Shifting perspectives

Hard to believe the first month of the new year has come and gone. With one twelfth of the year over, are you following the vision you set out for the year, holding to your resolutions, meeting your goals? Actually, this year in the onslaught of posts about planning, predicting and creating visions to start off right, I was struck by the number of people who were abandoning the idea of resolutions altogether and trying something different. Instead, some are working on creating new habits slowly and gradually, choosing a word or theme for the year, or choosing a book (or three, like in Chris Brogan’s Three Book Diet) to read and truly implement to influence leadership or success in their lives.

I always look forward to sitting down in January with one of my favorite people, an executive leadership coach friend of mine, Sharon Keys Seal. For me, Sharon offers a fresh perspective on events from the preceding year and outlook for the year to come. She helps me to see growth and successes that I might have missed, and identify opportunities for continued growth and shifts in my perspective. One of the things that she does each year is to pick an annual theme based on a couple of words or ideas to allow her to look through a different lens — to stretch her perspective in business and in life. Instead of (or in addition to) your typical visionary/forecasting work in terms of goals and numbers, or resolutions that you’re going to take on, it’s another way to look at the new year and bring something new to it. What’s nice about this approach, is that it compels one to look at their business, life, relationships, or anything else that matters to them, from a different perspective –– stepping outside of the norm and the way it’s always been done, balancing the outside factors and really looking inward. Sharon’s done this for years, and you can see each of her January word/theme choices on her Coaching Concepts website.

Why the need to shift perspective? Well, any small to mid-size business (SMB) owner or CEO has a lot on his or her plate. We’re reminded to work on our business rather than always “in” it, because we need to have that higher-level perspective. Shifting perspective keeps us on top of changes in our industry, observant to the changing needs of our clients and able to be more visionary and strategic.

Real connection

As marketers to advisory, consulting and professional services firms, we’re seeing some shifts as well. One of the things we’ve noticed is that more SMB leaders are taking more personal responsibility for their brands, particularly around storytelling and really becoming honest about their businesses. They are sharing personal stories of success and failure, authentically sharing perspectives that help them connect to prospects and clients on a more personal level. Human beings need connection, and we’ve always loved stories. So when we can be drawn in on an emotional level, we take note and can often relate on a personal level. This type of connection can help change and enhance perception. That’s what branding is: the perception of you or your business in the mind of your client or prospect. Advisory firms, typically thought leaders, have incredible opportunity to shift perceptions. And any shift can have an enormous ripple effect.

My friend and another leadership development expert David Craig Utts says that we are in the middle of a major transformation in business and customers are demanding deeper value. This requires that we are more authentic and real with our clients so we can develop a level of intimacy that allows them to share their deeper concerns. People want genuine connection, not sound bytes and glitz. David Craig says this requires business executives to increase their self-awareness, look within and make their own development as leaders critical to the success of their business. David Craig draws on not only on his 15 years of coaching senior executives of Fortune 500 companies, a masters in organizational development and post-graduate studies coaching and leadership, but also from 30 years of meditation, and the study of eastern philosophy, metaphysics and visualization.

Objectivity and perspective

And in that same vein, just this week I attended a PSA Partnership event — bringing business owners together to exchange ideas with experts on leadership, motivation, workplace culture and more, kind of like their own mini TEDTalks. This week, John Starling from Smith Growth Partners shared his perspective on Zen Leadership Philosophies and Practices: Understanding “What’s So” to Create the Company and Life You Envision. What was remarkable about this, is not only having 150 or so CEOs in the middle of the work day meditating, but also having several of those same business leaders share a bit of their own stories that were real, vulnerable and honest. He used koans, stories or riddles, much like parables, that interrupt the thinking process and ultimately provide powerful lessons. And it was powerful and engaging. I can’t imagine a similar type of week day presentation in a business environment being so well received (let alone accepted) even a few years ago. Sure, we’ve seen the sports and military analogies, but there is some new territory being covered with talk of Zen, spirituality, quantum physics and subconscious as it relates to business. We’ve come a long way.

One of John’s stories was around how we get used to our own world view or perspective; so much so that we assume that “what is so” for me, is also so for the people around us –– our employees, associates, customers. So while we need to have a vision, we need to recognize the need for objectivity and perspective. And this is another great marketing take-away.

Smart advisory businesses are getting clear on their positioning. What does this mean? It’s more than defining the great services you offer and to whom. It’s about how you are differentiating yourself in your space and who exactly you are targeting. It’s about defining how “uncommon” you are and how you are making yourself relevant to your prospects. And it’s about being able to convey those differences and relevance in how you communicate, look and engage. And while much can be done internally, this requires outside perspective and objectivity. When you know how you are different, relevant and better, incredible things happen.

We’ve seen amazing shifts happen for advisory businesses when they engage in our 180 Positioning Process. Part competitive analysis, part SWOT analysis, part audience identification, and part baring of the soul, this re-branding effort brings real clarity to an organization. We help businesses figure out what truly sets them apart and how to communicate why that matters. So while they come away with a unique positioning, a new logo and visual identity, and brand messaging that will serve them across a multitude of communications channels, they also come away with clarity of vision and purpose. When the key leaders of an organization are clear and able to share that with everyone in the organization in a way that they can embrace it, it enhances the corporate culture — it’s a subtle shift in perception that can change your whole team’s outlook, for the better.

What kind of shifts are you making in 2013?

–– Wendy Baird, principal and president