Is YOUR Brand Worthy?

A couple of weeks ago I talked a bit about Pursuing Wow! as a strategy. Most noteworthy to me is how Samsung's Galaxy series of products were giving Apple a run for their money. BECAUSE they made the customer go WOW, I gotta get me one of those.

Remember, today's tech-savvy customer is not
brand loyal, they are brand obsessed.

Give them something better and they will leave their old brand for something better. How many people switched from Apple to Samsung because of the Galaxy S III, or the Galaxy Note, or Galaxy Tab2? Or the simplicity of sharing and ease of functionality?

But no one is an island anymore. Samsung makes devices for Motorola and their Nextel brands which uses Sprint’s network. Apple has iTunes, which is downloadable on any device or any network.

What is really happening is a convergence of mobility, Internet, computing, entertainment and consumer content. So mobile device manufacturers, Internet and content providers all have to work together.

Everyone is going to need each other in the Device Wars as they fight to gain interest from a tech-savvy, fickle customer.

But let’s take a look at other market sectors where Eastern Competition is WOWing Western Consumers.

First of all, what is a brand? The best definition of a brand I could find is..."A distinguishing symbol, mark, logo, name, word, sentence, or a combination of these items that companies use to distinguish their product from others in the market."

But a definition is only half the story. Yes, a brand is a symbol, or a mark or logo, but more importantly, when a consumer sees your logo they are reminded of the experience they have with your products, your company and your customer service. 

A Brand is a customers experience with your products.

The power of your logo represents your reputation. Case in point, Hyundai Motor Company introduced the Excel to American consumers in 1986. At first it was well received. Here was an affordable foreign car that the average person could purchase—$4,995! A price that so captivated bargain-hunting Americans that Hyundai set a first-year record by selling 126,000 cars. By the second year they sold over 264,000 Excels.

But, the Excel's faults quickly became apparent; cost-cutting measures began to catch up to Hyundai price tag…and people began to talk, and word spread. The car was cheaply made and Hyundai’s reputation became a joke. To make matters worse, in their effort to capture a large market share in a short amount of time, Hyundai gave credit to noncreditworthy customers (Think Sub-Prime Mortgage Meltdown and go from there). In other words, they gave credit to customers who couldn’t afford the car in the first place.

Despite many years of financial difficulties and family infighting, Hyundai embarked on a campaign to earn back the trust it lost with that first introduction to the American consumer. Not an easy task when you consider that first impressions are usually the last impression for a company. Once your products have a bad reputation, no amount of marketing will make them happy. You have to start over and rewin your reputation.

It was a very bumpy ride over the years as families fought for control of the company. But in 2011 Fortune magazine featured Hyundai's chief technology officer, Hyun-Soon Lee showing the aerodynamic properties of the Sonata. The headlines read “Hyundai smokes the competition.” It took twenty-six years, some very hard work, and their worst days behind them, Hyundai Motor Company has regained our trust here in The States.

How did they do it? When chairman Mong-Koo Chung took over from his father in 1999, his mission shifted the company’s focus from high volume to high quality. And THAT has made the difference in every product they make. From the Accent to the Elantra, from the Veloster to the Sonata, and the Azera, Hyundai is showing off their ability to build an affordable car that is built well and priced for families and regular people.

Today Hyundai has built the world's largest automobile manufacturing plant in Ulsan, South Korea, which builds over 1.6 million vehicles per year, selling in 193 countries through some 6,000 dealerships and showrooms worldwide.

But that’s not all, Hyundai’s sister company Kia is kicking it up a notch as well—the difference in sales from 2011 to 2012 The Kia Optima is selling like hotcakes here in the United States…sales are UP 99%. In China sales are up 150% due to stimulus packages.

And now Hyundai is introducing their first luxury line: The Equus. I don’t know about you, but I get excited when a brand not only stages a comeback, but exceeds our expectations. That’s just good business. Smart business too.

 Your reputation must be earned.

Guard your brand’s reputation well. And if you stumble, do like Hyundai Motor’s—work hard to regain our trust. Give us Wow! We want you to succeed. And South Korean brands like Hyundai, Kia, LG and Samsung are forcing the Western World of business to pay attention.

Get ready...BIG innovation and quality is coming from the East.

Thanks for stopping by,




Brad Szollose
21st Century Change Agent: Generational expert, award-winning author, business consultant and keynote speaker

Brad Szollose is a much sought-after generational expert, management consultant and keynote speaker who helps smart companies understand just how much technology has transformed corporate culture and behavior… and how that impacts management interaction, expectations and sales in The Digital Age.



But this is not based on management theory: With a 30 year career as an entrepreneur he knows firsthand what it’s like to grow a company from a simple idea in a coffee shop to an internationally recognized brand.


Brad is a former C-Level Internet Executive who went from entrepreneur to IPO in 3 yrs—co-founding K2 Design, the very first Dot Com Agency to go public on NASDAQ. His company experienced 425% hyper-growth for 5 straight years, expanded from 2 business partners to 4 with 60+ employees and offices worldwide. At its height, K2 was valuated at over $26 million. 

His results only management model (ROWE) was applied to the first wave of young Generation Y workers producing great results—winning K2 the Arthur Andersen NY Enterprise Award for Best Practices in Fostering Innovation.

Brad Szollose is also the *award-winning author of Liquid Leadership: From Woodstock to Wikipedia which explores the subject of new leadership styles – mainly how to get the tech-savvy Generation Y and analogue driven Baby Boomers working together. ISBN-13: 978-1608320554

Known for his humorous and thought-provoking presentations, Szollose received the highest testimonial of his career from a C-Level audience member: "I just had my mind blown." Brad’s keynotes and workshops are highly interactive, heart-warming, humorous, and filled with high-content information that challenge assumptions and help leaders and managers create a better work environment for innovation to thrive.


Liquid Leadership has been called "THE guidebook for the 21st Century" and has won the 2011 Axiom Business Book Award silver medal for leadership, The Indie Business Book runner up silver medal as well as becoming a #1 Best-Selling Business Book on Amazon for Organizational Learning. Published in the United States by Greenleaf Book Group, in India by Prolibris and in South Korea by UI Books/Iljinsa Publishing.

Mr. Szollose also writes a monthly column on business and marketing techniques that reach Generation Y for A Captured Mind newsletter and is part of The Mind Capture Group faculty.

Today, Brad helps businesses close the Digital Divide by understanding it as a Cultural Divide – created by the new tech-savvy worker...and customer. 



* 2011 Axiom Business Book silver medal winner in the leadership

* #1 Amazon Best-Selling Author

"I just had my mind blown..." - A.S., Vistage, New York

Liquid Leadership by Brad Szollose is available at all major bookstores and for Kindle, Nook, iPad and Sony ereaders. Internationally published in India and S. Korea.

The Disruptive Power of the Entrepreneur

Excerpted from Liquid Leadership, page 281...

While speaking to a large corporate audience in what would prove to be his last keynote address, the legendary football coach Vince Lombardi gave his audience a major piece of wisdom. “I’m going to share with you the key to success in any business,” he said, and then paused.

The room fell into a deep silence as the audience leaned forward. The pause continued a while longer, building the excitement.

“The secret, in a word, is ‘heartpower,’” Lombardi continued. “Capture the heart, and you’ve captured the person. Get people to fall in love with your company.”

Look around you at the companies that you love to follow and the leaders who run them: Meg Whitman, former CEO of eBay. (recently passed) Steve Jobs of Apple. Reed Hastings of Netflix. The late Anita Roddick of The Body Shop. These leaders, among so many, stand out—and so do their companies—because their passion for excellence is contagious. But a greater observation is necessary. They didn’t just get there because they showed up and started talking. They built a solid company based on a passionate decision to upset the status quo, because they didn’t like the status quo. Using the products they created to change the way we do things took perseverance, stubbornness, and passion, through the good times and the bad.

Great leaders do just that. They create a contagious, passionate vision with everything they touch. Many of the leaders I mentioned above can get angry, excited, and fired up because they care about their people and the products they send out into the world—and almost all of them never graduated from or even attended business school.

Simply put, they integrate the people who work for them as like-minded human beings with all the same passions and drive as anyone else, an integral part of the company’s goals. These leaders never treat their employees like subordinates.

These leaders have made a lifetime commitment to becoming better by keeping their eye on the trends and raising their standards, and it shows in every inch of their organizations. They capture the heart and the imagination.

The biggest danger for a company nowadays is when they stagnate, refusing to evolve. I believe this comes from a myth, the belief that one big idea is enough to live on happily ever after. In today’s environment, consistently great ideas must be cranked out and brought to the forefront as quickly as possible. In order to leave a legacy, leaders must act and think like entrepreneurs.

Medium and large companies that run like entrepreneurial start-ups often create relatively small team-to-team and peer-to-peer environments. Hierarchies appear fuzzy to an outsider because these environments are flexible, creative, and free of rules and regulations. Even the CEO is available to every member of the staff. Plain and simple, these medium and large companies operate like small companies.

Internal Darwinism

In entrepreneurially run organizations, each team member is an active participant in the company’s success. Participants become contributors in this type of paradigm, solving problems themselves, free to make decisions that in larger organizations might take weeks for approval from higherups.

These organizations operate on cyclical time, not linear time. Each member takes responsibility for when and how the work gets done. People begin to rely more on inspirational moments than on a clock.

People in these types of organizations are contagious to be around, as they begin to eat, sleep, and drink what they are working on. This is when team members begin to develop an almost cultlike following, becoming evangelists for the brand and working at midnight just as easily as they might work at 10:00 am.

This is the power of running your organization like an entrepreneurial start-up. People become fully engaged in these environments, refusing to leave. In many of these organizations, the bulk of employees have been with the company since its inception. No matter how big your company may get, keep everyone in the organization in touch with the passion of the company’s vision.

Every great leader I have coached maintains these uncompromising qualities. Their leadership styles are uniquely based on their personality and the values they truly believe in. They are contagious to be around and have a vision so clear and intoxicating, they are capable of drawing in a new hire, making each and every one feel as if they are part of a contributing force. These qualities also calm new hires, especially when someone has to work with a famous leader.

Inside these entrepreneurially run companies, it boils down to one thing and one thing only: trust. Ensuring that every manager, executive, and team leader is heads and shoulders above the rest requires time and effort. You must raise internal standards but give up control. By raising your people’s standards and professionalism, you can step back and trust that the work is getting done to exacting standards.

Start destroying the bottlenecks of communication and approval.
Trust is the key to a lasting legacy.

Technology will entice more and more people around the world to become entrepreneurs, and entrepreneurs always create disruption as they destroy entrenched business models in favor of a more efficient and more profitable business model. It is business Darwinism.

As John Doerr of Kleiner Perkins venture capital firm—who invested in Netscape, Amazon, Google, and Bloom Energy when they were just starting—stated on 60 Minutes with Lesley Stall, “That’s my job, to find entrepreneurs who are going to change the world—and then help them.”

So, I ask you now as a leader, here in the death throes of Industrial Age thinking, what kind of company are you going to invent? Where do you want to go? What possibilities are out there awaiting you? The ideas are endless.

Thanks for reading,

Brad Szollose

Brad is the award winning, international bestselling author of Liquid Leadership: From Woodstock to Wikipedia: Multigenerational Management Ideas That Are Changing The Way We Run Things ISBN-13: 978-1608320554

As a Baby Boomer, Brad grew up watching the original Star Trek series, secretly wishing he would be commanding a Constitution Class Starship in the not too distant future. Since that would take a while, Brad became a technology driven, creative director who co-founded one of the very first Internet Development Agencies during the Dot Com Boom—K2 Design. As a Web Pioneer, Brad was forced to invent a new management model that engaged the first wave of Digital Workers. Today,Brad helps Fortune 500 Companies close the Digital Divide by understanding it as a cultural divide—created by a new tech-savvy worker...and customer.

Mr. Szollose also writes a monthly column on business and marketing techniques that reach Generation Y for A Captured Mind Newsletter and is part of The Mind Capture Group faculty.

"I just had my mind blown..." - A.S., Vistage, New York

What's Your Intention This Year?

Happy New Year everyone! It has been an amazing year hasn't it? Bumpy? Yes. It seems as if the world is coming apart at the seams and now we have lost Sean Connery.

But, it is clear to me, if you analyze the news—real news from international sources, not the news we get here in The U.S.A.—we will not be facing an economic recovery any time soon. How can I predict such things? Well The United States is no longer independent of the worlds problems. We are a finely woven tapestry of nations strung together by various socioeconomic and political tides that affect all of us.

If there is an economic problem in Europe, it is just a matter of time before it lands on our shores as well. Article: Europe leaders warn of a difficult 2012

Government austerity has undermined growth
and caused a great deal of anger around Europe.
Photo belongs to AP and BBC.

The riots in Greece over food prices and austerity measures from government pensions will be happening here as well...just a matter of time. More war will break out so we'll need to send more troops. Gold prices will rise even higher along with copper, silver and other raw and precious materials, unemployment will continue to get worse and housing prices will drop.

These predictions are possibilities based on the available facts and events at hand, not theories.

"But Brad, how can you be so sure?"

It is how Keynesian Economics works. Just in case you do not know this, Keynesian Economics is the basis of our economic system here in the United States. More taxes, more printing of money and injecting it into the economy and...sadly, more war. We use a blended version here in the USA, but either way, the rest of the Industrialized Nations have adopted our fiat money system. And when the system has reached critical mass, chaos becomes the norm as government officials sit with economists and try to figure out how to stop the financial meltdown. Prices fluctuate. Hyper-Inflation and deflation go hand in hand as Velocity can no longer be predicted. Banks fail. Businesses fail. Police start ticketing people for little things. Tolls go up. Real estate taxes go up. And good money withdrawals from the system waiting for it to stabilize.

As the Fed prints, prints, prints and spends, spends, spends, it's way out of this mess, your dollars, especially the one you have saved in your 401Ks, pensions and mutual funds will become worth-less, less, and less. Why else do you think people who make over $150,000 a year are struggling? Now imagine how hard it is for people making $8 an hour? It is IMPOSSIBLE to live when the value of every dollar you save gets destroyed. It is a form of stealing.

John Maynard Keynes himself ABANDONED his own work at the end of his life stating that it would cause the economic collapse of any nation that adopted his ideas. But as Richard Maybury pointed out in his newsletters and books, a recession is actually a sustained depression, CAUSED by government intervention and meddling.

So until we get leaders in office that get this, our future will be incredibly bumpy for the next 5 to 10 years.

So what do you do? I say use the spiritual story of Trust in God, BUT Tie Up Your Camel...which is about taking as much responsibility as you can and let the rest go so you can enjoy life. In other worlds, after you prepare for life, stop worrying.

Ups and downs are a part of life. It is how we learn. Why else are you alive, living in a physical body, in the country you are in and the family you have been born into? You think that is some sort of accident? You are here to learn. And I hate to say it, stop with New Years Resolutions...it's like trying to fix symptoms instead of tackling the problem head on.

Instead, prepare for the worst, fix what you can, pay off all debts and stock up on what you think you will need. THEN take a look at my list of cool ideas it just might be time to do.

Brad's Cool List of Things To Do in 2012:

1) Start a Business on a shoe string budget

A friend of mine started a company with $50...he now bills out
over $5 million a year!!!

2) Save Money by moving in with Family

Suck it up, your family loves you despite what your therapist has you believe.

3) Spend some time with that friend you've been meaning to visit
Don't be cheap...bring a bottle of wine, or a DVD of some movie they said they loved but never bought.

4) Commit to volunteering once a week

Nothing makes you feel like you are alive like giving back to life like serving those less fortunate.

BTW: That goes for those of you who are volunteering too much.

Ask yourself "from what you are trying to escape?"

5) Cook a big dinner and invite neighbors over

Even the ones you don't like.

6) Take in a seminar on something you have always wanted to do

Like how to write a book or public speaking or how to start a business in your home.

7) Forgive your enemies ...but more importantly, forgive yourself

8) Get off the computer and go outside...

If missing your "friends" status update will traumatize you, you may need to get a life. They aren't going anywhere. IF you miss someone's updated status, I am sure your life will be fulfilled without it.

Look, there are people in wheelchairs and laying in hospital beds who rely on the Internet and their Social Network for a sense of connection to real people. They cannot go outside. Some operate the internet with voice commands because they cannot move from the neck down. Without it, they would truly be alone.

If you are not one of these people, shut the computer off and get some fresh air.

9) Watch less Television

Want to kill productivity and add to your procrastination?
(Note to Self: Stop watching The Twilight Zone all day)

10) Laugh more

This may require you to actively seek out funny comedies, positive friends and choosing to smile instead of frowning. And remember, there are people out there who actually like being miserable. Ignore them.

11) Read a book on a subject you can't stand
Like economics. Or read my book. I read 30 books and interviewed hundreds so you don't have to.

12) Make a commitment to be more positive

This is about emotional control...do some research on Emotional IQ studies.
Tony Robbins has some great stuff on it in Awaken The Giant Within.(note to self: be more positive in 2012)

13) Try Reverse Mentorship

I tell people in my corporate programs to do this and I am passing it on to you. Whether you like it or not, younger generations are on the cutting edge of more than technology... they are on the cutting edge of methodologies, invention and thinking. Notice it is the youth who are at the forefront of those global protests?

Commit to having coffee once a month with someone younger than you to pick their brain and listen to trends and changes. Do it before you are out of a job. 

14) Make love more often

Notice I didn't say have more sex, although that will be the end result of your attempts at romance. Try it. It isn't always about you all the time.

And last but not least...

15) Spend more time with yourself communing with God

Whatever your belief —TM, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Jedi, or Ancient Aliens, do SOMETHING this year on a consistent basis that connects to your belief in God or a higher power. You will be richer in spirit for it, less angry and less of a jerk.

It's worked wonders on me;-) LOL. Although some people would disagree with that one.

And on a side note, people who meditate on a consistent basis age slower. Just an FYI for the ladies.

I hope that helps. I will commit this year to being more funny, less serious, and to blog more. We have some pretty cool things happening here at Brad Szollose Worldwide and I'll share those wins as much as I can.

Thank you all for following my blog, videos and meanderings on Facebook and Twitter. To a 2012 of personal prosperity and spiritual growth. Ignore the negative, accentuate the positive, listen to your inner nudges and take action.

The very best to all of you this year...

Brad Szollose

Brad is the award winning, international bestselling author of Liquid Leadership: From Woodstock to Wikipedia: Multigenerational Management Ideas That Are Changing The Way We Run Things ISBN-13: 978-1608320554

"I just had my mind blown..." - A.S., Vistage, New York

To Be First...Be Creative

Back in the late 60s, before Jim Henson & Frank Oz introduced the Muppets on Sesame Street there wasn’t much on television for kids. Sure there was Saturday morning cartoons but not much that was appealing. Jim & Frank created a new industry because they wanted to make childrens education fun and entertaining. By integrating their already popular puppeteering to the show, Sesame Street became an icon of children's television...and still going strong to this day.

George Lucas envisioned a strange world and put it on film at a time when very few science fiction films made any money nor were they taken seriously. George is a pioneer.

Marin Alsop became the first female conductor and Music Director of the Baltimore Symphony in an industry dominated by men. She ignored the statistics and became a trailblazer.

Dick Gregory decided to tell White Americans what Black Americans thought at a time when the majority of comedians were standing around in a dark suit with a microphone in a stand telling people what they wanted to hear. Gregory brought us into his world. He didn’t sugar coat it – he was raw about it – but he took the time out to make it funny. He lead the way for Richard Pryor, Chris Rock, Chris Tucker. Dick Gregory was courageous.

What is my point? well there are 2 things each of these stories has in common. First, each of  these people mentioned took chances despite what everyone else was doing, saying or believing. Second, they are incredibly creative people. And this is a major key for success in any field.

What sets every single product you buy apart? Creativity. We pay a premium but many don't know why. Jaguar, Bose, Nike...name a brand that is a leader in their field and you find consistent creative innovation. Getting creative and introducing products and systems that no one else is doing will position you as a leader in a new niche within your industry.

Think creativity in business is just for the creative industries? Think again.

Donald Trump is into the Art of The Deal. His first book made me realize this man sees business as a creative opportunity. The Donald is a creative strategist.

Stephen Hawking is capable of envisioning and proving alternative theories on physics and time because he is creative in the way he approaches every new idea. He has not only introduced completely new ways of thinking about our universe, he has overturned as well as proven some of Einstein’s well-documented theories. Dr. Hawking is a visionary creative.

The television show American Chopper focuses on a family owned, custom motorcycle shop – Orange County Choppers. The antics of Paul Teutul Sr. and his two sons Paul Jr. and Mikey make the show entertaining, but their creative approach to custom bike building is just mesmerizing to watch. Paul Sr. has written 2 successful business books so far (I am expecting more), run a business and a successful television show. All based on Paul Sr. 40 years as an entrepreneur. And the guys at OCC give back – they are one of the top companies working with the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Paul Sr. is a creative entrepreneur.

Steven Jobs figured computers should be user friendly. While Steve Wozniak figured out how this new business would be structured both inside and out. Together they created a multi-billion dollar company within a niche industry inside the computer industry. All because Apple and the culture they created, look at computers differently. Creative technologists.

Each visionary leader mentioned above may get all the credit, but they surrounded themselves with incredibly talented individuals – and in many cases, gave those team members credit.

Companies that respect their own creative process and the people who get them there seem to be consistent leaders. Every product or system that comes from his or her imaginations is an industry unto itself.

Try taking a page from their process. Creativity is King.

Thank you for reading,

Brad Szollose

The Difference Between Entrepreneur and Executive

There is an unwritten rule in business that once a company goes public, the original founders must be ousted. The myth: entrepreneurs are great for getting a company started, but not so great when Wall Street is looking over their shoulder. Part of this thinking is that founders of companies are mavericks, passionate doers with a vision, nontraditional in their approach to management and outspoken - the kind of rabble rousing that makes investors uneasy. (What is rabble rousing anyway?)

Passionate in their approach, some are seen as little more than televangelists who work their corporate gospel for all it's worth, but when confronted with real management challenges, their methodologies are revealed to be a house of cards.

To put it mildly, this is a gross generalization and highly inaccurate.

Case in point, Steve Jobs was an entrepreneur with a vision - created the greatest user-friendly computer in the world and took a byte (pun intended) out of IBM's market dominance. Passionate and visionary, Jobs had in his corner Steve Wozniak to handle the structure of Apple. Before these guys, working on a computer required extensive knowledge of code just to do a simple task. Many a computer science major looked down at those who couldn't understand the basics of a computer. Then Apple came along and changed all that posturing by inventing a user-friendly computer that required no code, no programming knowledge, just plug and play. With their visually intuitive interface, Apple redefined what working on a computer meant. They changed the computer business forever by creating computers for the rest of us.

So, it wasn't a mystery why Mac became the computer of choice for graphic designers - with it's focus on the graphical user interface and out of the box ease of operation, an Apple computer could be used by anyone. Before the Macintosh, all typesetting at ad agencies and design firms had to be sent out to a type house to be set into those neat rows you see in magazines and newspapers. You never knew what the type would look like until it came back. One wrong calculation could ruin a piece. Calculating typefaces was a science only doled out to designers with a propensity for math. With applications like Pagemaker and WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) interfacing, Apple ruined independent typesetting companies overnight. Now all typesetting could be done in house from your desktop and changes could be made instantaneously. Apple was the David that slew Goliath and Apple buyers began to take on a cult-like obsession.

But all was not well at Apple. Jobs' direction for the company seemed at odds with CEO John Sculley. A power struggle ensued and the board of directors sided with Sculley - Jobs was forced out, and the press had a field day. To an outsider it made no sense. To a seasoned businessperson, it wasn't soon enough. The founder whose ideology was what brought the company to its current stage of profitability and notoriety was seen as a hindrance to the next phase of success. The myth of the entrepreneur, unable to take the company forward, prevailed.

At first, the executive team took Apple down a road where it had never been before, and profits were the proof that all was working. Time would tell, however, that a new CEO, several years of lack luster sales, and a low stock price are enough to make even the most seasoned board of directors realize they may have made a mistake. The Macintosh started to look like an IBM clone. Just another computer.

For obvious reasons, Jobs was asked back in 97 and the Apple brand began to make a comeback. The entrepreneurial spirit returned and Apple stopped making products that looked like grey boxes and started putting the ergonomic designs back into their industrial design. Lessons learned from Jobs' NEXT computer system were integrated into the new PowerMac lines, and the iMac brought the Apple brand back to profitability. This was an entrepreneur with executive and strategic execution.

Jobs brought the passion back to Apple. The myth of the entrepreneur had been broken. And let's not forget Jobs' investment in Pixar Studios before it was acquired by Disney. So much for the myth of the entrepreneur not understanding real business.

Conversely, executives who arose through the ranks of Wharton, Yale or Harvard learned the ropes of hard work and numbers crunching, eventually landing a key leadership position after quite a bit of seasoning, are just as valid. Many a business needs this style of management to operate and with over 50 million businesses in the United States, I'd say the majority of them operate under this management structure.

Just look at the number of law, accounting and engineering firms that must have serious systems in place to operate. This isn't just a happy accident, it's tried and true business 101. Many times executives are brought in to clean up the huge mess created by a founder who didn't know any better.

One of my favorite case studies of exemplary reorganizing is Harley Davidson. AMF drove the Harley name into the ground back in the 70s by firing employees and streamlining production to such a degree that Harley Davidson became the laughing stock of the motorcycle industry. In an effort to push for greater and greater profits, AMF forgot to make a superior product. It didn't take long for Japanese imports of better quality to flood the American market.

In 1981, AMF sold Harley to a group of investors led by Vaughn Beals and Willie G. Davidson (yes, grandson of co-founder William A. Davidson) for $80 million. In order to get back their market share and keep Japanese imports at bay, Harley Davidson worked closely with The US International Trade Commission, requesting they impose a 45% tariff on imported bikes over 700cc's. This was a temporary measure specifically designed to protect Harley and raise the price of Japanese imports. It was the helping hand that kept the competition at bay.

Next step was for quality to increase while keeping costs low. In Japan after WWII, W. Edwards Deming created a productivity model using a simple method of only ordering inventory when needed. Before his methods, companies usually kept large amounts of product in warehouses. It was costly to store, heat and/or cool and costly to insure. And if inventory prices fell, you were stuck with overpriced goods. Assembly could be at such a loss that a company could go out of business.

Deming was the father of Just In Time manufacturing and for good reason - he single handedly helped Japan rebuild after WWII. JIT focused on ordering inventory only when needed but, more importantly, gave workers on the assembly plant floor control over product quality, even the authority to shut down the line if a part or finished product didn't meet their standards. Quality over quantity.

Harley's executive management deliberately returned to what made their company famous - the macho "retro" appeal of the machines, building motorcycles that deliberately adopted the look and feel of their earlier cycles with customer-requested customizations. Components like brakes, front forks, shocks, carburetors, electrical parts and wheels were outsourced from foreign manufacturers and quality increased, technical improvements were made, and buyers slowly returned.

With JIT methodologies and a return to quality, Harley Davidson's reputation began to grow into the premium brand it is today. They even went so far as to get The US International Trade Commission to lift the previously levied tariffs. Because people were still buying Japanese imported cycles at a premium, once the tariffs were lifted, the price stayed the same, and allowed Harley to charge an even higher premium.

Today's Harley brands encompass the traditional bikes such as the Fat Boy, and female biker focused brands like the Sportster, and the Cafe Racer inspired V-Rod with it's retro look. Solid management brought Harley Davidson back from the edge of oblivian.

But what can we learn from both styles of management? First, let's define the two positions. The dictionary defines the entrepreneur as "one who organizes a business undertaking, assuming the risk for the sake of the profit." This individual many times takes on all the roles within a company until profits and/or investors allow for staffing.

And an executive is defined as "one who administers or manages matters of business of a corporation." In other words, the executive oversees the structure and the day-to-day operations for the board, the owners, or investors. Compensation may be in the form of perks, stock options, or bonuses.

Either way it appears as if the entrepreneur is working for him or herself and the executive is working for the investors.

So what can entrepreneurs learn from executives and what can executives learn from entrepreneurs?
Entrepreneurs must understand that their business(es) should run without them. Systems and structure must be executed by management and each member of an enterprise should know his/her role. When venture capitalists and bankers invest in a new start-up, it is the first thing they look for - business structure. The passionate nature of the founder may get them to the table, but it is true day-to-day business management they look for. Look at Ray Kroc, founder of McDonalds. He created tight methods for creating every product on the menu. In a business where profit margins are very tight, Kroc showed investors that his structure assured profits, whether he was there or not.


Executives, on the other hand, should take a page from the entrepreneur by looking beyond the numbers and going with their gut. When Mazda introduced the Miata, all the marketing data out there said nothing about a little convertible sports car. It was the last thing on the American consumers' mind. But Mazda did the unthinkable - they put passion back into driving with a fun and affordable roadster that brought back the days of British MG Midgets and weekends in the country.

The Miata made them look like geniuses. Had they anticipated some sort of market trend? The fact is they did nothing of the kind. Mazda took a chance that paid off big time. They put excitement back into driving. Period. Consumers buy because there is a an emotional reason to buy. Numbers crunching doesn't reveal passion.

The balance between the entrepreneur vs. executive methodologies is a simple paradigm - it is right-brained thinking versus left-brain thinking. To truly take over the business world, one must integrate both. Look at the leaders you admire best. If you look closely, you will see that they operate from both a sense of passion for what they do while balancing systems, as well as integrate a structure that operates during their absence.

Jack Welch is a prime example of someone who balances the two sides of entrepreneur and executive. He was the very outspoken CEO of General Electric for over 40 years. Passionate and strict, he became a mini-celebrity appearing on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno many times. He kept the bread and butter parts of GE (large turbines, electrical engines, stuff the consumers never see) robust, while balancing the consumer products (televisions, refrigerators, washing machines, etc.) with their financial services divisions. He truly played both roles.

Now that he has retired he is a well sought out speaker for obvious reasons - he knows how to run a business from both sides.

Look at Lee Iacocca, former President Bill Clinton, John Johnson, Mary Kay-Ash, Donald Trump, Malcolm Forbes, Warren Buffet, Tony Robbins, Hilary Clinton, HP's former CEO Carly Fiorina, etc. All are reflections of balance between an entrepreneur's spirit and a corporate executive's strategy. The balance between passion and discipline is what drives all of them.

As Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart once said, "Neither a lofty degree of intelligence nor imagination nor both together go to the making of genius. Love, love, love, that is the soul of genius."

The funny part is one of Mozart's sons, Franz Xaver Wolfgang, was rumored to be a better, more disciplined musician than his father, but Xaver shyness only allowed him to focus on conducting - his back to the audience. Having to work in the shadow of his famous father was too hard and despite touring extensively, he faded into history. And there it is again - the passion of an entrepreneur and the logic of the executive.

The balance between the two seems to be the road less traveled, but it has the greatest rewards. In closing, my expertise in this field is extensive, so all I can recommend is that if you are an entrepreneur, learn to build structure and if you are an executive, find what is passionate about your company and reveal it. The results will astound.

Thank you for reading,

Brad

Brad Szollose is the author of Liquid Leadership: From Woodstock to Wikipedia – Multigenerational Management Ideas That Are Changing The Way We Run Things

BTW: When Mac users talk about their computers, iPods and iPhones they usually use words like "I love my Mac." Strong words for an inanimate object, but that is Apple's target audience. They have an emotional attachment for Apple products. Most entrepreneurs dream of creating that kind of customer loyalty. How do you turn loyal advocates into cult-like zealots? Ask Steve Jobs and Guy Kawasaki. They, in my book, are the masters. Know your audience and you'll know their passions.

Also, Apple breaks the mold as a business. They are one of the few consumer products manufacturers who also provide content. That's like a television manufacturer providing the shows as well. But unlike SONY, who does just that, Apple's profit margin percentages as a ratio of sales to manufacturing are much more lucrative. One of the best verticle models I've seen.

This article and my blogs, articles and designs etc...are created on a MacBook Pro, with a 17-inch screen and YES, I love my Mac.

Also, I am not a fan of over analyses especially when it comes to basic human nature. Entrepreneurs shoot from the hip and executives strategize. One builds start-ups, the latter maintains and builds equity. What is there to analyze?

Here's some "lite" reading on the subject:

iCon Steve Jobs: The Greatest Second Act in the History of Business
by Jeffrey S. Young & William L. Simon
http://www.amazon.com/iCon-Steve-Jobs-Greatest-Business/dp/0471787841/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1198022923&sr=8-1

The Cult of Mac by Leander Kahney
http://www.amazon.com/Cult-Mac-Paperback-Leander-Kahney/dp/1593271220/ref=pd_bbs_9?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1198022923&sr=8-9

Original article source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Brad_Szollose

E-Branding — 7 Mistakes to Avoid

I am always astounded when companies treat the Internet like one big TV commercial. Banner ad click-throughs are almost non-existent, yet ad-buying continues onward and upward, ignoring the cold hard facts, (click-through rates are so low that time spent on a site is now considered a unit of measurement).

Social networking, e-shopping, viral videos and mobile phone content are in, banner ads out. The Internet is a golden opportunity for marketers to create a 1:1 relationship, but all too often, getting that close to a customer is too scary for most. Time to think out of the box with your Web initiative. Here are just a few clues to get you to stop treating Web 2.0 like a television commercial and kick your Search Engine Optimization strategy into high gear. The following are mistakes to avoid:

Mistake 1: You're treating your online brand like a brick and mortar brand.
According to The Cluetrain Manifesto, markets are conversations and the Internet is one of the biggest, most fragmented conversations ever created. It's a broadcast arena, a storefront, a publisher, a support group, a social network and something else we've yet to discover. It's about physical borders disappearing in favor of common networks - people gathering together to talk and it is anything but passive.

If people are hanging out on the Internet doing their thing, how do you think marketing is viewed? Marketing to this giant conversation is viewed as a mechanical intrusion to be completely ignored. Doc Searls, in his preface to The Cluetrain Manifesto, points out that, "Markets are conversations; and conversation is fire. Therefore, Marketing is arson."

What marketers assume is that consumers can't see this fake conversation, and that is where the big disconnect is taking place. Consumers have formed a story about your brand that has nothing to do with the official corporate message. Time to wake up.

Brands that have been created exclusively for the Internet, get this. They know that the Web is about creating trust not banner ads. They have formed a relationship with an Internet-savvy customer that respects their individuality. People are not "consumers" in cyberspace - they are people.

Commerce in the Internet Marketplace is secondary to the Internet's main purpose: conversation. Today a brand must romance the digital native and give them what they want, when they want it and how they want it. It may take you months to develop a relationship before getting a sale.

Brands that started in the Brick and Mortar World are seen as the outsider - a buzz- kill attending the biggest party in the world. You just won't be accepted as a Web brand no matter how hard you try.

This is why Amazon is the leader on the Internet while Barnes & Noble is number 2. What if Amazon tried to build a store in every mall in America? They'd fail. An Internet brand can't compete against a real world brand anymore than a real world brand can compete with an Internet brand. The overhead alone would drive the Cyber company out of business.

Want to reach your online audience? Try hiring an Internet-savvy marketer. That's the first step to winning some credibility. Don't just look at the resume, ask her what was the most unusual way she reached her target and met her goals. The cyber- savvy is the one you hire.

Mistake 2: You have nothing more than an online brochure.
I was recently consulting with one of the largest consumer brands in the U.S. when their VP of Interactive Development asked me why their site wasn't getting any return visitors. I told them point blank that, although they had flash all over their site and it was well designed and had SEM software and support staff, they had nothing more than a very expensive brochure.

Look, Web 2.0 is about figuring out from your customers what they like, then give it to them, even if it doesn't appear to affect the bottom line. Figure out how to create that one-to-one relationship with them and your brand will be golden. Stay on your toes - today social networks and viral videos are hot, tomorrow, who knows?

But, here's the scary part of all this: You have to get rid of the wall between your brand and your customer - it's no longer a closed system. It's not about a bevy of corporate lawyers giving you a list of stuff to say on your FAQ section. It's about one human being forming a relationship with another group of human beings that just happen to be working for your brand. It's a chance to be a part of the online conversation and join in on what is being said about you. Scary yes, but rewarding.

When your people talk with customers, remove the shackles of corporate speak you have locked around their necks. Train them instead to be themselves. Remember, people can sense a lack of authenticity. If you aren't part of their online conversation, the real conversation, you are dead.

Mistake 3: Your content is old.
This one needs very little explanation. If you haven't updated your site's content, there is no reason for people to revisit. Do you think that might be the reason no one is coming back to that web site you built a year ago?

Take a page from your favorite Blogger. Some Web Log Authors give us new and fresh musings everyday, while others only once a month. Either way, be consistent, personal and in-depth. Give your audience something to sink their teeth into, otherwise forget it.

Try twittering. It allows you to send out mini content to a list of cell phone surfers and online supporters. Keep it short though, twitter is about one or two sentences. Steve Jobs twittered that he was nervous before a keynote address. The audience picked it up on their iphones and were more receptive when he came on stage. It also allows for a human connection to a very popular executive.

I wish more CEOs twittered. It would go a long way to building their company's brand and engender trust by their shareholders. The Information Age is about staying in touch.

Mistake 4: Your strategy is not bold enough.
Recently Burger King decided to take the Whopper off the menu. They did it half-heartedly by doing it at a few of their restaurants, and then filmed people's response. It did nothing to affect the bottom line. We yawn and life goes on.

But Starbucks, on the other hand, closed down all their stores all across the United States for an entire evening. Bold and decisive, Howard Schultz took a stand against mediocrity, closed every store and retrained every Starbucks employee on what coffee meant. The next day Starbucks opened to fanfare and a return to great customer service. People noticed and wrote about it in The New York Times.

Bold moves like that can only get bold results, and I predict Starbucks will have a 15% increase in revenue this quarter as a result of such action. It creates a buzz on the street. Try it sometime.

Mistake 5: You're not facing the truth about your Brand.
Dunkin' Donuts recently started to provide lattes on their menu. They've had flavored coffee for years, but the lattes were an attempt to compete with Starbucks, and with that one action, I could see just how much of a disconnect Dunkin' Donuts has with their customers.

You see, Dunkin' Donuts is an all-American brand that served a working nation for over half a century with delicious donuts. Coffee is necessary for their brand because coffee and donuts go together like hamburgers and French fries. But coffee is their secondary market, (sales may seem like coffee is their primary market, but tell that to the customer). Dunkin' Donuts may try, but they have very little in common with a high-end coffee chain that provides coffees from around the world.

Remember, your brand has a position in the customers' mind, and that position represents one thing and one thing only. Starbucks represents coffee. Dunkin' Donuts represents donuts. One is a white-collar brand and the other is a blue-collar brand. The customer for Starbucks wants to pay top dollar to feel as if they are getting the Italian coffee shop experience, while the Dunkin' Donuts customer is looking for value and speed. The consumer will NEVER see them as equals, because consumers NEVER change their minds about a brand. For Dunkin' Donuts to think they can compete with Starbucks is a lesson in futility. But try telling that to the board of directors.

Don't be afraid to listen to the online conversation about your brand. David Felton was so frustrated with his local Dunkin' Donuts that he built an online message board to complain about his local franchise. Complaints about other franchises started showing up on the site - so much so that 5,000 franchise owners were forced to respond and correct the mistakes...sometimes within hours. It made Dunkin' Donuts a better, stronger and customer-focused company. But somewhere in the executive suite, they didn't get it. Felton's Website was shut down after much harassment from Dunkin' Donuts. They paid Felton an undisclosed sum, but DD never seemed to understand what was happening. The market was telling them they weren't perfect. Instead of being the first company to listen to complaints and adjust accordingly, they chose to silence their customer - the lifeblood of their brand. They didn't like the message they were hearing and instead of listening, they ended the conversation.

Take a lesson for your own brand. Yes, it may not be what you want to hear, but at least it will be honest. After that, work on meeting and exceeding customers' needs.

Mistake 6: Are you focused too much on the Internet, traditional marketing or both?
Years ago, many a business needed nothing more than an online brochure. Today, the online store is so easy to build and maintain that not having a web presence is seen as a major red flag to a company's stability.

Many a mega-brand has an online store because it is a duel channel for sales. Best Buy is a good example of this. I love to browse their brick and mortar stores and grab some bargains. But their online brand is very important as well when I have no time to physically shop.

Maintaining a 1-800 number and a Web store at the same time can be hard. But if you want to do it right, then I suggest that you take a look at QVC, HSN, the above- mentioned Best Buy, B&H Photo and others too numerous to mention. Take a good look at how they promote one store against the other - some use a blend of catalogs and email promotions, while others rely on TV and Internet only. QVC and HSN promote their sites from their popular television shows. They drive traffic through a live broadcast, but it doesn't end with the program. The site continues to run the promotion for a limited time. Updated content and limited time offers will drive traffic and if the offering is a good one, it will create conversion, (browsers who buy).

On the other hand, maybe you are a restaurant and need to have a web presence. Try offering take-out orders through your website with an automatic discount for orders over $25. I've seen restaurants do 70% of their evening business through take-out. Some even have to shut down the restaurant so the kitchen can handle the online orders.

Try it. You may find a nice blend between your Web presence and your brick and mortar stores.

Mistake 7: You're too literal in your message.
Many years ago I attended the annual stockholders meeting for a company in which I was heavily invested. The executive team took several actions that irked me. These changes made me realize they would be going out of business. The first mistake they made was a name change. Someone believed that adding the word Digital to their brand would change the markets' perception of what they did, (They were an interactive design agency).

The second thing that irked me was they changed the company's tag line to "A Full-Service Interactive Agency that Forges 1:1 Relationships through Channel Marketing Partnerships with Strategic Players in the Online World." I felt like I was reading an article for a science magazine instead of a company whose job was to bring powerful experiences to the web-savvy visitor.

I dumped my stock as quickly as possible.

If your primary marketing message is attempting to convince shareholders how great you are in dry corporate-speak, you have a problem. Your message should be simple, on target to your consumer audience and, most importantly, stir the emotions.

When your marketing message sounds like a bank poster, time to rethink your marketing...quickly.
What will help most is that you begin to understand that the Web is not a passive media. People go online to do research for every product they buy. The research they get is not from a corporation telling them how great the product is, they are getting their insight from regular people who are using the product now. They're asking questions about how well your products work, and what isn't so great about your brand.

Try listening to your consumer by creating advocacy sites and real dialogue through social networking. Listen to the conversation and follow through with the changes. Or you can continue as usual - ignore the marketplace, market around the problem and hope the next version will fix itself. If your product stinks, no amount of marketing can fix it on the Web. Word gets around fast these days and the one thing Netizens are really into is telling the truth.

Listen to the conversation and change with it. By focusing on getting it right, your SEO strategy will become easier and more profitable. Jumping on a band wagon because everybody else is will teach you a lesson on how to waste money. Being strategic and listening to the market will help build a better relationship with your customers. Let me know how it works.

Thanks again for reading,

Brad Szollose

Brad Szollose is the author of Liquid Leadership: From Woodstock to Wikipedia – Multigenerational Management Ideas That Are Changing The Way We Run Things
For more info, go to http://bradszollose.com

May I recommend?:
Check out Umbro. http://www.umbro.com on the ultimate soccer experience alongside great content and a mega store. They are always updating the site with complete makeovers, flash, videos, and driving rock music. Well done.

SEO: Search Engine Optimization Bible by Jerri L. Ledford
http://www.amazon.com/SEO-Search-Engine-Optimization-Bible/dp/0470175001/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1207770716&sr=8-1

Original article is at: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Brad_Szollose

Creativity is King

After turning a modest sum into a few million I realized that a close friend of mine had to have a system to explain her über success. When I pressed her to reveal the secret, she astounded me with something I always knew was there, but never awakened to. It was as if she bestowed wisdom on me with the touch of a magic wand.

“So, what’s your secret, Val?”
“Well, first I look for who’s the leader in their industry.”
“Yea.”
Everybody does that. Come on, spill the beans.
Like everyone else, I wanted enlightenment NOW!!!
“Then I look at the seasoning of the management team.”
Val plodded on, completely unaware of the dialogue
in my head.
“And?” This was basic investing advice.
I was getting impatient.
“Creativity.”
“What?” You gotta be kidding me?
“I look at who’s got the most creative products.
Then I invest.”

It made me stop in my tracks. Here was a woman who ran the largest data base in the country, had multiple degrees mainly in mathematics and computer science, and it all boils down to creativity? Was it that simple? Had she cracked the DaVinci Code for the investor? I went home that night analyzing which companies stood out in the marketplace and which one’s bombed miserably. She was right; it was creativity that separated the good from the great – both in management, training and product.


Look at the last 20 big-ticket purchases you’ve made. Unless you were raised during the Great Depression like my father, you probably chose those items because they were cool, innovative or well designed. Not because they were the cheapest. What kind of car did you buy last? Chances are, despite what consumer reports said, you boiled it down to three choices and made the decision after a test drive. The car, minivan or luxury car that won out was the one that gave you the most innovation for the dollar. You “felt” it was a sound decision. 

Once again, we don’t buy things, we buy experiences. Consumers believe the thing they purchase will provide a better life. Remember the old ad agency argument? Nobody needs a drill. They need a hole so they can hang a picture. All they need is to hang up a picture. The drill gets them there. Period. What about your house? Unless you are into fixer uppers, or built your dream house, I would guess you bought something that stood out. Or how about the last gadget you bought. Was it sleek and cool? Did it make you the envy of your friends? We buy groceries on a budget, but when it comes to enriching our lives, we spend a little extra.

Good, creative design stirs us at our emotional core.

Henry Dreyfus was America’s father of industrial design. When companies like AT&T approached him to design their products, he wasn’t reinventing the phone but rather analyzed how we use it. Remember the first Trim-line phone with the dial in the handset? Thank Henry Dreyfus and his team for that little innovation. He figured out how we used products and then delivered an industrial design the made the product work seamlessly into our world while inspiring us to buy it.

Great design does that. His work was so ahead of its time that many of his standards are being used today. Ever wonder why a stop sign in Europe has the same shape and color as one in Aruba or Canada? The International Symbol Library was Dreyfus’ opus.

The science of design and creativity starts with usability analysis. It takes months to look at how a product is used, what the consumer hates, loves or wishes of the product. Where does it sit in the buyer’s mind versus where it sits on the shelf? What is it about the competition that they love? What would be the innovation that sets the company apart? There is a structure to great design. It doesn’t just happen because some guy named Claudio stands up and declares his love for plastic. It is strategic and methodical, and it can take years before a product hits the market. Look at the Gillette Fusion: $750 million and 3 years for research & development and industrial design before it wound up on store display racks. Now that’s product analysis!

Executives and entrepreneurs need to remember that if you want to step up your company to the next level, look no further than what you offer the consumer. Is it the most innovative, most creative product available to set you miles apart from the competition? Are your systems capable of bringing your customer a truly customized experience? If the answer is no, (be honest) then you need to get your creative team back to the drawing board. 

Don’t believe me? Take a look at these companies:
SONY, WalMart, GUCCI, Jet Blue, Electronic Arts, Red Octane, Microsoft, Starbucks, Gillette, Chanel, Porsche, Nintendo, BOZE, Andersen Windows, Sumitomo, Amazon, etc… Every brand on this list is innovative, creative and the leader in their industry. They are also consistent with their innovations. Each has also taken the lead position away from a rival to such an extent that the competitor never caught up. The next time you want to decimate the competition, sit down with a creative director first. Tom Peters actually believes that designers should be invited to board meetings. Something about the right and left-brained thinking coming into balance.


To learn more about this balance check out my latest article at http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Difference-Between-Entrepreneur-And-Executive&id=888334

Notice how GE was not on the above list. General Electric is a strong company but a weak consumer brand. Let me explain: When was the last time you ran out and bought a GE television because it was the best? Or a GE dishwasher? How about their refrigerators? The point is, GE products sell, but they try to be everything to everybody. There is no clear position for their brand (at least amongst the retail consumer). And there is no innovation – their products are just like everyone else. In the turbine engine, B2B category, they are one of the leaders. Nevertheless, here in our world, GE suffers from a sort of Jack-of-All-Trades inertia. 

Specialization comes from brand focus. Brand focus leads to innovation. Innovation leads to creativity. Apple is a great example of creativity and consistent innovation. What makes Apple the great company it is today? It boils down to good design, cutting-edge technology and convenience. It’s as if Apple is anticipating what I’ll need. What makes them great is they keep doing it year after year. One innovation does not a mega brand make and Steve Jobs is well aware of that. Perhaps this is why Apple has the largest niche within the computer manufacturing industry.

Look at the iPhone. It not only answers the problem of too many devices to carry by converging email, phone calls and entertainment into a personalized PDA-styled device, but it also makes several generational leaps in technology touch screen access, a robust operating system, vertical to horizontal sensors, intuitive interfacing, large icons, data management, data accessibility and of course, sleek design. I love Apple. Most people who buy Apple products eventually say that. We have an emotional attachment that I will address in a moment.

Apple’s innovation forces the rest of the industry to change. Look at how many PC laptops have a 17-inch screen, a robust operating system, icon driven interfaces, CD readers and burners as standard installations, and basic multi-media cards. They are all being forced to follow Apple’s lead. Prices have followed as well. The cost of a Mac is very close to a similarly configured Dell. The gaming industry is also a major driver as well. People want their computing, entertainment and business interaction to be seamless and Apple, Microsoft and SONY know that. There is a wicked rumor going around that game console companies want all your home computing, entertainment, and house functions like lighting and heating to be happening from one box. But that, is somewhere in the future.

Leaps like the iPhone are very calculated. I know it seems like such an arcane reference, but hear me out. - when companies like Studebaker take leaps quicker than the consumer is ready, it can leave them bankrupt and removed from the history books. Studebaker made the first economy car, the Lark, back when people didn’t know that a decade later, gas prices would go through the roof. Too soon to market can create a flop and here’s my point - how many of you remember Studebaker? Not many. Yet it was one of the greatest American made car companies ever. Built well and managed well, they took leaps that the consumer wasn’t able to keep up with. They had no contingency plan for when their ideas might catch on. Hope is not a strategy. 

On the other hand, look at Netflix – the company took more than 10 years to become a household brand. It took the consumer all that time to adapt (as a whole) to a new way of getting movies. Shopping online also took 10 years to become the standard, as did the ubiquitous use of DVD technology. (My Dad has 2 DVD players. This is amazing to me!). Netflix had enough of a subscriber base comfortable enough with ecommerce to be early adopters. It allowed Netflix to grow slowly, strategically and economically. By the time Blockbuster discovered Netflix had outpaced them and became the leader, Blockbuster could never catch up (and they never will). Only the paranoid stay in the number one position forever and the Internet allows more innovative brands to destroy your leadership position.

Apple respects the intelligence of their audience, and the logo shows it. There is a subtle tongue and cheek humor about the Apple logo. The very first Apple logo used an image of Sir Isaac Newton and the moment when the apple struck his head to give divine insight. I wonder what Robert Langdon (Dan Brown’s main character in Angels and Demons and the wildly popular Da Vinci Code and The Lost Symbol), would say about the current Apple logo with the distinctive bite missing? The same bite from the apple in the Garden of Eden. The original tale was from Akkadian texts in Sumeria – a fairy tale for children about the gods who created the human race. A thousand years later it was written down as fact by the Levites and later integrated into The Book of Genesis. Similar stories with similar tones on how the human race acquired some serious technology. The implication is that we are getting secrets from a higher authority! 

The Apple logo is a subtle piece of symbolism genius. It seems as if I’ve digressed, but creativity is actually a very structured discipline that requires multiple channels of arcane and common knowledge. Apple respects our intelligence and sense of humor.

Steve Jobs seems to be our generations’ Prometheus. Creativity trickles through every aspect of the organization and it shows – from their products to their brand. Hey, maybe the iPod won’t change lives, but many of Apples’ products have. I look forward to the next 20 years of innovation, creativity and leadership from the Apple brand.

Cutting costs may make you profitable, but it won’t make you an industry leader. Today’s brands are all on a precarious edge because more and more people have migrated their shopping habits to the Internet. For a brand to stay on top, the executive team must ask themselves how the new technologies are changing their business and what they need to do to stay on top. Moreover, most importantly, act on that analysis. Tower Records failed to realize the Internet was changing the how and where people buy music. It drove them out of business. Their mega stores disappeared overnight. I wonder how Virgin Records’ Mega Stores are holding up? So the next time you want to take your company to the next level, start with creativity. 

There is a balance to all this; check out my other article on the leadership side of innovation at http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Difference-Between-Entrepreneur-And-Executive&id=888334
Stay creative and strategic first and you remain the leader. One of these days I plan to write an article on symbolism and the importance of a start-ups brand. Stay posted for future Blogs.

Thanks for reading,

Brad Szollose

May I recommend?
Tom Peters Essentials – Design by Tom Peters
http://www.amazon.com/Design-Tom-Peters-Essentials/dp/0756610540/ref=pd_bbs_sr_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1198345089&sr=8-4

The Cult of Mac by Leander Kahney
http://www.amazon.com/Cult-Mac-Paperback-Leander-Kahney/dp/1593271220/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1198345482&sr=1-1

*My favorite book:
Henry Dreyfuss, Industrial Designer: The Man in the Brown Suit by Russell Flinchum
http://www.amazon.com/Henry-Dreyfuss-Industrial-Designer-Brown/dp/0847820106/ref=sr_1_14?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1198345194&sr=8-14

The History of Studebaker
http://www.amazon.com/Henry-Dreyfuss-Industrial-Designer-Brown/dp/0847820106/ref=sr_1_14?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1198345194&sr=8-14

Or the Studebaker Museum
http://www.studebakermuseum.org/
My father owned a 1951 4-door bullet nosed Studebaker until 1977, so I kind of have a fondness for them. He and my grandfather were the only owners when it was driven off the lot in 1951. It still ran like a dream in 1977. Like I said, Studebaker was ahead of their time. Now they seem to be lost in history.

The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
http://www.amazon.com/Da-Vinci-Code-Dan-Brown/dp/1400079179/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1198345616&sr=1-1