Numerous examinations, at school you write.

With many a class bully you fight.

Sent you are, to obtain knowledge

Except which, friends ask, your allegiance to pledge.

Oh! What a load you carry.

The opposites of your kind you discover,

New interests, in your teen, you uncover.

Tell you, your parents in CAPS- NO DISTRACTIONS

Your heart, in your mind, causes complications.

Oh! What a load you carry.

Worry you do, about your future,

Dreams infinite, you nurture.

‘This is the path you shall go on’, parents command,

choice of freedom, you demand.

Oh! What a load you carry.

You grow up in a world so crazy,

Often wishing to give it all up and take it easy.

Good is last, evil does win.

In this craziness, you take up some sin

Oh! What a load you carry.

Success some achieve by breaking rules.

Deceit and flattery are common tools.

Honesty and hard work ‘they’ want you ‘apart’ to stand.

‘Their’ persistence you do not understand.

Oh! What a load you carry.

Men and women, emotions they manipulate,

Achieving what they diabolically contemplate.

Confused, even more, by love and hate,

You wonder what is your fate.

Oh! What a load you carry.

No more should you worry,

Shed the load you carry.

Clear your present; learn you must from the past.

Concentrate on what you really care about and fast.

Oh! No more a load will you carry.

I am bringing the very large topic of personal branding to a very specific relationship. The relationship between you and your manager is a very special one and yet like any other relationship. Now ask yourself if your Manager is your Target Audience then what is your brand telling your TG?

Look at what your TG needs.

-Your manager needs to grow by showing good work done by the team

-Your manager needs team members who take initiative

-Your manager needs team members who do their job well

-Your manager needs team member who learn well, fast and apply it to work

-Your manager needs team members who will build the team’s brand and therefore of the manager

Now, look at the branding you do to your manager

-When you meet your manager are you going with a problem you could not solve?

-Are you going with a solution and making decision-making easy?

-When you make a presentation are you getting your message across or you just doing a ppt?

-Are you ensuring work given to you is handled or does your manager have to follow up?

-Are you giving your manager an opportunity to showcase your work?

-Are you learning fast enough and enough volume to create a difference?

OR

-Are you doing things that you are satisfied with and not the TG?

-Are you looking at giving your TG a reason to buy you or are you looking at your own reasons?

-Are you letting your TG get a clear answer to WHY ME and WHY NOT SOMEONE ELSE?

-You have not figured out WHO YOU ARE and that message is not getting through strong and clear?

I hope what I am trying to say is getting through. While not everybody is fortunate to get smart understanding manager’s you need to realize that managing your manager is nothing but the way you handle your personal brand with your audience. In this case an audience of ONE, your manager.

Remember your manager is a person who also has a manager. Your manager is a person with aspirations, emotions, feelings, dreams, needs and actions. Have you understood your audience? Are you using your personal brand to target your audience? In other words, are you managing your manager ?

I had seen her around. I had heard of her. I had never held her in my hands. I am talking about the Apple Macbook. The Barista in Barton Center (MG road, Bangalore., India) is where I got to lay my hands on a Macbook. My friend Padmaja had got one courtesy her new employer (the only thing I envied about her new job at that point of time).

Steve Jobs and Apple were nothing new to me in terms of name and reputation, but then when it came to a phone I have been a Nokia loyalist, when it came to a MP3 player I had my awesomely large Creative Zen Vision M, when it came to a desktop I had my faithful HP Pavilion, laptop I had my office provided Dell and an Acer netbook too.

Somehow when I held that Macbook in my hand, it was like love at first sight and I desperately wanted one. I became obsessed with getting one. I spoke of getting one and heard all comments from – it’s difficult to use to it’s expensive to –why do you need it?

But then, Apple has always made products you don’t really need but you end up wanting J (In the end they do make the world a better place when it comes to technology). In the midst of all this, the Macbook Pros went out of stock in Bangalore. Doing the rounds of the various Apple resellers and calling up every contact I could, I finally got my beloved Macbook Pro. Within a couple of days I had gotten familiar with it.

The best part was – it all came together, it was easy to setup. It was intelligent enough to figure out what I need and connect without hassle. The wide touchpad (which doubles as a mouse) with its great touch sensitive controls made life so easy. It was fast, it had great screen resolution, easy to use and best of all it did look good.  With this experience has begun my experience of all things Apple. My first bite had left me very satisfied. I hope the taste will continue. Yes, I will have to get that Apple Care Protection Plan to ensure my meager income is not dried up with repairs.

Then I commenced (like I usually do with anything I get passionate about) a study of Apple and invariably Steve Jobs. If Apple took over the world in terms of computing then everybody would have great gadgets but would have paid up a lot for it. Isn’t that better than having paid lesser and then having to spend more upgrading every few months? The magic of Apple seems to stem from its very enigmatic chief- Steve Jobs. Every keynote address of his is like a cultural ritual of the company.  Exciting, planned, dramatic, entertaining and if I were to add-perfect. Just like the products they make. Even though the iPhone 4 leak took some fizz out of their launch during the WWDC  (Apple’s World Wide Developer Conference) I eagerly await its launch in India. Yes, I did manage to use an iPad, thanks to my friend Mukki (of peppersquare ) and was bowled over by its touch interface. When it comes to functionality though, the iPhone is more a priority than an iPad right now. The iPad is a luxury for the couch-ridden.

Apple and Steve Jobs are also lessons in Marketing (another are of interest for me). Be it the keynote address or the carefully crafter marketing, advertising and communication that follows the product launch or the keynote address it is all a lesson in what to do and how to do it. The one-liners that become the product descriptions (I have referred to it in my post – What’s your line?), the products themselves, which are designed to fit in and work with your own biophysical qualities, are all what make legends. I wonder how a large a team of User experience experts, neuro-physicians and other assorted people who have nothing to do with engineering, coding or technology are a part of the product development.

An email the Steve Jobs responds to becomes the talk of the blogosphere. There are blogs whose content is solely dependent on Apple, its products, news and rumors.  Everything about it in some complex way coming together and building a cult.

Finally, what is it about Apple that makes them stand out as the most impressive technology company in history? They make products better.

You can be sure I will have more to say on Apple and its products in times to come. Incidentally, the Apple logo has a bite taken out of it. Is that representative of all us fans who have a taken a bite of the Apple ?

If you look around you will be bombarded with messages, be it in the media, in your work. Messages ranging from 2 words to multiple pages! If it is an advertisement you have everything from the headline to its body copy to its sign off. Recently my former colleague Srini who has become an entrepreneur (Apt Consulting) had sent me a mail giving his company’s introduction and asking for my views on making it more business-like and effective. As I read the paragraph I realized that like on Twitter all I wanted was one line (no more than 140 characters). When I told Srini, he immediately agreed.

Both of us realized that putting what his business does into one line, which answers the questions – “Who are you? What can you do for me? How will you do it different from the others?”  -is the most challenging exercise of all. Cracking that one line would mean positioning his business and giving it that one entry line when approaching his clients.

Having become a fan of Apple and Steve Jobs in recent times, studying his presentations (key note addresses) and reading the book-Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs by Carmine Gallo I also discovered that Steve gives that one line which differentiates his product, defines it and gives his customers a clear understanding of what is being offered. Be it – ‘the world’s thinnest notebook’ or ‘built for me’ or ‘it’s a magical product’, Steve Jobs gives one easy-to-understand description of the product he is launching. Can we apply this to services, ourselves, our job applications? Why not?

• Resume or your CV: Can we give a one-line description that answers what the potential employer is looking for? Ex: Would a recruiter notice- ‘I will drive sales growth by 35% in the personal computing business’ and be impressed or would 2 pages of what the person done impress more?
• Business: A one-line description for your service or product? Why not? Google the best brands and businesses from Starbucks to your local brand and you will find most of them have that one line describing what is special about their business. If you cannot say it in one line, you are no different from those 1000s of businesses out there

Think about a one-liner to describe you. Would people who know you believe it? Would people who have heard of you respect it?

Trust me, it is not an easy task. Companies spend millions trying to figure this out and express it. Maybe finding out what you really do, being honest about it and expressing it simply enough is the key.

Try describing everything you do or you want to sell in 140 characters. Then ask yourself – Does it really say what I want ? Does it answer what my target audience wants to know? Does it sound simple enough o be used and broadcast?

Watched this on a lazy sunday afternoon and followed it up with Karate Kid so expect some of the comparison to seep through in my review. Russell Crowe plays Robin Longstride (later to be know as Robin of Loxly and then Robin of the Hood). If you are expecting to see the matching of wits and battles between Robin Hood and the Sheriff of Nottingham, which kept you enthralled in your childhood ays, you can forget about it. This movie deals with the making of Robin Hood, from being a soldier in the army of Richard the Lion-heart to becoming the lord of Loxly and finally the beginning of the ‘Prince of Thieves’.

The movie does not really stand out. While the performances are as commendable as they can be what is missing is the element of one man against the system. while the essence of Robin Hood is that, here it becomes more of a lesson in history. While that by itself would have been good, not with a character like Robin Hood. Russell Crowe’s accent stands out as being not English in comparison to his co-characters. Cate Blanchett plays the role of Marion Loxley.

The battle of fight scenes do not really thrill you. All in all a pretty average piece of work from the Ridley-Crowe combine.

Is it worth watching? Maybe when there’s nothing more important to do.

Their visit is brought about due to the disappearance of an inmate from a closed room. The institution is run by the quiet and unnerving Dr. Cawley (Ben Kingsley). In an institution where no one seems who they are, Teddy has his own demons from the World War and memories of the concentration camps to battle and the loss of his wife in a fire. As the day goes by and a storm brews on the horizon, it appears that all is not well on shutter island and all is not definitely as it seems. Three wards, with a ward C out of bounds to all. A lighthouse no one is allowed to enter, the disappearance of a patient. Teddy has pushed to get this assignment and for reasons of his own. This and more adds to the thrill, drama and chilling horror of this tale set in 1954.

As the tale unfolds you are moved to the edge of your seat for each person, each corridor, each tree, each moment fills you with the chilling fear that something is about to happen. As the clues unfold you are taken on a journey along with teddy in deciphering the mystery. The entire island is covered in misty haze and the camera angles and lighting only add to the effect. Ben Kingsley, Leo, Mark and all the supporting cast put in remarkable performances. The movie ends up being a tad too long and many of you will end up guessing the end. The background score is perfect. Leo shines as the US Marshal who sniffs a conspiracy on Shutter Island.

The movie is a departure from the usual Scorsese style of movie making in that it does not take time building characters and then bringing them together for the plot to climax. Instead right from the start every character, every shadow plays a role making you almost bite your nails. But, like I said if it wasn’t dragged so much it may have ended up being immensely unpredictable and therefore horrifyingly chilling. Of course, at the end you will realize all the clues were there right under your nose.

Is it worth watching ? Well, if it is a Scorsese movie, it definitely is. Although in this one a tinge of disappointment is sure to creep in. Do watch though.

Also published on www.isitworthwatching.com

Rajneeti is the tale of a political family told against the backdrop of elections. Trust, brotherhood, betrayal, love, lust, sex, wisdom, illegitimacy, money, fear, blackmail- all these and more are the key characters in Prakash Jha’s thrilling political drama. Largely incorrect to call it a political drama though since it is more focused on a family and the politics just forms the backdrop. What Prakash Jha does is put together an ensemble of some very good actors, takes parts of the Mahabharata, parts of the godfather, some resemblances to real life Indian politics, puts this all together in an almost seamless fashion and gives you about 3 hours of entertainment worth the price of a ticket.

Rajneeti is the tale of a political family told against the backdrop of elections. Trust, brotherhood, betrayal, love, lust, sex, wisdom, illegitimacy, money, fear, blackmail- all these and more are the key characters in Prakash Jha’s thrilling political drama. Largely incorrect to call it a political drama though since it is more focused on a family and the politics just forms the backdrop. What Prakash Jha does is put together an ensemble of some very good actors, takes parts of the Mahabharata, parts of the godfather, some resemblances to real life Indian politics, puts this all together in an almost seamless fashion and gives you about 3 hours of entertainment worth the price of a ticket.

(this review is also published on www.isitworthwatching.com)

The tale is of two parts of a family who are part of a popular party. When the elder brother is stuck with paralysis, Vir Pratap (Manoj Bajpayee) believes it is his birthright to lead the party. When the position of leading the party in the elections is given to Prithviraj (Arjun Rampal), Vir Pratap’s vengeful self comes to the fore and to gain support he brings into the party Suraj (Ajay Devgn), the illegitimate elder sibling of Prithviraj and Samar (Ranbir Kapoor). Yup, those of you familiar with the Mahabharata (and if you are an Indian you better be familiar with it. After all, it is the longest epic in the world and has everything to do with life and politics explained in it) will recognise Manoj Bajpayee’s character showing shades of Duryodhana, Suraj showing Karna, Arjun depicting Bheema (or Sonny Corleone in godfather) and Ranbir Kapoor depicting the crafty Arjuna (or Michael corleone from the godfather). Katrina Kaif as Indu displays shades of Draupadi who is sacrificed for power and yet is powerful enough to bring about destruction. There is the very impressive Nana Patekar as the wise, calm Brij Gopal (depicting lord Krishna- shrewd, powerful but who never took to arms in the war). A host of other characters remind of the greatest ever epic told in India. By now it must be obvious to you how much I admire the Mahabharata and therefore this movie.

The movie is well paced and unfolds well. There are a few loopholes in the plot and many sequences are bang on from The Godfather including an assassination, the character of Sarah (sarah Thomson Kane). Considering that the Godfather is among my all time favorites, and the way Prakash Jha has Indianised it, I could only admire it here. Some good performances from Nana Patekar, Ranbir Kapoor, Arjun Rampal and Katrina Kaif. Manoj Bajpayee is pretty impressive in some scenes and you wonder at the industry’s loss in not grooming this fine actor. What finally bursts the bubble of this wonderful movie is the climax and prior to that an extremely pivotal scene between Suraj and his birth mother.

In spite of that, a movie worth watching and a must watch.

What does Marketing do? Isn’t it sales that actually brings in the money? In an IT services company what does branding do, what does marketing do?  Are sales responsible or is marketing responsible for business growth? These and many more questions, often asked are as old as probably the egg and chicken story (notice I put the egg before the chicken). These arguments and discussions will never end.

Here is what I say- in any business there are the marketing people and there are also people doing marketing! What is marketing then? Simply put Marketing is storytelling to a market in order to lock in your target and lock out your competition. The result of this should be that your sales person could carry the story to an individual customer and make an exchange of value.

More compelling your storytelling, better your results will be. The channels through which you tell your stories, the ingredients that form your story are nothing but your marketing channels and your marketing mix. Do you tell a story that your targets/customers want to hear or do you tell a story you have? The answer to that would be- both. Say what you have, say it in a manner that your target wants to hear and which clearly answers their basic question-what’s in it for me?

If your story does not answer that, then it will be all glitz and glamour with no substance. In my 3rd paragraph I mentioned that there are marketing people and there are also people who do marketing. Believing that marketing is the job of only the marketing team is a mistake. Yes, anybody can do marketing. It is after all an application of common sense. But then, if everybody started doing marketing work, then who would do their work? Does this mean we shouldn’t bother at all? The answer is NO. The onus of how a brand, a product or an organization is represented is the responsibility of every employee of the company. After all, our personal brand is impacted by the brand we work for and would we want our personal brand to suffer?

Coming back to storytelling. We all love storytelling. Whether we are giving a job interview (where we are selling our story of why we should be hired) or an advertisement campaign (where we are selling the story of why our customer must buy the product) or any other business activity, it is all about storytelling.  How does impact us marketers?  This only means that we have to stick to the basics of storytelling. Be it a presentation we make, a advertisement we create, an event we conduct, a brochure we distribute or a film we show we need to tell a story, tell it simply keeping in mind whether our story gives the listener what the listener wants. We need to tell it with passion, we need to tell it in the right places and of course, to the right people.

Take a look at the movies you enjoy. Why did you enjoy them? They were big budget films or because they have the best of actors and actress. You could say one of these many reasons or all of these. Basically it gave us what we want, it sold us a story we wanted to hear. It made us laugh, cry, fear, rejoice, rage or any or made us feel the many feelings we paid the ticket for.

Whether it is a product, a service or an offering unless what we say is consistent, effective and sounds like a good story, it just will not sell.

Should our story be different? Yes. Would you watch your favorite movie if it is the same as the 5 movies you watched prior to it?

Should our story be honest? Yes. If a movie promised you horror, thrill and many other things and then gave you nothing close to it, would you trust that filmmaker again? Unlikely

Does storytelling apply everywhere? Yes. Look around. Whether it is a recruitment message, an employer branding campaign, a product campaign they all have a story to tell. Does your resume tell a story about you that are likely to attract your potential employer or is it one in a pile of many? Everything from your visiting card, your email signature, your presentations and every other customer touch point is telling a story about you. Have you found your story yet?

Take a look at the best campaigns, the best marketing plans, the best presentations and here is one thing you will find common to all of them – they all had a story to tell, they told it consistently and they answered the basic question you had-“what’s in it for me?” If your customer did not choose you, means your customer bought somebody else’s story. Look at all your collateral, creative’s, content? Do they tell a story that reflects what you and what you can do for your customer or do they tell nothing at all?

While I make many attempts to ensure my storytelling works well whether at work or in life, the journey of learning is worth the price of failure. What’s your story?

Now, I attempt to draw your attention to a very simple communication tool, used by most modern day professionals, yet ignored. It is the most powerful personal branding tool you have. From the title of the post you would know I am referring to ‘Email’. Yes, the very email that you, me and everybody uses to correspond with each other. Now, you would all agree that everything we do and don’t do which builds a perception about us is ‘personal branding’. When we send an email what type of ‘branding’ are we doing? What type of email style are we following?

1. Embedded Technology Specialist: I have already written about this style of email response. It is very common and often used. Titled – Embedded Technology in Emails, I will reproduce it soon
2. Epic writers: The writers of these emails consider themselves Homer or even Vedavyasa (not me, but the great sage and author of the longest epic-Mahabharata). Be prepared to press ‘page down’ many times over. The saga will go on. This style of email has complex combinations of ‘embedded technology’ and ‘Convince or Convince’ and requires much effort from both the author and the recipient. This style is usually employed by youngsters and over-eager professionals who want to convey everything in the email.  This also occurs when one does not make the right choice between what to discus in person (or on phone) and what to put on email.
3. Top Management style: Short. To the point. Crisp. Gives direction. These are the hallmark of smart top management folks. Why use 10 words when you can say it in 5. I have been particularly impressed with a few email responses from some of the senior folks I have encountered. But, all emails and all of sue cannot follow this style (unless of course we are actually TOP Management). This style though is something one should try and achieve. Discussions are meant to be in person or on phone. Emails are meant to convey and communicate. Most of us do it the other way around? Be warned though-such emails could also be perceived as arrogant and rude.
4. Convince or Confuse: Say a lot without saying anything. We would encounter this usually in conversations but there are a few who have taken this art to email too. From the start of the email to the end you get nothing, no commitment, no confirmation. What you get is a roller coaster of a story. This type of email is often used intentionally when biding for time or having no definite answer to give. With some it is an art so every email ends up following this style.
5. ‘Don’t care’ master: I really don’t care. I have said what I want to say. The entire email, its formatting, language, tone of voice all point to this one primary attitude. You will not come across this style in most professional organizations. If you do come across one, save that email. It is exactly what you must not do.
6. Mark the world: This style involves having multiple recipients in the ‘To’, ‘CC’ and ‘BCC’ fields. The writer must be employing some complex algorithm to decide on these recipients, because the recipients for sure cannot figure who is supposed to act on the email and for whose information only it is. Conventionally the person in ‘TO’ has to act. The person in ‘CC’ is for information sake and could respond too. Person in CC’ is meant to view the email as pure information and consider it confidential to some extent.
7. 7. The perfect email: Okay. Here is the secret. There is no perfect email style. Email like any other communication tool needs to achieve its objective of communicating desired message to recipient. Since once you send an email there is nothing you can do about it (recall message does not work all the time. Time bound emails are not yet common). So, take care before you click on the ‘send’ button. The easiest method I employ is –read the email once after you finish typing it.

Since there is no formula to a perfect email here is what I try and do. I have developed a series of questions which help me with my email response. I do not keep this like a checklist whenever I email somebody but ensure these questions are followed when writing important emails.

1. Does the email have two positives and one negative? Nobody likes negative news/emails
2. Am I following the ‘TO’, ‘CC’ and ‘BCC’ rule described above
3. Am I aware of my recipient? If your recipient is action oriented then a crisp to the point email may make more sense.
4. Would I like receiving such an email? Do onto others what you would do onto yourself.
5. Have I put in short forms and spelling errors? Avoid them at all costs. Trust your spell checker but not entirely.
6. How many pages downs? Lesser the number of page downs, the better. Anything detailed can go into attachments
7. Is the recipient on Blackberry? better keep the mail simple and color/graphic free for easy reading

I must confess, this is an ongoing journey and I am far away from consistently writing effective emails.

This would be relevant to individuals and agencies and firms rather than large organizations. Large organizations with their set brand and stationary guidelines do not allow room for changes, and maybe rightly so with its own merits. Let us look at what a Business card is expected to do:

1. Provide the recipient with information to contact you
2. Provide recipient with material to encourage brand recall
3. Provide recipient  reason to call you and not the rest

While most business cards satisfy criteria 1, most tend to ignore 2 & 3. There are businesses, largely creative agencies and consulting firms that do pay attention to all 3. This does not stop the rest of us does it? While we speak of ‘Personal branding’, your Business Card could be an important tool to put to use.

The recipient is likely to have received multitude of cards. How will yours be remembered? Would you make it different sized? Would you make it different shaped? Would you use it as a piece of communication? Would you ensure your offering’s core messages appears on the card? Would you make it so innovative that it represents a sample of the kind of value you will deliver?

These are just a few of the questions that can get you started on a journey of re-engineering your card. Some businesses have their corporate philosophy on the back of a card; some allow complete personalization on the back of a card.

Do keep in mind though, that your business card should be easy to read, understand and store for use later. Also, does the design of your card reflect your personality as well that of your offering/business accurately? Will your card be remembered when your client/recipient looks back and wants to reach out?

For example, Pepper Square, a web solutions company allows its employees to use of the back of the card to be personalized with an image, statement or whatever they desire. I have shared an image of the card above. The CEOs card proudly displays an aspiration in the form of statement that reassures you that they are ready to strive for the best. Now, as a client wouldn’t you want to see reassurance right from the business card because after all, in today’s world everyone wants a solution, the best one, at the right time.

Time to ask yourself- What does my Business Card really say about me?

Do keep in mind though; a Business Card is a tool. Your actual offering will be what delivers a satisfied customer who will share your card further.

Some innovative business card designs may be viewed here:

http://www.crazyleafdesign.com/blog/35-cool-and-inspirational-business-card-designs/