should have done things differently by focusing on:

“basic ‘brand alignment.’ The brand concept must align the business processes, and with the culture of an organization. Only then does the behavior match the communications. Business processes, culture, and communications are all equal partners in the process of building an enduring brand.”

I’m actually not sure which element – business process, culture, and communications — Gregory intended to point out as mis-aligned, but his point is an important one:  brand integrity is achieved when what you believe (culture) informs what you do (business process) and that in turn informs what you say (communications).

2012, according to the Chinese calendar, is the Year of the Dragon.  In Chinese tradition, each year is dedicated to a specific animal and predictions for 2012 are for a dragon-like year of excitement, unpredictability, exhilaration, and intensity.

With this expectation in mind, I’ve selected several brands to keep my eye on.  They’re likely to shake things up, surprise customers and the Street, and make for an overall exciting year:

Smashburger – By most accounts, 2011 was the year the “better burger” category went mainstream.  I predict 2012 will be the year that separates the category men from the boys.

While growth is on the menu for big chains like Five Guys and smaller ones like Burger Lounge and The Habit, the darling of the industry in 2012 is likely to be Smashburger.  With 143 existing units and 450 franchise agreements on the books, Smashburger is on a roll (pardon the pun!)

But don’t take my word that Smashburger is a brand to watch — Forbes Magazine recently named the chain “America’s Most Promising Company.”  To make the list, Smashburger had to pass muster as a privately held up-and-comer with a compelling business model, strong management team, notable customers, strategic partners and precious investment capital.  The Forbes write-up reported on key differentiators such as the chain’s “blend of thoughtful product design and deft execution” and great service.

What makes Smashburger particularly interesting to me is its unconventional company culture.  At the 15th Annual UCLA Extension Restaurant Industry Conference, CEO Dave Prokupek explained he’s modeling his culture after Google’s and Netflix’s and hiring half of his employees from outside the restaurant industry (read more in my Brand New Perspectives column in QSR Magazine).  The concept seems to be firing on all cylinders – 2012 will reveal whether it has the right ammunition to take down some of its formidable competitors.

JC Penney – Will Ron Johnson’s gamble on JC Penney be a boom or bust?  We’ll get a good idea in 2012.

The former head of Apple retail has put all his chips in on the department store chain.  He’s recruited key people from Apple and Target, where he fueled that chain’s design strategy by bringing in a line of household items designed by Michael Graves. And he’s already signed a deal with Martha Stewart to create an e-commerce site for cross-licensed products and develop shop-within-a-shop retail spaces.

Building a stronger brand portfolio is only one aspect of Johnson’s efforts to “transform JC Penney into America’s Favorite Store.”  Other planned moves include restructuring its home merchandise-dominated online business, instituting a new pricing strategy, and focusing on the 18 to 35-year-old market.

All of these are smart, much-needed changes, but it’s Johnson’s vision for brick-and-mortar stores that stands out to me.  In an interview in the Harvard Business Review, he explains, “A store has got to be much more than a place to acquire merchandise. It’s got to help people enrich their lives. If the store just fulfills a specific product need, it’s not creating new types of value for the consumer. It’s transacting. Any website can do that. But if a store can help shoppers find outfits that make them feel better about themselves, for instance, or introduce them to a new device that can change the way they communicate, the store is adding value beyond simply providing merchandise. The stores that can do that will take the lead.”

Such comments not only reveal clues to how Johnson plans to jumpstart JC Penney in 2012 but also how other retailers might revive their own businesses in the coming year.

Chipotle – Chipotle appears on my list of brands to watch for the second year in a row because it continues to grow, innovate, and set the standard for the QSR industry.

The chain has grown spectacularly, from 16 units in 1998 to 1,200 today – quite an amazing feat considering its an ethnic concept and has a limited menu.  And it’s expected to increase the number of its stores by at least another third in the next few years, while McDonald’s (which has been doing quite well lately) is struggling to find growth markets.  In the litmus test of growth, Chipotle increased its valued by 6x over the past 5 years (McDonald’s only increased by 2x.)

Chipotle’s innovation has come in the form of a new concept, ShopHouse Southeast Asian Kitchen, which opened in the D.C. area this past fall.  With recipes inspired by the cuisines of Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Singapore in a store modeled after fast food kitchens in Asia, ShopHouse is billed as serving “delicious, stylish, natural, nutritious, and affordable” food “lightening-quick.”  No expansion plans have been announced, but we’re sure to see another location (or two or five) pop up in 2012.

And, in regards to setting QSR standards, Chipotle Co-CEO and founder Steve Ells has been on a crusade to make fast food good and good for you.  As an investor-judge on the America’s Next Great Restaurant reality TV show earlier this year, Ells declared, “Just because it’s fast doesn’t mean it has to be a typical fast-food experience.” As a strong advocate of “natural” food, Ells urged Congress just last month to curb the overuse of antibiotics in meat production. And after a government crackdown earlier this year found the chain had hired hundreds of illegal workers, it has become an unlikely champion of immigration overhaul.

Chipotle may reach its peak in 2012, but I expect it will be quite a summit.

Bluetooth and ANT+ – Wireless will take a huge leap forward in 2012, thanks to Bluetooth v4.0 (aka Bluetooth Smart Ready) and ANT+.  These lightweight, low-power technologies are going to revolutionize wireless devices and applications, particularly in digital health and fitness.

Digital health and fitness is a trend to watch on its own.  It’s the fastest growing segment of the consumer electronics industry, and if the buzz leading up to the Consumer Electronics Show next week is any indication, technology innovations in healthcare and fitness are going to steal the show.

Now with new wireless capabilities, digital health and fitness is crossing into the mainstream market:  Wireless sensor data streaming enhances people’s activity-tracking – everything from how many calories you burn to how well you sleep each night — and assists in the real-time monitoring of personal medical statuses and record keeping, the need for which increases as health problems like diabetes and obesity grow.

The ANT+ technology has been around for over 10 years and its alliance members include prominent brands like Garmin and adidas.  Bluetooth, with a Special Interest Group of 14,000 members, just launched v4.0.  In 2012 according to IMS Research, over 35% of smartphones will be shipped with dual-mode Bluetooth low energy, and over 10 million ANT+ enabled phones will be shipped.

There’s a lot of debate as to which technology will prevail – Bluetooth or ANT+ — but with the market growing as quickly as it is, both are sure to be winners in 2012.

***

I’m sure each of these brands is hoping http://chinesenewyear2012.net/ is right in its description of 2012: “Dragon years are lucky for anyone thinking of starting a business or initiating a new project of any sort because money is easier to come by for everyone.”

related posts:

• companies to keep an eye on in 2011
• Robin Raskin on living in digital times
• 2011 year in ideas

Culture is quite the hot topic in business these days.  The adage “Culture eats strategy for lunch” has been acknowledged for ages, but it seems the importance of culture is being emphasized now more than ever.

Perhaps it’s because people think questionable business ethics are to blame for the recent economic collapses around the world.  Or perhaps corporate belt-tightening has led to lean workforces which challenge leaders to figure out how to motivate and retain them.  Or perhaps business is experiencing a spiritual awakening of sorts as Baby Boomer leaders reach the age where meaning becomes more important than money and as Millennials join the workforce with expectations of responsibility and significance for themselves and their companies.

Whatever the reason, business leaders are now inundated with exhortations to focus on the culture of their organizations.  The New York Times bestsellers list is filled with books on the topic:  Onward: How Starbucks Fought for Its Life without Losing Its Soul, Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose, and Start with Why – the latter written by Simon Sinek who explains, “People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.”

Pundits like Seth Godin, Jim Collins, and Rosabeth Moss Kanter has amassed huge followers with perspectives on culture – the latter recently writing, “In organizations that I call ‘supercorps’ — companies that are innovative, profitable, and responsible — widespread dialogue about the interpretation and application of values enhances accountability, collaboration, and initiative.”

With such emphasis on culture, people might conclude that it should be a company’s #1 priority – but they would be wrong.  Culture is not enough.

Please don’t misunderstand me.  I am a huge believer in the importance of purpose, values, principles, and beliefs to organizations.  A vital, vibrant culture unifies, aligns, focuses, motivates, and propels.  But it is not enough to produce a profitable business.  Culture must be linked to, and pursued with the same rigor and vigor as, the customer experience.

The contrast between Netflix and Zappos makes the point.  People have held both companies in high regard for their emphasis on culture.

Back a few years ago articles like “Other Companies Should Have To Read This Internal Netflix Presentation” and “Netflix Does It Right” outlined the company’s cultural practices — like not having a vacation policy (employees are encouraged to take the time they need) and offering employees high salaries instead of bonuses so they can decide how they want to spend the money.

The culture at Zappos has also been esteemed as evidenced by the piece in Booz Allen’s strategy+business publication, “At Zappos, Culture Pays.”   The popularity of the company’s approach has led to many keynote addresses and interviews by CEO Tony Hsieh, tours of their headquarters by executives from around the world, and subscription-based content available through the Zappos Insights website.

While both companies have remarkable cultures, though, they differ in the integration of their cultures and the customer experience.  The culture at Netflix seems a separate endeavor from customer experience, while at Zappos the two are closely and clearly linked.

Netflix’s “Reference Guide on Our Freedom & Responsibility Culture” reads like a human resources piece.  Its first page declares, “Culture is How a Firm Operates” and asks “What practices give Netflix the best chance of continuous success for many generations of technology and people?”

In outlining the company’s values, the document explains, “We Particularly Value in our Colleagues these Nine Behaviors and Skills…” including:

• Judgment – “You think strategically, and can articulate what you are, and are not, trying to do.”
• Communication – “You listen well, instead of reacting fast, so you can better understand.”
• Innovation – “You re-conceptualize issues to discover practical solutions to hard problems.”

At first blush, these are indeed admirable qualities to seek in employees and to embrace as company values.  But if you consider what it takes to make a successful business, they seem too internally-focused and almost academic – especially when compared to Zappos’ Family Core Values.

Zappos’ website explains the company has 10 core values “from which we develop our culture, our brand, and our business strategies.”

• Number one is “Deliver WOW Through Service.”    “To WOW,” the company states, “you must differentiate yourself, which means doing something a little unconventional and innovative…We are not an average company, our service is not average, and we don’t want our people to be average. We expect every employee to deliver WOW.”
• The link between Zappos’ culture and customer experience is also explained in its value “Create Fun And A Little Weirdness.”  “We want the company to have a unique and memorable personality…One of the side effects of encouraging weirdness is that it encourages people to think outside the box and be more innovative.”
• “Build Open and Honest Relationships With Communication” is another value the company embraces internally and externally.  “We value strong relationships in all areas: with managers, direct reports, customers (internal and external), vendors, business partners, team members, and co-workers…It’s important to always act with integrity in your relationships, to be compassionate, friendly, loyal, and to make sure that you do the right thing and treat your relationships well.”

At Zappos the connection between culture and customer experience fuels the business.  It may be that Netflix also applies its values externally, but the connection isn’t obvious.  And that can make all the difference.

In fact, the absence of that explicit link may be part of what caused the company’s recent debacle.  I haven’t analyzed the situation closely enough to know this for sure, but I suspect if CEO Reed Hastings had applied the values listed above (i.e., clear articulation of intent, careful listening, practical solutions) to consumers and the customer experience — not only employees — the separation of the company’s streaming and rental businesses of Qwikster might have been executed and accepted differently.

It doesn’t make sense for a company to develop purpose or values to inspire and engage employees if those aren’t inextricably linked with how the company inspires and engages its customers.  Without the alignment and integration of culture and customer experience, at best you end up with employees who are well-meaning but don’t produce the right results.  At worst, you confuse employees as well as customers and cause both groups to question your integrity.

In a future post I’ll introduce tools and approaches that successful companies have used to prescribe optimal customer experiences, but for now let me end with some of the remarkable results Zappos has achieved by integrating culture and customer experience:

• sales growth from $0 to $1BB in less than 10 years
• a rich acquisition by Amazon
• hundreds of thousands of loyal customers who pay price premiums and promote the brand
• employees who express their commitment to the company with comments like, “In one word, Zappos Culture is AMAZING!…Zappos makes us WANT to come to work.  Every day is something different…I am proud to say that I work for this company and cannot wait to see what the future holds for us.”

related posts:

• how to succeed in small business
• circumvent a HR crisis with employee brand engagement
• experiencing the sharp experience

Jason Fried, CEO of 37signals, knows a thing or two about small business.  His company has been developing apps for small businesses for seven years.  But it’s how he runs his own company that reveals his keen insight for how to be a successful small business.

I had the pleasure of hearing Jason talk as part of a Chicago Ideas Week lab (I was in the Second City for a speaking engagement and wanted to participate in what was billed as an “ecosystem of innovation, exploration, and intellectual recreation.”)  For nearly two hours, Jason generously took questions from our group of 30, riffing on topics ranging from his book REWORK to his personal background to Chicago’s tech scene.

What stood out the most to me were his thoughtful and enlightened perspectives on running a small business.  So with many thanks to Jason, here’s his list of advice for entrepreneurs:

1. Grow as slowly as you can – It seems counterintuitive that slowing down actually fuels growth, but Jason explained that growing slowly allows you to make sure you have the right people.  “When you expand quickly, it’s very difficult to maintain culture.  That’s the problem with a lot of start-ups that are VC-backed and have a lot of funding:  the money is used to hire people.  And if you hire too quickly and you’re not careful about who you hire, you end up in a situation where people aren’t acclimated because there’s too many people too fast.”

Moreover, growing slowly allows you to personally foster your culture.  Jason explained, “You’re going to have influence on each person you hire. And let’s say you hire 10 people a month, you’re only going to have 10% influence on each individual person.  If you only hire one or two people a month, you can spend a lot of time with those people and get them to understand what you’re trying to do and then they in turn can spread the culture. But if everyone’s only getting a tiny bit of culture, they can’t spread that – they have to hang on to that, there’s not enough to go around.  So that’s one of the advantages of hiring slowly.”

2. Hire carefully – A corollary to the first principle is to hire slowly.  Be selective; hire for culture fit as much as for skills and experience; and evaluate real work during the selection process.

“We don’t look at resumes,” Jason explained.  “I don’t really care what someone says they did somewhere else because it’s very hard to verify that stuff.  We give people actual work to do for us and we pay them for it.  For example, when we’re hiring a designer, we’ll give them a project to do, it takes them one week, we give them $1500, and we say, ‘Here’s a problem, how would you solve it?’  If it’s a programmer, we usually look at their open source contributions.  For customer service people, we have them write sample responses.”  That way, you get to evaluate what they actually can do vs. what they say they can.

3. Drive culture by example – Further on culture…I’ve previously written that culture is one of a business leader’s most important responsibilities.  Jason talked about his approach: “You need to lead by example. Culture isn’t something that you create through words.  It’s all about actions, about consistent actions.  It doesn’t really matter what you say the culture is — it’s about how you live, how you work together, how you treat people.”

4. Motivate people with the work – Different people are motivated by different things – for some, it’s the money; for others, it’s the variety of projects; for others, it’s the ability to impact something substantially.    As Jason explained,   “You just have to try to get to know everybody and then put them on the types of things that motivate them.”  But he added, “At the end of the day, you have to motivate people by giving them interesting things to do and work on products they believe in.”

5. Have a point of view – When asked about how he’s developed and promoted 37Signals’ uniqueness, Jason answered, “I don’t think enough companies have a point a view that’s obvious.  Mostly because they’re afraid or they let lawyers determine what the company is, how they speak, what they do, how they act — that’s going to dilute any sort of edge.”

“So for us [our POV] is:  let’s be honest about who we are, what we believe in, and let’s share those opinions and be open about it — because it’s going to turn off certain people and turn on others, and the ones it turns on are going to be really loyal, they’re going to be the ones behind you, who will fight for you. And the ones you turn off, you don’t want anyway because they’re not the kind of people you want to do business with.  By being clear about what you believe in, you’re going to attract the right kind of employee, the right kind of customer, the right kind of media coverage, a bunch of things that are going to work really well for you.”

6. Don’t think about marketing – Jason got the Lab attendees’ attention early on when he stated not to waste money on PR.  Later he went even further when he discouraged people from developing elaborate marketing plans.

To explain, he offered the following insight:  “We don’t ever really think of marketing as a department or as an idea.  Marketing is everything that you do.  It’s how you speak to your customers, how quickly you get back to your customers, it’s the quality of your product, it’s the word on the button, it’s the thank you email, it’s the cancellation email, it’s the refund policy, all that stuff is marketing.  Just do the right thing and make good things.”

7. Solve real problems – “Simple tools that people use” is how Jason described 37Signals’ product strategy.  But usefulness isn’t just an attribute of its products – it’s one of the core values of the company.

Jason recommended entrepreneurs focus on “solving a real problem, not an imaginary problem.”   “Everything is a problem,” he explained, but you should ask yourself, “Is it a real problem that people are going to pay for, that advertisers are going to want to deal with?  Is this thing worth paying for or am I just making something cool (which is OK if you know that’s what you’re dealing with.)”  Ultimately, usefulness is the litmus test for whether you have a business, or just a hobby.

8. Be a good editor — A stumbling block for many tech start-ups, Jason believes, is wasting time on things that don’t really matter.

“You’ve got to know what not to waste time on.  Raising money is a good example.  A lot of entrepreneurs spend a lot of time raising money when they don’t really need to. [There are a lot of things] people put a lot of energy and time into when they should be focused purely on their product – making it really damn good and working with really great people, caring about the people you work with and the people you want to hire, the people you want to surround yourself with.  You’ve just got to figure out what’s really important…You can spend a lot of time on stuff that’s cool to have but not central to have and then you miss the essential stuff but the cool stuff doesn’t matter.  It’s a matter of being a really good editor.”

9. Put yourself on the line – If you have the opportunity to actually build a product vs. only provide services, do it, recommends Jason.  He explained that people who only give advice to other people don’t ever have responsibility for what actually gets done.  (Yes, I realize he’s talking about people like me!)  By actually making a product, he says, “You get to see whether your ideas are any good.”  Putting yourself out there is risky, but it’s the only way to know the truth.

10. Think principles, not plans – This list of principles ends with a principle about principles because that’s how Jason responded when he was asked about what the future holds for 37Signals.  He referenced a quote about the problem with goals which says that goals are limiting because they’re made for the person you are when you set them, not the person you’re going to be.  He also realizes he wants to be able to consider new ideas as they arise – he doesn’t want them to be stuck on an inflexible path.  So, he explained, he doesn’t spend too much time thinking about the future because having guiding principles is more useful than specific plans.

Although this advice speaks to leaders of small businesses, it’s clear Jason and his colleagues don’t intend for 37 Signals to stay small forever.  Growing the company’s business, as well as its influence on the industry and people’s lives in general, is very much their ambition.  Based on what Jason shared, I have every confidence – and even more hope – they will succeed.

related posts:

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The potential that lies at the intersection of computer science and neuroscience is outlined in a new, quite literally mind-blowing book, The Two-Second Advantage: How We Succeed by Anticipating the Future—Just Enough by Vivek Ranadivé and Kevin Maney.  It’s my pleasure to introduce this work to you in this the first post of the book’s Post2Post Virtual Book Tour.*

The premise of The Two-Second Advantage is that too much data is overwhelming computing’s capabilities, but an alternative is emerging:  event-driven systems that form models by analyzing massive amounts of data but don’t rely on accessing that data all the time.  Borrowing from the way the human brain works, these systems are predictive – they take in real-time events, predict what’s about to happen, and take action or send a notification without human intervention.  They operate on the idea that a little bit of the right information ahead of time is more valuable than piles of information too late.

The impacts of such systems are as far ranging as the economy, counter-terrorism, global health, sports, and personal technology like Netflix, travel, social life, and personal health care.  As an indication of the interest in the topic, the book hit the New York Times bestseller list only a couple of weeks after its launch.

The book is quite heady (pardon the pun) but it piqued my curiosity primarily in regards to the organizational issues these new systems raise and their implications on brand-building.  I posed the following questions to one of the authors, Kevin Maney:

Q:  It’s clear predictive analytics can make companies more efficient — how can a company use them as a platform for brand differentiation and competitive positioning that increases brand consideration and equity – i.e., what’s the customer value proposition?  how should companies position these capabilities to customers?  how transparent should they be?

A:  In the book we tell the Caesars Entertainment story. Caesars, which used to be called Harrahs, issued a rewards card to its customers, then used analytics to build models of customer behavior in general and individual customers in particular. So the casinos came to know what might trigger a good customer to stop gambling and leave. By using the technology to predict that a customer is about to hit that trigger, a floor manager can stop by with an offer of, say, a discounted buffet meal. Customers start to feel that Caesars’ casinos know and understand them. Other casinos might draw people with glitz. Caesars does it with knowledge and service.

But it’s important to be transparent. If you know too much about customers and they don’t understand why, they may get spooked. A little honesty wins a lot of leeway from customers.

Q: You indicate adoption of predictive technology is dependent upon cultural changes as much as it is on improvements to quality and lowering of costs – e.g., folks at the Federal Reserve needed to cede to machines what appeared to be the Fed’s main function (setting interest rates) so that they could focus on its original charter, and the New Jersey East Orange police department needed to change its measure of success from the number of criminals it catches to the absence of crime.  What suggestions do you have on how leaders facilitate those cultural changes?  How do they convince employees they’re not being replaced by machines?  How do they teach people the appropriate ways to use the analyses?

A:  The East Orange police department is an interesting case study. I spent quite a bit of time there and talked to a number of regular police officers, some who had been on the force for decades. They all told me that when Jose Cordero, the police director, first pushed predictive technology on the force, they all pushed back. They thought computers might replace them, or that the method wouldn’t work, or that it would force them to re-learn policing, and so on. But a few years into it, most of the officers loved the new system. It didn’t replace them — instead it made them far more effective. Their jobs became more satisfying.

A lesson from East Orange, though, is that a lot of these programs need to be led from the top. Sometimes technology bubbles up from the bottom — that was the story of the personal computer revolution, and now smart phones. But to be effective, predictive technology has to go hand in hand with cultural change. Caesars Entertainment discovered that. So did the U.S. Customs and Immigration Service. And East Orange.

Q:  How does your research about how the brain works and develops relate to the way organizations work and develop?  Many companies talk about being learning organizations – what principles and practices from the talented brain might be applied to help them do so?

A:  As we describe in the book, a significant part of talent is predictiveness. Talented people can predict what’s about to happen just a little bit faster and better than everyone else. We’re talking just fractions of seconds, many times, but that’s enough to get a competitive advantage. If, as a company, you know what a customer is about to do, you can take action to make sure that customer ends up being happy.

Predictiveness isn’t about analysis and database diving. It’s about creating instinct — watching data in real time, and instantly knowing what it means and what to do, like a Wayne Gretzky in hockey. Organizations can become predictive and talented just as humans can. That’s where business is heading — toward creating “talented” organizations.

Q:  You outline many examples of how companies can use predictive technology to become more efficient companies that serve customers better – any thoughts on how shoppers can (will) use it to become better customers?

A:  Like most technology in history, predictive computing might start out being difficult and expensive and something only enterprises can do — but then before we know it, it will be a mobile device app. Consumers are going to have predictive apps that can get ahead of fashion trends, traffic, mortgage rates — you name it. The technology is going to eventually empower everyone, not just big companies.

***

For the rest of this week, other bloggers will feature tour articles on The Two-Second Advantage.  I encourage you to check out the schedule and look into the other articles.

*Post2Post Virtual Book Tours — web-based book tours where great authors and their books are connected with great blogs and readers — are produced by good-guy Paul Williams of Idea Sandbox.

Last week one of my clients kicked off the journey to operationalize its brand with a fantastic Leadership Meeting! I thought I’d share what the meeting entailed in an effort to pull back the curtain on how I help companies operationalize their brands to grow their businesses.

Let me set the stage a bit. I’ll call the company “M” to honor our confidentiality agreement.

Earlier this year, M, a $350MM B2B company and a pioneer in its industry, introduced a new brand platform. Another firm had taken M through the standard brand research and strategy process to develop the new platform and had developed a new visual identity to express it. But then the creative firm’s engagement ended and M was left with a new brand identity, but very little else to substantiate the new platform.

The CEO, Executive Leadership Team, and the head of marketing wanted so much more. They knew they needed to integrate their new brand into the company’s culture and customer experience, in order to realize the brand’s full potential and to achieve their corporate vision and mission. And that’s what led them to me.

We’re in the midst of planning a comprehensive, multi-year plan to operationalize M’s brand. Our first step was to get the top leaders of the organization aligned and engaged with the new platform. So we turned their annual Leadership Meeting, a gathering of the company’s top 250 leaders, into an immersive brand experience.

Here’s how the day unfolded:

- CEO Kick-off – The CEO started the day with a review of the company’s financial performance and an update on the corporate strategy — and then he re-introduced the new brand platform. Although many of the attendees had participated in the conference where it was first launched earlier in the year, very little had been done with it since then, so we needed to refresh everyone on the content. Plus, we had simplified the platform and integrated it with the company’s core values in order to make it clearer and give it more traction.

(That last point is significant — I’ve found that most brand platforms require some refinement after their initial launch. As more people get exposed to the new brand and as the organization begins to work through its implications, the need for some fine-tuning usually arises.

That’s why I usually advise my clients to first launch a new platform internally as a working strategy, and to solicit feedback from key stakeholders that can be incorporated and addressed before it’s finalized and fully launched externally. That way, from the beginning the emphasis is on the brand as a management strategy to focus, engage, and grow the organization vs. simply a marketing message to communicate externally.)

- Keynote – I delivered the keynote address which covered the why, what, and how of operationalizing their brand. Starting with my cheeky video, “What Can Brands Learn from Lady Gaga?,” through to a quiz replete with some friendly competition and prizes about how brands create value, followed by examples of brands ranging from Apple to Zappos to IBM and GE as well as an introduction to some proven tools and approaches, and ending with a challenge to consider what business M is really in – my goal was to get participants to think differently about the company, about the brand, and about their role in interpreting and reinforcing it.

- Interactive Exercise #1: Models of Success – We had assigned pre-work to everyone, instructing them to research one of 6 companies we wanted to learn best practices from. They were asked to note:

• In a word or phrase, what does the company want its brand to stand for?
• What are the company’s defining brand values (beliefs, ideals, principles) and attributes (descriptors, characteristics)?
• What does the company do to bring those values and attributes to life? Look for specific practices, policies, programs, etc.

In cross-functional small groups, the participants shared the insights they gleaned from their research and identified the ideas they thought might be applicable to M. As each group reported out the highlights of their discussion, it was clear participants had been inspired and challenged by these Models of Success.

- Interactive Exercise #2: How Are We Doing? — The goal of this session was to raise everyone’s awareness of the gaps in operationalizing the brand at M. The participants completed a brief survey on how the brand is currently used and perceived and then shared their opinions in cross-functional small groups.

When it came time to report out to the large group, we showed the combined results of everyone’s surveys and several small groups were selected to share the “why’s” behind their survey ratings. People learned where there was agreement on how the company was doing and where there were disparate opinions.

(The side benefits of this exercise are that we can compare the internal results to external surveys and also have a baseline for measuring our progress in the future.)

- Breakthrough Sessions – Participants spent the majority of the afternoon split into different rooms by SBU and we asked functional groups to work together to identify how they can align their work and culture with the brand.

They considered specific questions on how they could deliver on each aspect of the new brand platform and the resulting discussions were rich and rousing. We also challenged each group to commit to one thing they would start doing now to align with the brand and one thing they would stop doing, since we wanted them to walk away from the day with tangible steps they would take right away.

After comparing notes within their SBU rooms, the entire group reconvened to hear some of their peers’ “start” and “stop” commitments. The heads of each SBU talked about what their groups had learned and shared — it was clear they had been impressed by both the quantity and the quality of the opportunities that had been identified.

- Roadmap for Change – To wrap up the day, we presented the overall brand operationalization plan which includes undertaking several strategic initiatives, incorporating the brand into 2012 objective setting and performance planning, deploying a communications and engagement plan for the rest of the organization, and more.

The CEO shared the personal commitments he and the Executive Team members had made to align with the new platform and asked each participant to make one of their own. As the group made their way to cocktails, the lively discussions about the new M brand platform continued.

The results? Even though it’s only been a few days since the meeting, we’ve already gotten really positive feedback and several folks indicated this was the best Leadership Meeting they had been too. I was encouraged to see that everyone remained engaged throughout the 9-hour day and the quality of the small group discussions I monitored was excellent.

I’m working on a synthesis of the meeting to capture what we covered and the key outcomes. The working groups’ ideas and start/stop commitments, as well as the participants’ personal commitments, will be socialized through the company’s intranet and tracked via accountability mechanisms. And then, the real work begins!

As I told everyone in my keynote, this is the beginning of a long-term journey for M:

“The scale and scope of change needed isn’t going to happen in one day – but it all starts right here, right now with you.  You have the opportunity and the responsibility to lead and coach The M Way.

Thousands of men followed William Wallace faithfully into battle because he had the courage to lead them. Leaders are role models – people are watching you – your employees, your peers, and your bosses – and they’re all going to be looking to see whether or not you are going to get on board with the future of M.

By communicating your convictions you inspire people; by acting on them you demonstrate best practices; and by teaching others, you enable them to be successful.”

I can’t wait to see how the journey unfolds!

I just read Andy Stefanovich‘s book, Look at More Stuff:  A Proven Approach to Innovation, Growth, and Change, and had to share some of the best bits with you:

How do you develop leaders who are committed to the purpose of their work, support the foundations of their organization’s brand and culture, and understand that everything they do matters?  That’s the topic of today’s interview.

My guest is Mark Tomaszewicz, Director of The Sharp Experience at Sharp Healthcare. Sharp is one of San Diego’s leading healthcare organizations and The Sharp Experience refers to their culture, values, and brand promise (learn more in this post I wrote last year.)

To elevate The Sharp Experience in the hearts and work of the organization’s leaders, Mark and his team have been taking all 1,500 of Sharp’s leaders through intensive 8-hour training sessions called On-Stage Leadership.

In this fascinating interview, Mark explains the strategy behind On-Stage Leadership and how it goes beyond the what and how of what leaders do on a daily basis by reinforcing why leadership is important and the impact each leader has.   He also shares with us how it’s increased the sense of personal accountability and mutual support among Sharp’s leaders.  We close with how the program ensures the Sharp brand experience is authentic to its brand promise.

Take a listen!

other interviews:

• John Costello on behind the scenes at dunkin’ donuts
• Dick Lynch on the turnaround at Popeye’s
• Sheryl Adkins Green on global brand building