I have the honor of speaking today at the 2011 Postsecondary Career & Technical Education Summer Conference, at which I'll be discussing It's a New Brand Day: Brand Building in the Day of the New... New Economy, New Business Environment, and New Media with educators, implementers, and trainers from our State's career technical institutions.

There are several core Brand Building principles that we'll explore, as well as some of the things going on in this Day of the New that impact our brands and our efforts in building them. So let's start with one of the impactors to our brand building...

We live in A LOT of clutter.

In today's world we're bombarded with ads, messages, products, services, campaigns, and efforts all aiming to stand out, to be noticed, and to be desired. In those efforts, a lot of the companies behind them have thrown ungodly amounts of money at advertising, marketing, and PR efforts that say, “Hey! Look at me! You'll like me!” But what a lot of them have learned is that it doesn't work. You can't do it. There’s never enough money to buy true desire, to make real connection, or to build authentic trust. Those things have to be earned, and you earn them by consistent action and behavior over time.

Before you can build your brand, you have to understand it, its values, its mission, its heart and reason for being. And then you have to let it drive you, consistently, in everything you do. Your brand tells you and your people how to act, be, and respond in virtually any-and-all situations. And that’s a lot bigger than the latest cutesy-tootsy ad campaign!

You want to build trust? Know who you are, what you're doing, and why you're doing it. Know intrinsically who you're talking to. Know that your actions and behavior are representing your core values and character. This is what builds the trust that cuts through the clutter.

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Somehow we've tricked ourselves into thinking that we can be sure of things. We like being sure. We so like being sure that we want our agreements to have assurances. We want solutions that are sure-fire. We want the people we follow to be sure of themselves. We like bets that are sure-things. And here in the South, we like our food to be sure 'nuff good!

We think there's protection, safety, and prudence in being sure. Now, there is prudence and wisdom in properly assessing, measuring, and taking stock, but there is rarely sureness. And if there's one thing I'm sure of, it's that the assurances of the surest sureties will surely squelch all but the sure-fire possibilities. That's because brands aren't built from sureness, people aren't motivated by assurances, and the need to be sure before acting leads to fear and paralysis in an organization.

A clear vision for better things not yet seen; a passion that is excitable, catchable, and ownable by others; and the courage to venture into the uncharted possibilities that lie ahead - these are the things that drive, inspire, and rally. 

And they're also qualities of a GRIT-ter.

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GRIT thinking is thinking in terms of the possibilities, not the limits of what is possible.

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I opened this little Brand vs Logo conversation last week and defined what a brand really is. Don't think, though, that means logos don't matter, because that's not the case at all. Once you've done the hard work of building a strong brand, creating the right face for it is vital. After all, that's what a logo truly is. It's the face of your brand, an outward sign of your inner beliefs, and a modern day banner for your people to rally around.
Here's the deal: People need to belong. They need to know where they stand. They need their loyalties underlined and emphasized. And they desperately need - we all need - the binding qualities of symbolism.

Symbols have long been used to represent common beliefs and foster connectivity. The early Christians created a symbol that represented their beliefs and allowed them to connect with one another in times of persecution. The well-known ichthus, or Christian fish, consisted of two curved lines that formed the abstract outline of a fish. The word for fish was also a Greek acronym:

Iota = Iesous = Jesus

CHi = Christos = Christ

THeta = Theos = God

Upsilon = Huios = Son

Sigma = Soter = Savior

Combining symbol and word with belief and meaning, the fish provided early Christians with a brand identity that could be easily explained and understood. When the threat of being fed to the lions forced them to be less explicit, they dropped the acronym and relied on the fish “logo” by itself. This logo could mean anything or nothing, an obvious advantage in a hostile culture. But to Christians the symbol still represented their common faith and beliefs, and centuries after their Roman oppressors have faded into history, it still does.

Today, in an electronically accelerated culture where technology, entertainment, social connection, and design are converging, the impact a logo - and the brand it represents - can have is astounding.

But this doesn't happen by chance.

Now more than ever, logos and symbols are vital for communication. We live in an increasingly multi-cultural world with a hyper-linked global economy that requires a single global communications medium, and it's simply easier to rally around a non-language defined symbol than to teach various cultures a new language. Case in point, the Nike swoosh. Not only a fascinating case study of a systematic, integrated, and insanely successful formula for logo-driven marketing, but that simple, glorified check mark of an icon transcends language and represents the passion of sport to people all over the globe. A multicultural audience becomes a single culture of Just Do It acolytes under the banner of the swoosh.

But, hey... When communication is clear, when values are consistently conveyed, and when affirmation of beliefs is followed by constant re-affirmation, that's what logos do best.

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Change: What happens to us from the outside and over which we usually have no control.

Transition: Our inner response to the changes we're experiencing and over which we do have some control.

Vision: The lens through which we filter our responses and which determines how we see the world and thus shapes our decisions.

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I know an explanation of what Red Dirt GRIT is all about is needed, and I'm gonna get into that soon, but at the heart of it is this: Building an authentic brand is hard. It takes great determination, intensity, & focus.

It also takes steadfastness and humility, because along the way there will be defeats and wrong turns and mistakes. No one can avoid them. But it's better to lose some of the battles in the struggle for a meaningful and relevant brand than to be defeated without ever really knowing what you're fighting for.

In fact, great strength for both you and your brand is gained by not surrendering and by staying true to your vision.

But it takes GRIT!

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Abba Eban, the Israeli diplomat, once said, "A consensus means that everyone agrees to say collectively what no one believes individually."

A brand is not built by consensus. Rather, it is the manifestation of your beliefs and convictions - under clear vision and leadership - authentically communicated and consistently enacted.

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I'm a passionate believer in the inherent creativity inside us all and our inherent ability to appreciate authentic creativity in all forms, whether we like it or not. The problem seems to occur when we allow our own subjectivity... or convention... or an overinflated view of self to cloud it.

There is beauty and creativity and Majesty all around us... if you choose to see it.

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A few weeks ago, I was on the phone with one of my clients. We were talking about what was pulsating in his heart and where he saw his church going. He exclaimed, “But what if they don’t want to go where I want to go?”

That is always the question at stake in taking people to a better future. As a leader, I must have both confidence that my picture of the future is God-given and doable, and be able to trust that God is working through me and using me to “rally” people.

Go team!

There are a lot of activities that go into that one word, rally: persuade, motivate, guide, equip, develop, shepherd, and catalyze, to name a few. I first need to prayerfully rally the key influencers among my people and then allow them to rally others toward our better future.

It isn't rocket science, it's leadership

I truly believe leadership is simple to understand. It takes a lot to pull it off, but understanding exactly what’s involved is not overly complicated—at least not to my way of thinking. It was Steven Covey who came up with the brilliant statement, “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.”

Two simple but profound main things in leadership are:

1. Seeing a better future
2. Rallying your people to that better future

Four observations on leadership

• If you don’t see something better, you are not a leader

• If you can’t rally people to something you see as better, you are not a leader

• If you personally see a better future, are going there yourself, but can’t rally others to join you, you are taking a walk by yourself and are not a leader

• Leadership is all about the future: going there and taking others with you

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There are lots and lots of blogs out there synopsizing 2010 and pontificating on 2011, but this Charles West quote does a better job explaining our year than I ever could:

"We turn to God for help when our foundations are shaking, only to learn that it is God who is shaking them."

And because of that we have great excitement and hope for the new year.

Happy New Year!

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Authentic Vision is built around a need. But you will have a tremendously difficult time advancing that Vision if you don't first share the need with your people. And by "share" I mean to both articulate the need and to apportion the need. This is important, because, for instance, the minute I move to advance the Vision, it's no longer just my Vision, it's our Vision. And if we're all going to strive for that Vision, we all have to own it.

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No, not the rock band, the song by Prince (when he was still Prince), or the lip-smacking display of affection. This KISS is the wise, old adage to "Keep It Simple, Stupid!", and it's a reminder that simple is always much more effective than complicated.

Now I'm not saying that complicated is wrong. But chances are, folks don't come to you looking for complicated. And I bet you haven't had a lot of luck trying to persuade your semi-interested boss/customer/team to embrace complicated solutions in the past, no matter how good they might have been. But we can fix that with just a KISS.

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On the face of it there was nothing especially sharp about this line of questioning. In fact, it's a line I've posed to clients many times before - usually to test a product idea against their knowledge of the marketplace they think they're in and the consumer they think will buy it. But it cut to the quick in our discussion, because it had nothing to do with knowledge or research or due diligence.

As a husband, father, designer, entrepreneur, business owner, old building rehabilitator, public speaker, and GRIT apostle, I have often wondered, "What in the world am I doing? Why am I doing it? And how do I know if I'm doing it right?" And at RARE, our methodology gets so intense that I sometimes ask myself, "Why are we trying so hard? It seems like everybody only wants fast and cheapeesy (that stands for 'cheap' and 'cheesy,' btw) anyway, so why don't we just give it to them?" At their heart, these are questions of purpose and philosophy, and I know to answer them with REVERB.

REVERB is our vision to, "Amplify, magnify, impact, and project positively on everything and everyone around us." It's a vision towards our environment as well as our relationships. It's a vision for our roles as coworkers, neighbors, community members, and service providers. And it's a vision that determines our purpose and drives our philosophy.

In the meeting that day, those, too, were questions about purpose and philosophy. Not about understanding them, but about challenging them with the notions of cutting corners or lowering bars just to make a buck. "Most people don't know any better and are just fine with it anyway," I was told.

Ask yourself those questions. But the context in which you answer them - if your efforts are about just making money, or if they're about living out your purpose - will make all the difference in the world.

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I have asthma. And allergies. And bronchitis. They all stay pretty well in check, but at certain times of the year they all combine for the perfect bronchial storm. Of course, there's medicine I can take, but I have to be willing to take it. Not a problem today, but when I was a kid that medicine was this vile, nasty, witch's brew of a concoction called Brondechon (bron-dee-KAHN). It worked, but I'm telling you, getting that stuff down your gullet was like the wrath of Kahn! I'd be laying in my bed at night, chugging and wheezing like the little engine who couldn't, and when my mom walked in with that stuff, I would fuss, fight, and resist with everything in me. It didn't matter that within minutes I'd be breathing again. All I was focussed on was the nastiness of the medicine and the fact that I did NOT want to take it.

How often do you react that way when faced with adversity? Instead of facing it, accepting it, and allowing it to do its refining work, you fuss, fight, and resist it - oftentimes just prolonging your hardship.

Maybe you're there right now, and it's time to suck it up and take your medicine.

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A clear Vision gives significance to the otherwise meaningless details.

A clear Vision weaves 4 things into the fabric of your life: 1- Passion. 2- Motivation. 3- Direction. 4- Purpose.

And a clear Vision, followed through, increases your chances of coming to the end of your life, looking back, and thinking, "I burned it up, baby! I did it!"

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Well..... You can't. That's because thoughts become mindsets. Mindsets become decisions. Decisions become actions. Actions become habits. Habits become character. Character becomes destiny.

Your tiniest thoughts are of infinite importance. Be careful the ones you let linger.

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