Larry Ackerman – author of Identity is Destiny and other works – is champion of putting self-awareness first – and building companies – and individual lives – on unique, underlying skills and talents.
Last week Larry (a former colleague of mine at Siegel + Gale) spoke to my graduate class in branding at University of Hartford. His methodology is sophisticated – intensely probing an organization’s business via a range of research techniques. But his goal is reductionism – to find the single shared competency.If branding were religion Ackerman would be a resolute fundamentalist. If branding were music, he would be a purist – listening to the drone of waterfalls and pounding out rhythms with a stick.
His drive is a relentless quest for one prize: The beating heart of a brand – an organization’s unique value-producing role in society’s complex web. That's what he does as consultant to major corporations and as prolific author of works cited at theidentitycircle.com.
When you ask Larry to define his own identity, the answer is startling for its lack of irony or humility. “My gift is to help people see.”
Our motto at brandsinger is “To thy own self be true.” Larry Ackerman embodies a tireless quest for truth.
brandsinger
3 comments:
I agree with Ackerman, that it’s important to look the “value creating potential” – as opposed to finding an identity that might sounds good/look good and novel, but would not necessarily provide value. Also, he mentioned that this alone can provide proprietary value. I think this is a valuable instruction as, if one were to look for something to this effect, you would create the intangible concept of value (that one, to help illustrate/give an example, can actually incorporate when selling a company) and at the same time you are infusing this value with your good(s) or service(s).
I also found it insightful that Ackerman noted that you will find internal conflict when trying to implement a new identity. I have somewhat encountered this recently at work, where I am currently collaborating with executive director to change company’s business model so that we will become potentially much more profitable (by offering a new service that could become our “cash cow”). With a change such as this, we need to change our identity company-wide and this hasn’t been easy, but time will tell if we can achieve the change needed.
We do not have to change our logo but probably our slogan and general interaction with clients. I have come up with several new slogans, so hopefully that will be a starting point (and probably doing more - borrowing from what IBM did to propagate e-business).
I will also use Ackerman technique of asking clients (after we have changed our business identity and structure) what they think of our company. As Ackerman noted, you can get substantial objective information this way.
Thanks,
Ryan
In a world where so many companies are tethered to formal market research for dear life, it was refreshing to hear Mr. Ackerman affirm what we are all capable of: respecting the gut feeling and trusting oneself to act.
The Herman Miller Aeron Chair is a fabulous example of defying the predictable in favor of the anti-think.
Yes, it's essential to pay homage to one's constituencies and get dirty with the research, but perhaps the answer is closer than we allow ourselves to believe.
Thank you for an inspirational hour. (Where do I send my church contribution?)
Christina
Thanks for the comments, Ryan and Christina. Ackerman is a walking, talking proponent of branding from within, to without, to within. It's always great for me to hear him in action. He's a believer by nature. I have to admit -- by nature -- I'm a cynic. But Larry's quest for truth is admirable and rewarding for all.
Post a Comment