So, in the days that followed, I found myself online viewing past episodes, and with the same results…wiping tears from my eyes at the acts of CEO goodwill helping a few select employees they had worked with.  But then it dawned on me, what about all those other employees the CEO didn’t have the chance to meet, or to work with one-on-one? Are they any less significant?  Why don’t they get their first franchise paid for, or get mentored by the President?  And then I thought, “Are the CEOs only doing these kind things and making changes in the company for the camera?”  I then started to get mad.

Why do CEO’s have to go “undercover” to find out what is going on in the front lines of their company?  Wouldn’t you think CEO’s would have a vested interest in the employees and people who “make things happen?”  Do they really get that disconnected with the people that work for them?

Where I work, at HEASLEY&PARTNERS, we believe every organization has two sides:  A heart side and a mind side.  The heart side is the creativity, the passion, the drive, the higher purpose.  It’s the most valuable of all assets, yet it is hard to quantify.  The mind side is the realities of business—things like profit and revenue, sales quotas and sales projections, processes and procedures, budgets and quarterly goals, rules and regulations.

Undercover Boss really brings out the fact that CEO’s are so immersed in the mind side of their companies, they forget there is heart in their employees and the jobs they take pride in every day. The show doesn’t bring out what is great about a company or a CEO, it shows how disconnected they are from the reality in their own organizations and from the people. The heart of the organization has always been there, they just have never taken the time to notice. Do they really need a reality TV show to bring this to their attention?

When you think about it, finding the heart of an organization doesn’t take that much effort.  What it does take is a CEO, or management, to “recognize” the people that work for them, and the hard work they do day-in and day-out.  It doesn’t take a lot of effort, or money, to learn a first name, ask about a family member or even say “job well-done.”  All it takes is a little recognition that everyone plays an important role in the organization and that they are significant. It doesn’t matter if employees are recognized with $25,000 to start a franchise or a plaque in the hallway with “Employee of the Month.”  The employees on the show all said the same thing…”It’s so nice to be recognized after all these years.”  Years?  Does it really take that long?  Should it take that long?

Now when I watch “Undercover Boss”, I don’t get emotional and cry at the revelations the CEOs have about how they are going to improve the company and help employees, I get emotional at the fact it took a reality TV show to bring it to light for them.  Couldn’t they have made the changes they did to better the company and the lives of all the employees, instead of just a few, without the TV show? Or, does it take “lights, camera, action” to find the real heart of an organization? We believe they can, and we do it for them everyday.

What are your thoughts?

What is branding? Heart & Mind® Branding.

With Steve Jobs announcing he is stepping down from his role of CEO of Apple, people are speculating about what made him so powerful, so successful and so iconic. Everything from his off-the-charts intelligence, his insane attention to every detail, his intensity and his relentless micromanagement just to highlight a few.  But I’ll say it is all of these and none of these at the same time. That’s putting too much emphasis on the micro aspects of a macro human being, a total person.

There’s no doubt that Steve Jobs isn’t just the founder of Apple he is a brand unto himself. The same things that makes Apple a great brand is the same things that makes Steve Jobs a great brand. They are the three key tenants of Heart & Mind Branding: Great brands are always Genuine, Meaningful and Different.

Genuine

Too many people want to complicate the power of brands by looking at them under a microscope. The real power of a brand happens by looking through the telescope. On a grand scale, Steve Jobs is and has been since the very first Apple computer, the genuine Steve Jobs. He may have grown older as we all do and wiser and richer, but in general the Steve Job we saw in the old Apple product launch reels is not at all different from the Steve Jobs we see in the launch videos today. And its clear to anyone watching his attitudes, behaviors, delivery and passion is not an act. How many of you as entrepreneurs, how many of you as employees, as managers can say the same of yourself or your leaders? Are you genuine or are you holding back, putting on aires, trying to be someone else or matching who you are to who you are with?  Steve Jobs is Steve Jobs and that’s what makes him and his brand powerful.

Meaningful

Steve Jobs isn’t just genuine, his genuineness is meaningful to people who love technology, music, video, business, entrepreneurship and every other area of life that the products his company creates enhance. Furthermore, Steve Jobs has a way of delivering and communicating what could be just “boring technology” in a way that connects with his audiences. And he always has. His message matters to legions of followers. It also repels others who don’t connect with the genuine Steve Jobs and like any great brand, he appears okay with that. By choosing to be one thing as a brand, we by definition dismiss everything else as off brand. More things are off brand to Steve Jobs than on brand and that’s the way it should be.

Different

Clearly Steve Jobs has taken a stand on the nature and the future of technology and that stand is not just a part of who he is as a brand, but also what his company is as one too. It’s a strong stand and by that measure alone, the Steve Jobs brand is different. He owns his personna, he owns his attitude, he owns his fire. This made him a standout in a world where getting noticed was the precursor to success. I’m talking about 30 years ago, not just today. Back when Steve Jobs was nearly unknown, his uniqueness began fueling his and his company’s brand engines. He began to get noticed, as did his company’s products.

So you can look and talk about all the micro attributes of this gifted man and analyze them over too many glasses of wine. Or you can look at the whole person for what he is–a leader–who stayed true to himself and his mission, a mission that is meaningful to so many and by shear virtue of those two things, made him different from everyone else. So instead of trying to work into your daily work the small behaviors of a great man, instead look up at the great leader and find the great leader in yourself.

What is branding? Heart & Mind® Branding.

This is all about setting yourself up for success and the sooner you start the sooner you’ll break through. The list isn’t long—just four, vital must-have’s. Here it goes:

1. A willingness to accept help. It’s surprising how many companies have a goal of growth, but close the door to the very help they need to achieve it. Sometimes it is a control issue, sometimes it is a trust issue, but the facts are that no company is an island and winning is a team sport.
2. A commitment to the investment. Some companies want all the help in the world to achieve their goals, but are unwilling to commit the resources. Communicating with people costs money, takes time and creates work for everyone involved. Those are the brutal facts and any company embarking on a marketing or communications strategy for growth must know this from the start and be committed for the long term. Marketing is a way of life, not an event.
3. An ability to grow. Your organization may welcome the help, trust in others’ experience and knowledge, and even be willing to commit the resources long term, but if you aren’t committed to your own internal growth, results will be short lived. Furthermore, you must be in an industry that is either growing, adding new customers every day, or complacent, where you can either rob customers from sleepy competitors or reinvent the industry entirely.
4. A fire burning within. This is all about attitude and culture. Your company, and specifically the leadership, must have the passion and the belief that the impossible is possible.They must be prepared to ignite that passion in everyone around them. And they must have an unwavering spirit in the face of adversity. A big part of a leader’s job is bringing that fire to life in everything you do. Incidentally, without the fire, the previous three factors really don’t matter.

I want you to get the best results out of your business building a brand, but also enjoy the journey. That’s Heart & Mind® Branding’s strength. Ask any successful person who achieved their biggest dream. They look around at the top, breathe in the air and begin planning their next adventure. Want the best work along the way? Master these four must have’s and you’ll reap the rewards.

What is branding? Heart & Mind® Branding.

But the fact remains; life calls on all of us to brazenly take charge and call others to action (particularly in our workplaces). There, leadership comes in the form of things like managing a project team, selling in a new way of doing business, and what often appears the biggest leadership challenge of all–leading a company. But in reality none of these challenges are any harder or easier, bigger or smaller, than another to the person leading. The responsibility feels quite the same regardless.

No matter the level of our leadership or the relative importance of it, within the tasks is the opportunity for greatness. What I mean is that as leaders we have the power to not just get the job done or get our way, but also the power to shape lives. I believe this should be the fundamental charge of any leader because in shaping lives, you get results for the very long term.

That leads us to Mr. Boyer.  He was my high school geometry teacher. Arguably, he must have known what he was getting into, teaching theorems about angles and polygons to hormone-infused fifteen year-olds. After all, he most certainly was one of those himself many years ago.

I think he did know what he was getting into, and he made a conscious decision that his classroom would be a “because of” classroom. He was going to teach geometry but he was also going to shape his students’ lives. They were going to succeed in life “because of” him.  The alternative was the “in spite of” classroom. You know the ones I’m talking about– where looking back you think, I’m where I am “in spite of” that experience.

Mr. Boyer was engaging. He was clear. He was caring. He knew he’d have to do more than simply teach from a textbook and he did the hard creative work. He didn’t have favorites and he never labeled. Even the kids who were sadly pegged as “dumb” in other classrooms weren’t in his. He got jazzed when you got it right and he was encouraging when you weren’t quite there.

I can still see the anticipation in his eyes, in his smile as he hoped I’d make the connection and I searched for the answer. I can still hear his spontaneous “Yesss!” and the slide of the chalk on the board as he proudly logged the solution for the class to see.

He was a guy you wanted to please, never disappoint, because you knew it mattered to him. Under achieve and he’d call you on it, and he’d call himself on it. He respected that everyone had their limitations, but he expected us all to stretch beyond them daily. Now I know that’s how you get beyond your limitations, but I didn’t then.

He was approachable, but more importantly, he approached us. All of us, not just the math whizzes or the troublemakers, and interestingly he didn’t really have any of those. He’d say, “Good job.”  “You can do better.”  “I’m expecting great things.” And even, “Tell me…what’s going on.”

I lived for his “Yesss!”

He also was tough. The best leaders are. His homework was tough. His tests were tough. An A in Mr. Boyer’s geometry class meant something. But on the other hand an A was attainable by everyone.

And that, among all these Boyeresque qualities, is really the magic of a great leader. They set up the environment and the circumstances for excellence, results, achievement and self-confidence. And miraculously they do it all through work that others can perceive as dreadfully mundane, terribly unimportant, and nearly purposeless.

We may have thought Mr. Boyer was a geometry teacher. But he really was a master of communications. He would have never won the battle for our engagement if he tried to refute the typical,”I’ll never use geometry, why do I have to learn it?” He communicated something far bigger, far more purposeful through his actions and words. He gave us a grand vision, a reason to work hard, to try and not give up.  He led us to greatness by showing, not telling, that if we can do this, we can do anything.

Thanks Mr. Boyer.  You were absolutely right.

What is branding? Heart & Mind® Branding.

These are the kind of comments I’ve heard people say when I so much as suggest that in order to fulfill their destiny and their mission, they are going to have to learn to speak in public. I can relate to their fear. I used to dread presenting. I was fine in the conference room, but the minute I had to take a stage, my knees would shake, my voice would quiver and my heart rate would accelerate to the point of palpitations.  But before you call 911, read on. This article is how I overcame my fear so you can too.

Before you say, “I’ll never get over it, and I don’t have to. I don’t need to speak in public to get where I want to go,” guess again. You most certainly will have to speak somewhere sometime, so you had best be prepared. Preparation doesn’t have to be complicated. You simply need a few principles to set you on the right track.

This article is not about speaking technique. You can find many articles on how to write and deliver a speech. I’m talking about how you actually summon up the courage to get yourself up on that stage in front of all those anticipating faces and deliver the speech. Understand that short of simply being fearless and hurling yourself into the eye of the tornado, the things I’m suggesting below take time. If you’re the hurling type, forget everything below and just go for it. When you fall down, get up–you’re probably the type of person who does that a lot, so it doesn’t faze you. But if you are one of the other 98% of people–even wild and crazy entrepreneurs–then read on.  These are the methods that worked for me, and I believe can work for you.

1. Win a few wars - No matter what you do, you have to have won a few wars in your life to earn the right to be on a stage. When it comes to your subject matter, if you haven’t yet lived through the tough stuff and basked in some real successes, give yourself time. You’ll need an arsenal of real-life stories to not only keep things interesting, but to maintain your confidence in the face of skeptics in your audience. This is all part of earning the right to be on that stage.
2. Overcome another fear – The thing that used to scare me as much as climbing onto a stage was climbing up anything high, particularly if a ledge and steep drop-off were involved. Thanks to my EO (Entrepreneurs’ Organization) Group and a retreat to Arizona’s Rim Country, I got over my fear once and for all. Unknown to any of us, we were going on a rappelling adventure. Not wanting to look like a wuss, I strapped on the gear, got my instructions and backed off a 200-foot cliff. After that first step I wanted to pull myself back up, but I didn’t. I mustered up my courage and kept going. Now before I get on stage I always think, “Kathy, you backed off a 200-foot cliff. You can do this!”  Find your “cliff,” conquer it, and you’ll gain a new sense of power.
3. Watch and learn – I spent years booking speakers for events, so I have seen and worked with the good, the great, and even a few “booking mistakes.” The best speakers in the world are versed in their subjects through experience and speak from the heart. They tell stories and involve the audience. If you’d like to view speakers and don’t have the opportunity to attend events, go to kepplerspeakers.com and watch a few videos. Jamie Clarke is one I recommend you watch. Another great speaker is Blair Singer; and yet another is Robert Kiyosaki.  Each has very different styles. But all speak from experience and the heart.
4. Find a coach – Blair Singer and Robert Kiyosaki have been and continue to be my coaches. They have guided me and I’m smart enough to listen to their instruction and follow what they say. It takes more than confidence to be on stage; it takes learning how to command a room and these two are the masters. They also knew how to bring out a side of me that I didn’t know was there. Find someone–a speaker you admire, a speech coach, a performer–who can guide you and bring out the “bigger you” as Blair says.
5. Be open to feedback - If you can’t take constructive criticism, then you may want to rethink what you are doing or better yet, change your ways. Feedback is critical to improvement and growth in everything you do, but with speaking, it is ultra important. Do what your coach tells you to do, listen to the audience feedback, watch their faces. If they are falling asleep, you are probably boring them. Recognize that this feedback has nothing to do with speaking right after lunch, or with their level of interest in your subject. Understand, it’s not them, it’s you. And then adjust for the next time. Continual improvement is part of the game.
6. Practice, practice, practice – Until you are sick of it! Until you are tired of hearing yourself. But believe me, that will be the least of your problems when it comes to practicing. Getting started will be the toughest part because it feels really strange to get up and speak–with feeling–to no one but yourself. You must do it, and I should say practicing in your mind or quietly to yourself doesn’t count. Twenty times aloud commits your content to memory forever.
7. Perfection is boring – Too many people think they must be perfect on stage. Nothing could be more wrong. I once did some speaking videos and knew they weren’t good but couldn’t quite figure out why. Another speech coach who I refer clients to took a look and said, “Kathy, you’re trying to be perfect. And perfect is boring. Just be yourself.” Lesson learned. Now I applaud the real-ness of speakers. That’s what separates the good from the great.

I have a long way to go, but because building a brand means being a spokesperson, I’m willing to do the work and learn. This has been and continues to be my path for the last three years. With the help of Robert and Blair and the feedback I receive from every engagement, I grow with each presentation. I encourage you to take the same leap I took and continue to take. It’s tough, invigorating, and worth it!

What is branding? Heart & Mind® Branding.

Years ago a technology company I worked for launched a highly successful ad campaign that featured a photo of a funny, wild-eyed, goofy guy in a straight jacket standing in a computer network wiring closet. The headline said, “Does certifying your network make you certifiable?” If you don’t know what certifying a network is, don’t worry. That’s not important. Think of it like a plumber joke, and just accept that the target audience of network administrators thought this play on words was hilarious. The organization who protected the rights of the mentally ill didn’t think it was quite so funny, though. The ad continued to run.

Another time, the same company ran some ads that featured a very cute golden retriever sitting and “smiling” as that breed often does. When the ad ran, the company got letters from cat lovers asking, “Why are there no cats in our ads?” The product automatically retrieved information from a network. Since cats don’t generally retrieve things, it didn’t make sense to have cats in the ad. The ad continued to run.

Yoplait just got slapped because they ran a commercial that showed a woman standing in front of her fridge debating whether or not she should eat a piece of calorie-laden cheesecake. Her roommate walks in, grabs the cheesecake flavored Yoplait yogurt from the fridge and satisfies her sweet tooth. People are up in arms because they say this ad promotes and encourages eating disorders. Yoplait pulled the commercial.

My point with these three examples is that no matter what a company puts out there, there will be critics and there will be people who don’t like it. But today, moreso than in decades past, those one or two voices can turn into multitudes and fast. In the first two examples, the complaints came in the form of letters. The company contacted the persons by phone, explained that offending them wasn’t their intent, carried on a reasonable and respectful conversation, and all was fine. Case closed.

Today, of course, the criticism comes publically, usually via social media. It gets forwarded and others pile on until it becomes a tidal wave. Worse yet, get the TV talking heads on the bandwagon–you know the ones who have built their careers and their financial empires on throwing others to the wolves–and you have the makings of a PR nightmare. So what do you do?

Before revealing the “How-to’s” allow me to say, if you have truly done something stupid, like Anthony Weiner, the latest addition to team Gingrich, Woods, Favre, Edwards and Scwartzeneger, then you should take your ‘lumps like a man’. That’s shorthand for: apologizing at a press conference, claiming you have an illness, going into rehab and paying restitution through an exclusive inteview on 20/20. That’s the protocol.

But what about the rest of us? The companies and people that didn’t do something stupid and didn’t intend to anger that one person out there with 5,000 followers? I wish I could tell you what to do in six easy steps. But there is nothing easy about this. The how-to is hard. It’s why you earn the big bucks. So here we go:

1. Stop it before it starts – Before putting any messages or images out there…test, test, test and don’t dismiss the results or even the one or two people who raise a flag. If five people in a sample of 100 have a problem, others will too. Do the math; the numbers get big.

2. Lose the ego – Don’t be above modifying how you say what you want to say. There are so many ways to get a message across. Keep working if the one you’re in love with clearly has a problem. You’ll find a better solution, one that speaks meaningfully to the heart as opposed to the one that is just clever or edgy.

3. Stay aware – Monitor social media and be prepared to reply publically and empathetically to people who are angered. Have your response ready and don’t blabber on in corporate speak. That just makes people more angry. Speak from the heart and have a productive conversation, person-to-person.

4. Recognize a problem – Know the difference between an angry person or two and a growing movement. If a person posts a comment and ten people jump on immediately or within a few hours, you may have a problem. Deal with it, do not ignore it hoping it will just go away. If a person posts and there are no additional comments, it is likely just an isolated problem. Be human and respond empathetically to that one person. That’s just being respectful.

5. Don’t be a “Weiner” – Be prompt with all this and never lie or make excuses. That throws you and your company into the ranks of our illustrious political leaders and sports heroes mentioned above. Make them cautionary tales, not role models.

6. Take decisive action – Finally, be prepared to admit your mistake and take action even if it means pulling the plug. Also be prepared to do more than simply cease and desist. Understand that in every mistake is an opportunity to turn it around, come out better than you went in, and be an instrument of positive change.

Dealing with these kinds of issues is never easy. You can avoid them by putting others first, above your ego, and above that promotion you’re vying for. Once again, it comes down to heart and mind, and enveloping the business objectives in the heart of the brand. The pressures of achieving business results cannot override what’s right, or they will elude you. Remember your results are not the goal, they are the reward for doing what is right.

This short note is to ask you and your company to work faster. My name is Kathy Heasley and I am the founder and principal of HEASLEY&PARTNERS in Scottsdale. Thirty-two years ago this month, my world was rocked by the Three-Mile Island nuclear disaster. I was a high school senior then and during those frightening days, I didn’t know whether I would live or die. Today, I am watching history repeat itself, only worse, in Japan. My heart goes out to the people there.

I’ve been waiting twenty years for solar to become a viable solution to our world’s insatiable appetite for energy. In truth, I believe we’re twenty years too late. How many more wake up calls do we need before we get the lesson? How many more disasters need to happen? How much more land turned to wasteland? How many more people harmed? Nuclear is not the answer.

I know you are an engineering company. I can tell from the tone and look of your website. But understand that to many like me who drive by your gleaming building, that you are also a beacon of hope. A symbol of a better future. You have a very high calling whether you know it or not. Your legacy can be one of unmatched magnitude.

If this note accomplishes one thing, my wish is that it let’s you know that people are counting on you–I am counting on you–to lead us into the next energy age. If you already work with this sense of immense higher purpose, then I’ll add one more thing to my work-harder request. And that is simply to work louder. Everyone needs to know that solar is viable, it is happening and it is here.

Thank you for listening,

Kathy Heasley

Founder & Principal, HEASLEY&PARTNERS

Creator of Heart & Mind Branding

What is branding? Heart &  Mind® Branding.

The other day I got an email from Chad telling me that he was trying to figure out how to actually sell a really great organic dog food that he formulated. He’s passionate about this product so he’s not giving up.  Here’s what I shared with him:

You Need to Demonstrate Value – You can’t just plop a product on the home page and say, “Buy.” A glorified shopping cart is not going to work as a website.  As a shopper, do you go right to the cashier and say, “I’ll take it”? Of course not. You browse, you read the back label and ingredients, you compare. The same thing happens online, so be sure you clearly communicate value to the customer before asking for the sale.

You Need Professional Design and Content – A site that is not professional breeds fear and doubt in the minds of the people you wish to serve. Is the product safe? Will I lose my money? What if I want to return the product? Are these people legitimate? Will my payment information be secure? You may have the best product under the sun, but if your website looks shady, you will scare people away.

“The truth about the Internet. It is highly competitive and there are no short cuts.The days of whipping up a website and making money are over and have been over for about a decade or more.”

You Need to Connect with the Customer – Once you have the basics firmly in place–you know what you deliver to the customer and you have made your site look and feel professional–you can really start connecting with the people you wish to serve.  This is critical because it will set you apart from all the other competitors who say they are the best, tout their features and benefits, etc.  Remember we buy with our hearts and justify with our minds, so connect heart to heart. Why do people buy expensive pet food, for example? Because they love their pets, their pets are their kids and they want them to never get old or get sick. It’s all about LOVE! What is the magic word for your product?

This photo from the Hawaiian Humane Society and a quick headline that I wrote delivers a great example of the “connection” I’m talking about.  This is what is missing from most websites.

Give Your Dog all Your Love,

And Keep him Healthy Too.

You Need to Share your “Why” – You better have a story, a good one, for why you are doing what you are doing. Today, that’s a deciding factor in why people choose one product over another.  “Because you want to make money,” isn’t good enough. That’s the reward, not the reason why.  Your “Why” must inspire. It must connect. It must build relationships.

You Need to Provide an Obvious Call to Action – Design it right from the start and know specifically what your call to action will be. Do you want the visitor to buy? Get more information? Sign up for a membership? Get a free sample?  Make it simple, obvious and then test, test, test. Try several different offers and see which one does best. Then keep testing with the goal of continual improvement.

You Need to Promote Until You Die – Marketing is a way of life, not an event, so get used to promoting your products all the time everywhere you go and create a special introductory offer.  If you believe in what you are doing and have a good solid “why” it will be natural. If you don’t you’ll be a 24/7 sales person with no friends. See, that’s another reason why what you do has to be in your heart!

You Need to Sample, Sample Sample – A very smart person named Paco Underhill told me many years ago and I have advised my clients to do this now for 15 years:  If you are serious about selling anything, sample it. Forever.  The truth is, you can’t sell what you don’t give away first.  A friend of mine built her entire multi-million dollar brownie business by getting the brownies into people mouths for free. Fifteen years later, she still samples and brings brownies everywhere she goes. If your product is as good as you say it is, people will tell other people and you’ll have a real  business that grows. If it isn’t all that good, better to know so you can improve the product.

You Need to Make Winning Over Evangelists Job 1 – When you sample and your brand experience wins over customers, it’s your job to turn them into evangelists. How? By communicating, talking with them, asking for their advice, taking it and giving them an emotional stake in your company. Whole Foods is good at this. So is Patagonia Clothing Company. It’s harder for big companies. This is the real power of small start-ups. Use it!

Of course there are many other things that can help you sell stuff online, but these are biggies. They are non-negotiables, the cost of entry and most important of all, they are proven.

What is branding? Heart &  Mind® Branding.

So how do you avoid Heart Loss within your company? Here are a few thoughts to keep in mind that come from personal experience. I’ve been there dozens of times.

1. Hire the right leadership – Sometimes companies want to make a big leap from small company to big. They figure the best way is to hire leadership from those bigger companies to help the company leapfrog to the top. Not smart. Time and time again, I’ve seen the big-company people walk in with their big-company culture and crush the very essence of the young brand. Instead of the company catapulting to new heights, a year or two later, the company is still recovering from Heart Loss.

2.  Be present – Many entrepreneurs aren’t going to like this one, because I know far too many who are striving to achieve the “four-hour work week” as spelled out in the best-selling book by the same name. Okay, forget that myth; here’s how it really works. If you are an owner that zaps the heart out of your company, probably the less you are there the better. The four-hour work week is for you! But if you are the spiritual leader of the company, don’t expect a four-hour work week anytime soon. Or, if you do take excessive time off, plan on hefty clean-up efforts when you return due to Heart Loss.

3.  Share the heart constantly – This doesn’t mean be a softy or not demand results. It does mean provide the reason why—the higher purpose—all the time. In every speech, in every meeting, in every newsletter or email to your team, provide some level of inspiration. Remember managers communicate information; leaders convey inspiration… and avoid Heart Loss.

4.  Be an example – Words will only take you so far, so if you want to keep your heart-based company alive and continue enjoying its power, then there is no room for hypocrites. If you demand innovation from others, then you too must be innovative. If you demand hard work from others, you have to be the hardest working. If you demand results, you have to hold yourself to the same standard. And if you want others to care about your company, you have to care about them. Do this and you won’t experience Heart Loss.

If you are gifted and skilled enough to own a company that has heart, count your blessings every day. Sure it may be a demanding environment—it’s hard to hide in a company on a “mission”—but understand that when you achieve your goals in a company with heart, your life will be forever changed. And so will the lives of those you serve.

What is branding? Heart &  Mind® Branding.

- First portable tape recorder
- First pocket transistor radio
- Sony Trinitron TV
- Sony Walkman
- BetaMax video camcorder
- The Compact Disc player�

Even though these innovations seem downright primitive now, they weren’t. They were as revolutionary as, say, the iPhone and the iPad. Maybe more revolutionary. Sony was also one of the brands that transformed the image of Japan from a country that manufactured low-cost trinkets, to a high-tech powerhouse that became synonymous with innovation and quality. Sony was a phenomenon that knew its consumers. They would deliver to us products we ourselves didn’t even know we wanted so badly. Sony was cool, and if you had a Sony TV or Walkman, you were cool too.

So what happened? Sony isn’t cool anymore. Somehow the world’s coolest brand, greatest innovator and even greater marketer lost its edge. Worst of all, what happened to this legendary company can happen to your company too. It may be happening as we speak. Are you prepared? Can you stop it?

It’s true. Sony was a powerhouse of innovation and marketing. Then, in the late 80’s the company shifted its focus from electronics to entertainment. It may have sounded like a good strategy as Sony acquired CBS Records and Columbia Pictures. They were riding high, and these were high-profile, power-hitter acquisitions that provided not only valuable media outlets but also a wealth of intellectual property and content. Dollar signs, or should I say Yens, had to be dancing in the eyes of Sony’s top brass. But at what long-term cost?

Over the years, Sony’s loss of brand focus proved devastating as it battled numerous technology platform wars and lost most of them. Betamax lost to VCR. Memory stick lost to SD. Altrac lost to MP3. And plasma lost to LCD. Do you remember (pre-iPod) the ads for BestBuy, Ultimate Electronics and other sellers of all things technology? They featured Sony’s digital WalkMan and it was way ahead of Apple when it came to small portable digital music devices. The product had the brand name and the promise of Walkman, but couldn’t pull off the experience thanks to faulty software, clunky hardware and a pitiful online music experience. How could this have happened to a company that was once a high-tech role model and the envy of nearly everyone?

According to their CEO, interviewed in a recent issue of Wired, and who has been charged with turning the company around, one of the reasons amounts to what I would term loss of culture. The company went from driven, innovative and nimble to bloated over confident and slow. People adopted a “lifer” mentality and had gotten too comfortable over the years. That caused Sony to fall behind ever growing legions of increasingly aggressive competition.

If it can happen to Sony, it can happen anywhere. Sony couldn’t go on like this. It began losing money, and when you play in their league, it was big money. The turnaround has begun and like most companies that have to undergo a culture shift to bring their brand back, it took a major crisis and a major upheaval. Just like a person who is in cardiac arrest, Sony had to roll out the crash cart and shock its culture back to life. Sony recently underwent layoffs (unheard of in the Sony of old), massive reorganization and the closure of non-performing divisions and facilities. Bold moves all taken by an American/English hybrid CEO. Bravery is an understatement.

The good news is that Sony seems to be moving in the right direction. They won the HD video battle through an all-out Blu-Ray assault. Now they are betting on 3-D and hoping that the new Bravia TV line will be their next big win. Sony and only Sony is poised to deliver entertainment from conception to living room. That may be a formula for success, but it will take focus. Does Sony have it?

I’m not convinced. Their message to the world is “Make. Believe.” They say the line “reflects Sony’s ability to turn ideas into reality and, more importantly, to help consumers turn their own ideas into reality—as we believe that anything you can imagine, you can make real.” Sorry, all that marketing speak amounts to “making your dreams come true” and that’s just is not good enough. Where’s the inspiration? Where’s the cool? Where’s the heart? We’re getting marketing by committee and what we really want is a connection. Does Sony even know us? Do they care?

It’s going to take more than innovating and winning platform battles to come out on top. That will get Sony about ¼ of the way to success. Finding and marketing the heart of the their brand will take them the rest of the way. Sony will need to reconnect with the people they want to serve—how about not calling us consumers? That would be a step in the right direction. It might even change some internal thinking. It’s time Sony stops being product pushers and gets back to their former greatness as makers of objects of desire. I’m rooting for them, but Sony, miss the heart and you miss it all.

What is branding? Heart &  Mind® Branding.