April 28, 2008

Guest Perspective: Leadership Brand

I've been working for some time on leadership brand and I'm very glad to see the conversation taking place elsewhere as well. Not that Smallwood and Ulrich need my plug, of course, but the topic is incredibly important. Pay particular attention to his comments about fair weather projects. If brand is something you can only get oxygen for when the sun's shining, there's a much larger issue to confront.

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Posted by davidkippen at 05:35 AM | Comments (0)

April 14, 2008

A Bigger Message

Too often, our clients back us into a corner without knowing it. We hear, "we want to be a best place to work," or "the great thing about us is our people," or "what sets us apart is our culture."

What's the problem? The bell curve. Most organizations provide a good place to work because they have to. Most organizations have good people, because most (employable) people are good. Most organizations have cultures because, well, they're who they are, not somebody else.

Unfortunately, the goal in developing an employment brand isn't to develop a message about how we're just like everyone else--it's developing a message about how we're different. And if you've been in the corporate sphere for any length of time, you know that different often equals danger. So, what to do?

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Posted by davidkippen at 10:08 PM | Comments (0)

April 12, 2008

Alignment: The Holy Grail of Employer Branding

I've written quite a bit over the last few years about what makes great employer brands great, what the challenges are, and, where possible, what the opportunities are. But surprisingly, looking back over my entries a couple of days ago, I've failed to mention something obvious, but important: alignment.

In fact, it wouldn't be a stretch to say alignment is the holy grail of employer brand strategy.

But what is it?

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Posted by davidkippen at 02:43 AM | Comments (0)

April 09, 2008

Retain and Engage: Managing Your Brand in Down Markets

First it was a crisis with collateralized debt obligations (CDOs).
Then a sub-prime loan issue.
Then a bank issue. (Anyone remember Countrywide?).
Then a financial-sector problem.
Eventually, though, it had to come to the employment market.

So here are a couple of questions for you:
--What’s the impact of financial turmoil on your employment brand?
--And what should you do if you’re in construction or financial services—or if the issues in these markets spill over into yours?

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Posted by davidkippen at 08:58 PM | Comments (0)