Comments on: Battling the Generic Brand http://thepeoplebrand.com/blog/2007/07/13/battling-the-generic-brand/ Sun, 20 Jul 2008 18:18:10 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: Mike Wagner http://thepeoplebrand.com/blog/2007/07/13/battling-the-generic-brand/#comment-135767 Mike Wagner Fri, 27 Jul 2007 21:13:38 +0000 http://thepeoplebrand.com/blog/2007/07/13/battling-the-generic-brand/#comment-135767 You're singing my song Dustin! I see this blind acceptance of the "generic brand" with my clients when they insist on a mad dash to the "best practices" of others in their competitive marketplace. I have recently started telling them, "success (best practices) doesn't leave answers, it only leaves clues". It's up to all of us to take the clues left us by others and turn them into "our way"! Super post. Keep creating...I know you will, Mike You’re singing my song Dustin!

I see this blind acceptance of the “generic brand” with my clients when they insist on a mad dash to the “best practices” of others in their competitive marketplace.

I have recently started telling them, “success (best practices) doesn’t leave answers, it only leaves clues”.

It’s up to all of us to take the clues left us by others and turn them into “our way”!

Super post.

Keep creating…I know you will,
Mike

]]> By: ebrown http://thepeoplebrand.com/blog/2007/07/13/battling-the-generic-brand/#comment-133312 ebrown Fri, 13 Jul 2007 20:51:18 +0000 http://thepeoplebrand.com/blog/2007/07/13/battling-the-generic-brand/#comment-133312 Good point. You've heard the saying, "You are the only 'you' there is, so go be 'You'". It is interesting that I too have been thinking about this very topic. Often it takes a life change in order to cause us pause for reflection (at least me anyways). What is it that makes me unique? What are my unique gifts, skills, and talents? What is it that gets me fire-up and energized? These are questions I have been asking myself. I remember a talk I heard by Laurie Beth Jones. She stated how on several occasions she had sat down with CEO's and in a matter of minutes they were in tears because of a few questions she asked. Those questions related to this topic: Are you doing what you were uniquely designed for? Many are driven in order to prove something to themselves, their parents, or others. Many do nothing because of past emotional and mental trappings. Often we need outside intervention to break these destructive cycles. No one I talk to says they want to look back on their life with regrets. No one wants to say, "I wish I could have...". Yet many of us set out in a direction that is opposite to what we desire. I had lunch a couple weeks ago with a former employee. She was asking if I knew of any work that might fit what she had done previously. I knew that she had struggled in her prior role and that it was not a natural fit. I asked her if she had any time for reflection before jumping into another job. She said she did. Then my response to her was this: Set time aside and think about what your skills are. Think about what you like to do that you are really good at and that gets you energized. That (or those) are more than likely the thing(s) you were designed/created for. Next think of jobs that relate to those areas and go after them whole-heartedly. Because, at the end of the day, you'd rather be excited about going to work the next and know that what you are doing is uniquely you, than doing what your momma, daddy, professor, or peer thought you should do. -ebrown Good point. You’ve heard the saying, “You are the only ‘you’ there is, so go be ‘You’”. It is interesting that I too have been thinking about this very topic. Often it takes a life change in order to cause us pause for reflection (at least me anyways).

What is it that makes me unique?
What are my unique gifts, skills, and talents?
What is it that gets me fire-up and energized?

These are questions I have been asking myself. I remember a talk I heard by Laurie Beth Jones. She stated how on several occasions she had sat down with CEO’s and in a matter of minutes they were in tears because of a few questions she asked. Those questions related to this topic: Are you doing what you were uniquely designed for?

Many are driven in order to prove something to themselves, their parents, or others. Many do nothing because of past emotional and mental trappings. Often we need outside intervention to break these destructive cycles.

No one I talk to says they want to look back on their life with regrets. No one wants to say, “I wish I could have…”. Yet many of us set out in a direction that is opposite to what we desire.

I had lunch a couple weeks ago with a former employee. She was asking if I knew of any work that might fit what she had done previously. I knew that she had struggled in her prior role and that it was not a natural fit. I asked her if she had any time for reflection before jumping into another job. She said she did. Then my response to her was this:
Set time aside and think about what your skills are. Think about what you like to do that you are really good at and that gets you energized. That (or those) are more than likely the thing(s) you were designed/created for. Next think of jobs that relate to those areas and go after them whole-heartedly. Because, at the end of the day, you’d rather be excited about going to work the next and know that what you are doing is uniquely you, than doing what your momma, daddy, professor, or peer thought you should do.

-ebrown

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