Last year, I busted out a few guest posts for the blog Please Feed The Animals. When I asked Erik Proulx (the curator of the place turned film director and inspiration for me and countless others to have the courage to just friggin’ do stuff that’s important) how many words he thought worked best on PFTA, he said “between 30 and 3000.”

There’s this famous scene from Amadeus. I don’t understand. There are just as many notes as I required. Neither more no less.

And then this nice article from the ever-reposeful Pico Iyer quotes Thoreau: “the man whose horse trots a mile in a minute does not carry the most important messages.”

All reminders for me today:

It’s the story, not the tactics associated with telling it, that makes the brand.

It’s the experience, not the degree to which the brand is mentioned on Twitter, that engages stakeholders.

It’s the work of people, making disciplined decisions over and over again, that inspire ideas.

Rules of thumb are only as good as the brain controlling the hand.
“Henry David Thoreau” under CC license by psd

Watch this video. Maybe not new to many of you, but important.

I can’t ever remember hearing about the agencies responsible for this kind of work coming under criticism. Can somebody point me to an instance? Because I’m wondering why. Is it wrong to keep the agencies responsible for this stuff out scrutiny? Why are they immune from criticism? Can’t they say no to the work?

Arthur Anderson wasn’t exactly excused in the Eron’s misdeeds.

Values matter. We make decisions based on them. Those decisions create good, spread ideas, move us forward. Or they contribute to the dynamics in our world we know aren’t of value.

I bet that there’re more than a few agencies who’ve turned down work like this. I’d love to hear their stories. Where can you search for Not Agency of Record? I’d like to get inspired by the work of those kinds of agencies. Not these.

Across my desk, through my glass, across the Cirro guys, through a giant, open garage door, with a view of downtown Denver.

My landlords have an interesting story. They’ve been friends since the 8th Grade, and they work together around a single table. That’s pretty much it: A table, their laptops, some music, a couch. The intrigue of their working arrangement and dynamic aside, it feels good to be around some creative energy again.

Plus they like my and my wife’s new dog Tibka. Here he is, nose muddied on a recent hike.

New dog. New office. Life’s pretty good on September first in Denver.

It’s clear that the non-art world needs artists more than artists need it. Since the non-art world has gone out of its way over the years to make itself a downright despicable place for artists, artists have had to find (and have found, thank you very much) plenty of creative ways to survive in and around the non-art world. So at a time when the non-art world is in desperate need for the kind of proclivity that a creative mind or two can bring to bear in solving the challenges of our times, the last place many artists want to spend their time is in the non-art world.

To make things worse, the non-art world, operating under rules established and maintained with a significant left-brain unbalance, has un-arted itself away from any kind of perspective on the matter. Just like the study that shows incompetent people are double-burdened because they’re both incompetent and too incompetent to know they’re incompetent.

The non-art world has become too left-brained to realize it’s too left-brained.

Artists don’t owe the non-art world anything. But the world needs artists. So here’s some thoughts on how an artist might convince the non-art world to listen. If an artist is so inclined.

Here’s hoping they are.

—————-

Our work is deeply and personally passionate, so we know what it’s like to believe in something. Something you all call throwing yourself into your work.

We make our passions come alive with mediums and in spaces and industries that require quite a lot of outside involvement. Perhaps you all could use some help with the concept of compromise.

Our passions often come alive with the help of groups (bands, troupes, studios, orchestras, lines, ensembles, casts, companies). So we understand what you all wring your hands about when developing leadership and teams.

Since we’re typically underfunded, we can help you with your bootstrapping and entrepreneurship.

Since our work often deals with both large and small topics, we are, as you all say, as strategic as we are tactical.

Since we set a goal and practice and practice and practice and practice then practice more and then a little more, we understand what we’ve heard you refer to as planning your work and working your plan.

Since our work never quite articulates itself exactly as our mind’s eye originally envisioned it, we understand what you call executing. Or launching. Even if (or especially when) it isn’t perfect.

Since we do what we do baldly in front of anyone and everyone, almost all of whom have no idea what it is we’re after and yet are more than happy to tell us what they think, we can offer a perspective or two about graciousness.

Since almost all of us have had a mentor at one point or another, we know what it takes to grow and improve. And, someday, to give back to someone else.

Since we try to explain the unexplainable, we aren’t afraid of complex problems. (Many of you call this working in gray areas, but that’s kind of banal.)

Since we use an a-typical language, we understand how to find innovative solutions to complex problems. (If the words “box” and “outside of” came to mind just now, you’re dangerously close to forever remaining in the depths of the problem you’ve helped create.)

Let’s get to the simple side of complexity. Try this on for size, fellow branding geeks.

Branding happens in three stages:

1. What you think you’re gonna get
2. What you actually get
3. What you’re gonna do about it

Building a brand is about asking and answering three questions:

1. What do I/we do well?
2. How I/do we do it differently?
3. Why does it matter?

And managing a brand is about one thing:

1. Inspiring a shared vision.

Will that work?

My second guest blog post is up on Please Feed The Animals. It’s about building social capital – an outcome of effective leadership more than effective social media tactics.

And it includes a small nod to Mom.

You can check it out here.

So when he said that his  his reinvention process has kept him away from feeding the animals on PFTA, and asked a group of us to guest post on PFTA to keep it and the dialog there alive and humming, I jumped at the chance. I’m honored that he asked me to a part of it.

If you’re interested in my take on personal branding, here’s my PFTA post, Personal Branding’s Dirty Secret.

Erika Napolefuckintano. The Readhead.

I say Entrepreneur is lucky to have her.

For anyone who’s attended one of my presentations – Branding for the Rest of Us or Leading in a Social World – you’ve probably heard me talk about Erika. I often use her as an example of remarkability – a section where I mash-up Jim Collins and Seth Godin to talk about declaring and being that thing that sets you apart.

I use Erika for two reasons. One, I try my hardest to avoid the banal and not-very-helpful examples of Apple and Starbucks. And two, because she’s the perfect example of being remarkable.

Here’s the slide from the section of my Leading in a Social World presentation. You tell me if Erika isn’t a shining example of a leader who demonstrates characteristics of remarkability:

When I talk about Erika in presentations – her f-bombs, her sex columns, her bitch slapping – I often get quizzical looks from the audience. Love or hate her brand, I say, she’s authentic to the end. Everyone knows what they’re gonna get, they always get it, and they know exactly how to remark about her. And remark about her we do. A lot.

Kudos my friend. Looking forward to having you up in my business for a long time to come.

I spent some time with Nicole today, one of my favorite designers in the universe. It reminded me why I (all of us) need to be surrounded by the creative mind more. I’ve written about this before, but there’s some simplicity in my take-aways today.

They speak plain english.

Nicole is working with me to complete a brand platform I’m developing for a client. This client’s brand is fairly complex, and our constant challenge is to speak plainly so our stakeholders will understand why they should engage.

His brand centers around moments of transformation. Those times when we get it – big or small, moments of Yes! Moments of exploding fist-bumps.

Today Nicole says to me: “This brand is how it makes people feel. Not what it is.”

They draw a lot.

Unafraid of sharing an idea in rough form, creative minds etch stuff out to make thoughts come alive.

Today Nicole created a gap map without even meaning to.

They empathize.

Enough with the data, Nicole seemed to demand. Where do they shop? What do they do on weekends? Do they care where their food comes from?

Thanks Nicole for reminding me how to better connect.

]]> http://aarontempler.com/three-ways-a-creative-mind-can-help-you-communicate/feed/ 2 http://aarontempler.com/apologizing-when-you%e2%80%99re-groupon-rep-lynn-jenkins-or-married/ http://aarontempler.com/apologizing-when-you%e2%80%99re-groupon-rep-lynn-jenkins-or-married/#comments Fri, 25 Feb 2011 22:36:45 +0000 Aaron Templer http://aarontempler.com/?p=2305

If you feel like you need to apologize more in your life, here are three suggestions.

1) Hold a public office

2) Run a Super Bowl ad

3) Get married

I’ve never held a public office and I’ve never run a Super Bowl ad. This would make me, you might suggest, exceptionally unqualified to offer an opinion about how to apologize following a gaffe in either position.

I am married though. And I apologize quite a bit. Given the success rate of these apologies I suppose I’m even less qualified to give advice from that position. So I figure why not opine on the first two?

Here’s what I do know about being married. Even after moments of the most supreme self confidence, you’ll always – always – need the other person later.

The sooner the better, I say, when it comes to getting on with things like sharing the cleaning duties, a guilt-free boys/girls nights out, or sex. The best way to do this is actually pretty simple: own whatever it is you did and/or are accused of having done that has caused the disruption, express that you feel bad about hurting his/her feelings (preferably with at least a basic demonstration of having heard his/her expression of said hurt feelings), and don’t ever do it again (even if you’re unsure what to not do again).

Kansas Representative Lynn Jenkins didn’t quite get this. Rep. Jenkins – who will need a broad base of constituents as much as I need my wife – told a forum that the GOP needs to “find the great white hope” to move forward. This was perceived as a racist comment. There’s a racist history of the phrase, and the fact that her opposition is led by an African American (that would be our President, Rep. Jenkins) didn’t help her. Rep. Jenkins said she used the phrase as an allusion to a bright light, not a white person.

As out of touch and self absorbed as our elected officials tend to be, I have no hesitation believing that she didn’t know the origin of the phrase and the connotations it carries. Her her apology was pitiful, though, doubtless a reflection of the same egocentric part of her intellect that disabled her from foreseeing the problematic nature of using “white” and “hope” in a political situation to begin with.

Here it is:

“Obviously I was discussing the future of the Republican Party in response to a question about is there any hope for Republicans…I was explaining that there are some bright lights in the House, and I was unaware of any negative connotation. If I offended somebody, obviously I apologize.”

Obviously and If: The death knells of an authentic apology.

In Spineless Apology Parlance, “Obviously” means both “I actually shouldn’t have to apologize at all – y’all should just know that I don’t want to intentionally offend anyone who might vote for me” and “My narcissism prevents me from remotely considering any other perspectives on this issue. If you’re offended, you just don’t get it.”

“If” means both “I’m not about to admit to being wrong because I’m not human and don’t make mistakes” and a callow proclamation of “If it didn’t offend anyone, what’s the diff?”

She owned nothing, shamelessly squirming out the whole situation. “Apologize” doesn’t indicate any kind of regret in the first place, and since she didn’t learn anything, we’re forced to expect her to do something like this again. No trust, no relationship, Rep. Jenkins. You missed an opportunity to build one for the other.

Groupon CEO Andrew Mason didn’t miss his opportunity. After several days of controversy surrounding a Super Bowl ad that offended many, he hit us up with this apology on his blog:

“Five days have passed since the Super Bowl, and one thing is clear – our ads offended a lot of people…if an ad requires an explanation, that means it didn’t work…We hate that we offended people, and we’re very sorry that we did – it’s the last thing we wanted. We’ve listened to your feedback, and since we don’t see the point in continuing to anger people, we’re pulling the ads…We thought we were poking fun at ourselves, but clearly the execution was off and the joke didn’t come through. I personally take responsibility; although we worked with a professional ad agency, in the end, it was my decision to run the ads.

To those who were offended, I feel terrible that we made you feel bad. While we’ve always been a little quirky, we certainly aren’t trying to be the kind of company that builds its brand on creating controversy – we think the quality of our product is a much stronger message.”

Talk about owning it. The only “If” here is used to set up a mea culpa for the ad not working. He acknowledges that he offended people – doesn’t wish-wash about it with an If  - takes responsibility that he’s the one that needed to do the learning, and tells us how he feels after learning people were offended.

And he’s providing a remedy. He’s pulling the ads.

It would have been exceedingly easy for Rep. Jenkins to say “I feel terrible that I made you feel bad.” Or “Many people have pointed out to me that my statement has a history and connotation that is not in alignment with my or the GOP’s values. Now that I’ve learned what the phrase means to many of you, I just want to say that that’s the last thing I wanted to convey.” Or “I’m a bold and tough representative in a time when we need strong leadership, but certainly not the kind of public figure that relies on controversy to be heard. I want to inspire people to get behind my ideas – ideas like (insert Good Ideas Here) which are much stronger in terms of leading our country than flip, controversial comments will ever be.”

And yes – she could have provided a remedy. Promise to not use that phrase anymore, and maybe hire someone on your staff who can school you a bit on diverse perspectives.

Mason saw his apology as an opportunity to build trust and highlight the strengths of his brand. Rep. Jenkins saw it and those who were offended as annoying flies to brush off. Which do you think will create a stronger marriage between stakeholders?

Oh, and honey? If you’re reading? Obviously I was sarcastically discussing the function of marriage, taking a funny position of it serving me only. By way of the sarcasm, I was explaining that marriage is a selfless contract of sorts. If I offended you, obviously I apologize.