The Keep-Getting-Better-Focus N° 3

Exec.
Comms.
+Pos.

Golden rule: Be clear about your headlines. Another golden rule: Never play by the rules. Here, we clearly went for the second rule, as this is what we tend to recommend our (executive) clients. Brake rules. Be different. Make a difference. Build a brand. A brand? Yes. Why not: Build your own, personal brand as an executive. However: Don’t rely on your communications department (if you have one). Not when it comes to personal brand building. Comms departments are for business comms, that’s where they’re (hopefully) good at. They are not for »Exec.Comms.+Pos.« — no »Executive Communication and Positioning« by comms departments, please. Don’t get us wrong here: We are not saying that comms departments aren’t able to tell their Organization’s executives what to say about the Organization. We say: Knowing what to say about one’s Organization doesn’t help building the person to say it. Doesn’t help building the executives’ personal brand. The best you can get from telling your audience what your comms department tells you to tell them is: »Understood«. What we aim at is perfectly different. It’s not just your words. Not just your presentation. Not even just your message. It’s your presence. Your mind. It’s your self-knowledge and, from it, your credibility. It’s your being a human being, talking to human beings. And in the end, it’s your audience having the last say, like: »Impressive!« »Love it!« »What do we wait for?«That’s what Exec.Comms.+Pos. stands for. It’s not easy. But it’s no conundrum either. If you know what to look for. And where. And how.

One more sentence:

»A predicament: The human mind tends – if unaware – to interact only with its own images of the world. The implication is, that there is a world ‚out there‘ that operates by certain sets of laws, and a mental world ‚in there‘ operating by a different set of laws. The solution – and prerequisite – to escape this predicament is ‚awareness‘. Ask: What are my images of the world – the inner and the outer ones?«

Alfred North Whitehead (1861–1947)
British Philosopher and Mathematician